Norman Lear Dead At 101 :-)

And good riddance. The Daily Mail eulogizes:

    With a career that spanned more than six decades, Lear created or helped develop some of the most loved comedians [sic] in American television history. 

    These included the likes of 'All in the Family, 'Sanford and Son', 'Good Times, and 'The Jeffersons'. 

    Lear, who won six Emmy awards for his work in television, was known for campaigning for liberal causes, including voting rights, and worked well into his 90s. 

    Among his milestones was creating the first African American nuclear family regularly appearing on television: the Evans clan on 'Good Times,' beginning in 1974. 

    Lear injected the sensitive subjects of race, sexuality, class, inequality and politics like the anti-war movement into his work, breaking the sitcom mold and beaming modern visions of family life into millions of US households.  

    At one point, in the 1970s, Lear had eight shows on the air with an estimated 120 million viewers, Time magazine said.

Wikipedia has more about him, including his political activism and opposition to the Moral Majority. I guess I can blame Lear for making the sit-coms of my childhood preachy instead of funny.