King Lear changed American television

BEVERLY HILLS - There was a time when TV comedy was Norman Lear.

And it was a very good time.

Starting with his breakthrough 1971 sitcom All in the Family, Lear created a series of hits that changed American television: The Jeffersons, Maude, Good Times, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, Sanford and Son and One Day at a Time. These were shows that dominated the ratings while introducing a new, adult form of comedy to TV, comedy that wasn't afraid to address issues like race, abortion and the war in Vietnam.

He was a master of TV comedy — so it's no great surprise that he's the subject of an upcoming American Masters profile on PBS. The only surprise is that it took American Masters so long.

Lear's shows were big hits, and as big hits do, they turned their actors into big stars —starting with Family's quartet of Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers. "I picked each of them," Lear said at the Television Critics Association press tour. "But in picking those actors, I am not responsible for the chemistry they developed in every single direction…The chemistry was a gift from someplace else, and I can't be responsible for that."

We think of Family as a huge success, which it was. But it took Lear three years and two networks to get it on the air, having made it for ABC, which rejected it, and then moving it to CBS.

Lear's shows were famous for tackling social issues in ways that most modern sitcoms no longer do. Why does Lear think they now shy away from such subjects?

"I'm not close enough to know. My guess is they're fully capable of doing it, but they just don't elect to. Or the networks don't elect to have them elect to. I don't know which it is. I love Modern Family. It has a lot to say about a lot of situations. They don't talk about some of the situations we dealt with, but I think that's because they don't elect to."

Yet despite that change, Lear does not buy into the idea that TV's best days ended when his shows left the air. "I think this is the golden age…There's great drama and some great comedy on TV these days. I can't see it all."

And at 93, he's not done yet, either. "We're talking about doing a Latina version of One Day at a Time...That could happen."

A famous progressive, Lear retains his love for what America is and still could be. And while some call him a "leftie," that's not how he describes himself.

"I think of my self of being a bleeding-heart conservative. You will not (mess) with my Bill of Rights. With equal justice for all…The people who are running just don't seem to have America on their minds. Not the America I'm in love with."

And after that long career, any regrets? "There's probably nothing I've done that I wish I hadn't done better."