Legendary television writer-producer Norman Lear believes today’s TV news networks are failing the American people by hewing too closely to political correctness.
The creator of classics All in the Family and The Jeffersons appeared at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena on Tuesday to promote his upcoming guest stint on Reza Aslan’s new talk show Rough Draft, reports Entertainment Weekly.
“I don’t think the narrow point of view serves the American people well,” Lear said of the quality of today’s television. “I don’t think the bumper-sticker quality of news and discussion helps us understand, and I think the obligation of broadcasters — when that word existed and there were three networks, the news was not expected to make money. I think the American people don’t get what they earn by way of help and understanding in context of what is going on in their world.”
The 93-year-old TV legend, who recently announced an initiative aimed at combatting Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s “hate speech,” added that viewers today are living through a “golden age” of television where there is simply too much great programming to watch at any given time.
“I don’t know how many signals I can turn to for great drama, great dramedy. This has to be the Golden Age,” Lear said. “There is so very much good quality, so much excellence in drama. I live a life, probably we all do, where people are constantly saying, ‘You mean you haven’t seen…’ and they mention a show that’s been on for 10 years… it’s the Golden Age.”
Aslan, whose talk show debuts on Ovation on February 28, said that despite the glut of original programming on TV, there’s still one category of show that’s missing.
“I’m waiting for a Muslim All in the Family,” the author and commentator told the Los Angeles Times. “Muslims are never going to feel like a part of the American family until people start to make fun of them on TV. That’s how minds have always been changed in this country.”