Norman Lear

The History Channel earns huge ratings with 'The Bible'

2013-03-05 04:46:00

The networks might be struggling on Sunday nights but not basic cable's the History Channel. The miniseries beat everything in sight Sunday night with record ratings for "The Bible." I think this quote from executive producers Roma Downey and Mark...

Leave liberal Hollywood to the liberals

2013-02-21 00:00:00

"We need to buy a movie studio." Amid the umpteen conferences, panels, meetings and informal conversations in the wake of the presidential election, this idea has been a near constant among conservatives who feel like the country is slipping through...

Norman Lear: Occupy movement revives tradition of protest

2012-01-02 05:00:00

I was recently shown a picture from one of the Occupy protests taking place across the country. It featured a young woman surrounded by police. She was the only protester in the picture, but she didn't seem intimidated. All by herself, up against the...

They leave as they began: With a buzz

2004-05-02 00:00:00

Looking back, it's easy to see how Frasier and Friends became TV icons. Television has no more valuable commodity than buzz, unless it is a time slot between two popular series. Friends and Frasier, which arrived a season apart and are departing a week...

Lt. governor draws 40% of funds from outside Maryland

2002-08-14 00:00:00

Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is collecting a significantly greater share of her campaign contributions from out of state than Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., according to an analysis of fund-raising reports. Almost 40 percent of the $6.7...

Emmy Comedy Contenders Chase the Triple Crown

2013-06-14 12:30:04

Eleven thoroughbreds have won horse racing's Triple Crown, but none since 1978. Primetime comedy also has its version of the trifecta -- high ratings, critical acclaim and Emmy notice -- and the same horse has won it three years in a row. Somehow, even...

Jean Stapleton dies at 90; was Edith Bunker in 'All in the Family'

2013-06-01 17:40:00

Jean Stapleton, the actress who endeared herself to viewers in the 1970s as Edith Bunker, whose sudden bursts of truth regularly cut through her husband Archie's bluster on the groundbreaking television series "All in the Family," has died. She was 90....

Jean Stapleton, beyond Edith Bunker: a devoted theater actress

2013-06-03 06:30:00

Before her caterwauling duet of "Those Were the Days" with Carroll O'Connor became a signature moment of CBS' "All in the Family," actress Jean Stapleton had already sung her way through a number of now-classic stage musicals in her career as a New York...

Editorial: 'Those were the days' in the Bunkers' home

2013-06-03 14:37:12

Although Edith Bunker died of a stroke more than three decades ago, her obituary found its way into national news this past weekend. Friday's death of actress Jean Stapleton, who portrayed Archie Bunker's wife on Norman Lear's sitcom All in the Family...

'Sopranos' Tops 'Seinfeld' as TV's Best-Written Show, Writers Guild Says

2013-06-03 07:59:02

Jun 03 (TheWrap.com) - The Writers Guild of America has named "The Sopranos" the best-written TV show of all time, followed by "Seinfeld." The writers' list features only one show -- "The Twilight Zone" -- from the era considered the golden age of...

'The Sopranos' Leads WGA List of Top TV Series

2013-06-03 02:30:05

The Writers Guild of America on Sunday unveiled its list of the "101 Best Written TV Series of All Time," topped by HBO's "The Sopranos." The mob drama created by David Chase (pictured above right with "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini) led the list...

Jean Stapleton, Who Played Edith Bunker on 'All in the Family,' Dead at 90

2013-06-01 16:30:06

Jean Stapleton, who won three Emmys and charmed audiences as the "dingbat" Edith Bunker on the groundbreaking TV show "All in the Family," died Friday in New York of natural causes. She was 90. Nearly 50 at the time, Stapleton had already worked onstage...

Following an extremely popular 1995 guest appearance on "Home Improvement," real-life comedian friends Chappelle and Jim Breuer were given their own ABC sitcom, "Buddies," in which they were to play a pair of unlikely best friends (also named Dave and Jim) who work together in Detroit.

2013-03-05 10:06:19

Sherman Hemsley, a comic actor who vaulted from a supporting role on Norman Lear's groundbreaking 1970s sitcom "All in the Family" to a lead role as George in the spinoff "The Jeffersons," was found dead Tuesday in El Paso. He was 74.

2012-07-27 16:26:00