Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra. “Whenever I see him, every few weeks, he always asks me, ‘What more can we do? What should we be doing with our library?’”” has become synonymous with smart comedy that doesn’t shy away from real-life social and political issues — shows like “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons,” both of which were re-created for the first “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” special in May.
Lear went on to produce films such as “The Princess Bride” and “Fried Green Tomatoes,” but took a bit of a hiatus after his 1994 show “704 Hauser,” which centered on a new family in Archie Bunker’s old house, didn’t connect with viewers. In the 2000s, much of his attention was on advocacy and philanthropic work. He and wife Lyn purchased a rare, original copy of the Declaration of Independence and took it on a road tour for much of the next decade.
“He made it possible,” Lorre says. “I don’t know why television as a medium moved away from it for many years. But he showed you that you can put on a television show that’s funny — really funny — and tackle some real issues that affect real people. That was woven into my DNA watching that stuff as I was growing up.”
Calderón Kellett says she didn’t think trying to nail down a Latinx “One Day at a Time” would work, given the dozens of countries and cultures that fall under that banner. She told Lear too many shows that aim to feature Latinx characters usually wind up watered down. “I can’t speak for all West Coast Cubans, but I can tell you my story, and I can be specific with that,” she says she told him. He said, “Well, let’s do that,” and then asked her about her mother.
At the same time, the showrunners were cognizant that they had been handed the keys to the Norman Lear legacy. “It was pressure that we wanted to do right by him,” Calderón Kellett says. “He got in there a lot more early on. And I think we earned his trust. He was able to step back and enjoy it more.”
Vinciquerra, of course, has also found a way to use Lear’s presence to his advantage: “If there’s somebody we want to talk to, I always call Norman and say, ‘Hey, do you know this person?’ If he says yes, he’ll volunteer to send an email to introduce us. Because if you get an endorsement from Norman, that’s a pretty strong one. We don’t want everyone to know our secret weapon, but he’s one of our better salespeople right now.
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