Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 146
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Popular Culture Review
Throughout "All in the Family's" 212 episodes, Edith was
periodically plagued by a host of "women's problems"; these included
menopause, suspected breast cancer, and sexual assault. These topics
had never been presented on sitcoms before. Some viewers complained
that the subjects were too personal to be dealt with on the air.
Others, however, believed that it was time to bring them out in the
open.
Society did not have to further compound the
"uncomfortability" that nature had contrived for women. When
Edith was sexually assaulted in her own home, she dealt not only
with what had happened to her, but also with the notion that it
might reflect negatively on her if she reported it to the police. The
episode stressed the fact that any woman, young or old, could be a
possible target. This episode won considerable praise for its
effectiveness from police departments and rape crisis centers across
the country.
In other episodes, Edith faced menopause and the fear that she
had breast cancer. In the breast cancer episode, Edith saw a doctor
and learned that her scare was a false alarm. Elated, she jumped for
joy; when she landed, she fractured her foot. Having seen the show,
scores of American women made appointments for mammograms and
community service groups request^ video tapes from the network for
counseling purposes (McCrohan 218).
A more typical Lear woman evolved from Bunker acquaintances,
such as Edith's opinionated, independent cousin Maude Findlay.
"Maude" was spun off from "All in the Family" in 1972 and featured
Beatrice Arthur in the title role.
A wealthy, middle-aged
suburbanite, Maude was a political liberal and an outspoken feminist.
She was already familiar to viewers from her verbal battles with
Archie-'battles she usually won. Her broad-minded, liberalistic
harangues were every bit as overbearing as his conservative
d iatri^ s. In the series pilot, Maude is already on her fourth
husband. Over the next six seasons she would have an abortion (an
episode which some CBS affiliates refused to air), experience hot
flashes associated with menopause, and exhibit a set of political
attitudes that placed her somewhere between George McGovern and
Simone de Beauvoir. "Maude" was a radical innovation because,
unlike "All in the Family," which focused on a blue-collar
household, the show invaded upper middle class suburban life and