Norman Lear's comedy helped diverse Americans tune in to each other

For many of us old enough to remember Archie Bunker's living room chair before it became a Smithsonian Museum exhibit, Norman Lear helped television comedy get over its fear of real life.

- Clarence Page

Lear, who died Dec. 5 at the ripe young age of 101, wrote and produced "All in the Family" and many other shows that dared to mix political and social commentary with laughs and get away with it, scoring big ratings and armloads of awards along the way.

They also gave us a lifetime of memorable TV moments that still have old-timers declaring, "You had to be there." If you were there, as I was, you may well remember how the 1950s-style monoculture of "Ozzie and Harriet," "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver" was disrupted by the appearance of "All in the Family" in 1971- the early days of a decade that had yet to define itself culturally in the wake of the socially and politically turbulent 1960s.

The pilot signaled we were about to see something very different. Almost all the "action" takes place in the Queens home of Archie and Edith Bunker (played magnificently by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton), who share their working-class bungalow with their thoroughly '60s-style daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and her husband Mike (Rob Reiner), whom Archie uncharitably dubs "Meathead." Despite Gloria's pleas to Mike before a Sunday brunch after church, "Promise no fighting with Daddy, OK?" within moments, Mike and Archie get into it.