Bonus video! Why Norman Lear once snuck rival TV executives into CBS headquarters
Oh hello!
In this week's bonus video, I've got a ton of great stories about Norman Lear's many many shows: How he had to sneak NBC executives into a CBS office in order to get Sanford and Son picked up; how the star of Mary Hartman Mary Hartman wrote a 12-page essay arguing for why she should have a nervous breakdown; and the surprising family connections of the first interracial couple of television (and their connection to both Lenny Kravitz and Al Roker!) ... plus a never-before-seen clip from the unaired second episode of the disastrous 1968 show Turn On! Thanks to a shadowy collector of TV ephemera for sending that my way so I can share it with you.
Bonus video! Why Norman Lear once snuck rival TV executives into CBS headquarters (YouTube)
Comments (5)
Genuine question: what about Lucy and Ricky as the first interracial couple?
Thrilled to see your book show up on the NPR “Pop Culture Happy Hour.” I hope it helps more people find your work. You deserve it
My dad was one of the "lucky" few to actually watch Turn-On as the local station in Sacramento actually showed the whole show. He loved it. His other favorite shows were Married ...with Children & Two and a Half Men if that tells you something.
Thanks for another fun video. Your mention of Roxie Roker made me think of the All in the Family episode that introduced the Willis family and George’s mother at Lionel and Jennie’s engagement party. It’s clear they were setting up the spin-off but the Jeffersons didn’t leave for their own show for another year. I’m thinking it might have been because Carroll O’Connor was in a contract dispute, missed two episodes, and the producers were planning to kill Archie off if things didn’t work out (ala John Amos in Good Times). If they had done that, I’m thinking the Jeffersons characters would have stayed put, at least for a while. In the engagement part episode, Jennie’s parents were played by different actors but the episode is wonderful. Seeing the four from the All in the Family cast, four Jeffersons, and three Willises all together is something that never happened again.
I do get the sense that things were pretty chaotic behind the scenes. There's a two-part TV Guide investigation from around 1975 about all the demands from the stars -- and apparently some very bad drunken behavior from Bill Macy at one industry event -- so I can see why producers might've wanted to keep their options open for replacing certain people. It would have been FASCINATING to see what AITF would've become if they'd killed Archie off, though overall what a relief that it didn't come to that!