Culver City, Calif. (March 20, 2009) – From legendary producer Norman Lear, known for creating some of the most acclaimed and top-rated television series of all time, comes an all-new Collector’s Set arriving on DVD June 9 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The Norman Lear Collection boasts six hours of newly-produced featurettes and interviews, in addition to the first seasons of seven ground-breaking Emmy® Award-winning shows: “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” “One Day at a Time,” and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” all housed in collectible packaging. This comprehensive set is a bonanza for television fans and will be available for $159.95 SLP
The collection includes two discs of all-new bonus features including new interviews with Lear, Rob Reiner, Bea Arthur, Adrienne Barbeau, Rue McClanahan, Jimmie Walker, Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips, Mary Kay Place and Louise Lasser. The set also includes both never-before-released pilot episodes from “All in the Family” entitled “Those Were The Days,” and the 1971 “lost” pilot, “And Justice For All,” which was originally turned down by ABC, only to be later picked up by CBS.
Fans of classic television will marvel over hours of show-specific featurettes, such as “And Then There’s “Maude”: Television’s First Feminist” featuring intimate interviews with Bea Arthur, Adrienne Barbeau and Rue McClanahan as they reminisce about working together on the series and discuss the significance behind a show that was truly ahead of its time. Also included is The Legacy of a Television Revolutionary, with some of the featured actors talking about how Lear has impacted their lives.
Norman Lear is one of the most well respected, prolific and successful men in the entertainment industry. He has garnered four Emmy Awards® and been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He not only has impacted our society through his work in television, but also his philanthropic efforts. As founder of the People for the American Way and the Norman Lear Center at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication, he continues to be a strong voice for First Amendment rights.
All in the Family: The Complete First Season
The Bunkers were one of the most beloved families in television history. Starring Carroll O’Connor as Archie, Jean Stapleton as Edith, Rob Reiner as “Meathead,” and Sally Struthers as Gloria, “All in the Family” changed the face of television forever with its January 12, 1971 premiere. The show broke new ground for addressing controversial subjects in realistic ways and for creating unforgettable characters that soon became a part of pop culture. During its eight-year run, the show received an amazing 48 Emmy Award® nominations and took home 20 trophies with multiple wins for all the lead characters, and three wins for Outstanding Comedy Series.
DVD Special Features Include:
All-New Featurette: Those Were The Days – The Birth of “All in The Family”
From creation, through the first two pilots, to making it onto the CBS schedule as a mid-season replacement. Lots of stories about casting, character development, network reaction to the pilots and how it was finally rejected by ABC only to be picked up by CBS.
All-New Featurette: The TV Revolution Begins – “All in the Family” is On the Air
From premiere night on CBS through the airing of 13 episodes, ending with a last-minute pick-up for a second season. Lots of stories and talk about essence of the characters, what the actors brought to their roles and the wonderful chemistry between all 4 members of the cast.
Never-Before-Released Pilot: “Those Were the Days”
Never-Before-Released “Lost” 1971 Pilot: “And Justice For All”
Sanford & Son: The First Season
An immediate audience and critic favorite when it debuted in 1972, “Sanford and Son” marked an early milestone in urban TV comedy. As the first sitcom featuring an all African-American cast, “Sanford and Son” ushered that perspective into American homes, defying long established barriers and stereotypes. Starring one-of-a kind comedian Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford, a grumpy old junk dealer living with his long-suffering son Lamont (Demond Wilson) in Los Angeles’ Watts, the show earned seven Emmy Award® nominations between 1972 and 1976 and five Golden Globe® nominations including Best TV Show.
DVD Special Features Include:
All-New Featurette: Everyone Loves a Clown
Norman Lear talks about the creation of the show, the casting of Redd Foxx, selling the show to NBC deep inside CBS, what Redd brought to the role and the casting of Demond Wilson. Norman is the only “voice” in this piece.
