Legendary television writer and producer Norman Lear died Tuesday at the age of 101 and tonight, Wednesday, December 6th, all five major broadcast networks will simultaneously air a tribute to the creator behind iconic television series such as All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, and more. According to TVLine, CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and The CW will all simulcast an “in memoriam” card at 8 p.m. ET/PT in a rare joint effort to honor the creator.
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“In recognition of Norman Lear’s vast accomplishments and influence across television, CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and The CW will simulcast an on-air in memoriam card tonight at 8:00 pm ET/PT honoring the late legendary TV writer and producer,” a joint statement from the networks read.
Additionally, Pluto TV will run marathons of several of Lear’s classic shows starting Wednesday at 7 pm ET with All in the Family airing on Classic TV: Families, Maude on Classic TV: Comedy, and Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons airing on Black Classics.
“Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather,” Lear’s family said in a statement. “Norman lived a life of creativity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all. Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human being.”
Lear was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1922 and attended Emerson College in Boston before dropping out in 1942 to serve in World War II. It was upon his return from war that Lear began working first in public relations and then began writing comedy for The Martin and Lewis Show. He went on to both write and direct films, but ended up making his biggest mark on television, starting with his breakthrough series All in The Family in 1971. The series, which took on complicated topics such as racism, social inequality, feminism, and more, earned numerous Emmy Awards.
Lear was also responsible for numerous other shows, including some of the most popular sitcoms of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, One Day at a Time, Good Times, and Diff’rent Strokes. Even in more recent years Lear remained active with his work in television, producing and hosting three episodes of Live in Front of a Studio Audience along with Jimmy Kimmel.
“Edgy is what others wrote about it, but I never thought it was edgy,” Lear told CNN in 2020 about his shows, including All in the Family. “We were simply dealing with the problems that existed in our culture.”
Over his career, Lear earned numerous awards, including six Primetime Emmys, two Peabody Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 1999, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2017, and the Golden Globe Carol Burnett Award in 2021. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1984.
