Influential writer-producer Norman Lear was celebrated 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 iconic character Archie Bunker to the world and reigned as the most-watched show on American television for much of the ’70s.
“Sally and I were part of a unique television family,” Reiner said. “We were part of a very unique family, and not just the Bunkers, but Norman Lear’s extended family. Over the decades, Norman brought us together, and he created groundbreaking television shows that depicted real people, made us laugh, made us think, made us feel.”
On a night dominated by bitingly class-conscious shows like “Succession” and “The White Lotus,” Lear’s legacy of political activism and liberal storytelling was the focus of Reiner’s tribute.
“There’s a Yiddish word that describes Norman’s genius; it’s kochleffel,” he said. “For all you non-Jews out there, a kochleffel is a ladle, a ladle that stirs the pot. And when Norman, the kochleffel, stirred that pot, he wound up changing American culture.”
Lear died in December at age 101 after a remarkable career dating back to the early days of television in the 1950s, when he wrote comedy sketches.
Though he was best known for bringing provocative sitcoms such as “Maude” and “The Jeffersons” to network television in the ’70s and ’80s, Lear remained busy well into his 10th and 11th decades, producing an updated version of “One Day at a Time” for Netflix (which was later revived at Pop) and staging live performances of classic episodes of his shows for ABC.