Influential writer and producer Norman Lear was honored posthumously Monday night at the 75th Emmy Awards.
Just before the in memoriam segment, the ceremony featured a moment with Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers, who starred in “All in the Family,” a show created by Lear. “All in the Family” introduced the world to the iconic character Archie Bunker and reigned as the most-watched show on American television for much of the 1970s.
“Sally and I were part of a unique television family,” Reiner said. “We were part of a unique family, and not just the Bunkers, but Norman Lear's extended family. Over the decades, Norman brought us together and created groundbreaking television shows that depicted real people, made us laugh, made us think and made us feel.”
On a night dominated by scathingly class-conscious shows like “Succession” and “The White Lotus,” Lear’s legacy of political activism and liberal storytelling was the focus of the tribute to Reiner.
“There is a Yiddish word that describes Norman's genius; is kochleffel,” he said. “For all non-Jews, a kochleffel It's a ladle, a ladle that stirs the pot. And when Norman, the kochleffelstirred that pot, it ended up changing American culture.”
Lear died in December at age 101 after a notable career dating back to the early days of television in the 1950s, when he wrote comedy sketches.
Although he was best known for bringing provocative comedies like “Maude” and “The Jeffersons” to network television in the 1970s and 1980s, Lear stayed busy well into his 10th and 11th decades, producing an updated version of “One Day at a Time” for Netflix (which was later revived on Pop) and featuring live performances of classic episodes of their shows for ABC.
