Bea Arthur
Maude is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978.
Maude stars Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York with her fourth husband, household appliance store owner Walter Findlay. Maude embraced the tenets of women’s liberation, always voted for Democratic Party candidates, strongly supported legal abortion, and advocated for civil rights and racial and gender equality. However, her overbearing and sometimes domineering personality often got her into trouble when speaking out on these issues.
The program was a spin-off of All in the Family, on which Beatrice Arthur had first played the character of Maude, Edith Bunker’s cousin; like All in the Family, Maude was a sitcom with topical storylines created by producer Norman Lear.
Unusual for a U.S. sitcom, several episodes featured only the characters of Maude and Walter, in what amounted to half-hour “two-hander” teleplays. Season 4’s “The Analyst” was a solo episode for Bea Arthur, who delivered a soul-searching, episode-length monologue to an unseen psychiatrist.
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom, created by Susan Harris, that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida.
Arguably the most influential creator, writer, and producer in the history of television, Norman Lear brought primetime into step with the times. Using comedy and indelible characters, his legendary 1970s shows such as All In the Family, Maude, Good Times, and The Jeffersons, boldly cracked open dialogue and shifted the national consciousness, injecting enlightened humanism into sociopolitical debates on race, class, creed, and feminism.