Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

Television writer and producer Norman Lear brought some of the most popular sitcoms of the 1970s to U.S. TV screens. He is best known for , about the bigoted conservative Archie Bunker who is always at odds with his left-wing son-in-law. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady explore Lear’s life and work through interviews with friends, family and TV personalities of past and present. The filmmakers devote particular attention to the strong social dimension in Lear’s shows, and their influence on society. His provocative approach to topics such as war, poverty, racism and equal rights was previously unheard of, and it secured him a place on Richard Nixon’s “enemies list.” After making 16 series and 700 hours of primetime TV, Lear decided to leave the entertainment industry and become a political activist. Now well into his nineties, he lives by the same motto as he did in his heyday: we’re all just another version of each other.