Maude was a 1970s TV sitcom (on CBS) featuring a feisty but occasionally overbearing middle aged woman of the liberal persuasion and her fourth husband, Walter Findlay. Walter owned an appliance store in a suburb of New York. The show was a spin-off of All in the Family, another 70s sitcom that was among the first to feature overtly political themes. In Maude's third season (1975) Walter "got religion," although it turns out he had an ulterior motive (to sell appliances to the church's new social center). In pursuit of this unacknowledged objective, he drags Maude (Bea Arthur) to church, where she promptly falls asleep.
As a consequence, Maude and Walter have a confrontation about religion. This is the first of three parts. I never liked this show, so I'll spare you the other two parts. It's a peek into what was concerned the bleeding edge of advanced views in the 1970s. It's also clear that if this were to be aired today Maude would be an atheist, not just someone who didn't care for "organized religion." Still, her views sound fairly conventional even in today's terms. We've come some way, but not that far in 35 years. On average, we remain a backward and superstitious country:
- Log in to post comments
Thanks for this blast from the past, and a good chuckle. It's often interesting to see how religion (or the lack of religion) is portrayed on TV. Where do you think we'll be on this issue in another 35 years?
I loved this line: "if god had meant for everybody to go to church, why would he have made the Sunday Times 300 pages long?"
I guess since the Saturday Times is always so thin, that means that god wants everyone to go to synagogue.
They had some crappy sitcoms back then. A quarter probably went a long ways back in those days though.
Sounds like the jokes were written by Bob Hope('s writing staff). You could probably buy a house for like five bucks back then though.
Some people just don't get it.
Crappy? No- it doesn't have to be about sex to be funny.
It was, and it still is, very funny.
Thanks for reminding us.
For some reason your post made me think of this:
Bali Pig Farmers The Losers In Swine Flu Scare
Jakarta Globe - â12 hours agoâ
âWe're not going to issue a travel ban because the case fatality rate for swine flu is only about 6.2 percent,â he said. Emil said Komnas FBPI would divert ...