Maude: Season 1
Maude, played masterfully by Beatrice Arthur who won the Emmy Award® for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, was first introduced as Edith Bunker’s outspoken, liberal cousin on “All in the Family.” Her spin-off show, “Maude,” set in Tuckahoe, New York, focuses on the character’s daily adventures at home with fourth husband Walter (Bill Macy), divorced daughter Carol (Adrienne Barbeau), and Carol’s son Phillip. Joining in on the fun is housekeeper Florida (Esther Rolle, TV’s “Good Times”), and conservative next-door neighbor Arthur (Conrad Bain, TV’s “Diff’rent Strokes”). Guest stars include Rue McClanahan (TV’s “The Golden Girls”), John Amos (TV’s “Good Times”), and Tom Bosley (TV’s “Happy Days”).
DVD Special Features Include:
All-New Featurette: And Then There’s “Maude”: Television’s First Feminist
Interviews with Bea Arthur, Adrienne Barbeau and Rue McClanahan reflecting on the series
All-New Featurette: Everything But Hemorrhoids: “Maude” Speaks to America
Bea Arthur and Norman Lear reminisce about working together
Good Times: Season One
Starring Emmy Award®-winning actress Esther Rolle (TV’s “Summer of my German Soldier”) and Emmy® nominated actor John Amos (TV’s “Roots”), “Good Times” was that rare hit show which struck a chord with audiences of all colors. A spin-off of “Maude,” “Good Times” altered America’s cultural landscape by tackling topical, often controversial issues from a uniquely African American perspective, while still managing to deliver heart-warming laughs. The trailblazing show highlighting the struggles and laughs of a family on the south side of Chicago also made a star of jive-talkin’ comedian Jimmie Walker whose catch phrase “DY-NO-MITE!” became part of ‘70s pop culture.
DVD Special Features Include:
All-New Featurette: Ain’t We Lucky We Got ‘Em: “Good Times”
Norman Lear and Jimmie Walker talk about the show and its impact on black audiences
The Jeffersons: Season One
The most successful spin-off series to “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” Starred Emmy Award® nominee Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford, who took home the Emmy Award® in 1981 for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. The series chronicles the rise of fast-talking dry cleaner king George Jefferson and his no-nonsense wife Louise. With his business booming, scrappy George Jefferson decides it’s time to “move on up” to a deluxe hi-rise apartment on Manhattan’s posh Upper East Side. The talented cast of supporting characters includes the Jeffersons’ sassy maid Florence (Marla Gibbs), acid-tongued matriarch Mother Jefferson (Zara Culley), crazy next-door neighbors, interracial couple Helen and Tom Willis (Roxie Roker and Franklin Cover) and Englishman Harry Bentley (Paul Benedict).
DVD Special Features Include:
All-New Featurette: Movin’ On Up: “The Jeffersons”
Norman Lear reflects back on The Jeffersons
One Day at a Time: The Complete First Season
“One Day at a Time,” Lear’s popular series about a divorced mother raising two headstrong teenage daughters while trying to maintain a career, debuted mid-season in 1975, and remained a top 20 show in the Nielsen ratings for CBS during most of its run. The series stars Emmy Award®-nominee Bonnie Franklin, two-time Golden Globe® winner Valerie Bertinelli, Mackenzie Phillips, Emmy Award® and Golden Globe® winner Pat Harrington, Jr., and Richard Masur.
DVD Special Features Include:
All-New Featurette: This is It – The Story of “One Day at A Time”
Interviews with Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips and Norman Lear
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: Volume 1
The broadly-exaggerated spoof of soap opera calamity stars Emmy®-nominee Louise Lasser (Take the Money and Run, Bananas) as the pigtailed, gingham-frocked American housewife from the fictional small town of Fernwood Ohio, along with a talented ensemble featuring Emmy®-winner Mary Kay Place (The Big Chill, TV’s “Big Love”), Dabney Coleman (Nine to Five) and Martin Mull (TV’s “Roseanne”). Ranked by Entertainment Weekly as one of the “100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time” and listed among TV Guide’s “Top 50 Cult Shows in Television History,” “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” is the soap opera to satirize all soap operas, dealing with such hot topics as mass murder, exhibitionism, masturbation, impotence and waxy yellow buildup on linoleum floors.
