Maude (TV series)
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| Maude | |
|---|---|
 Maude title card |
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| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | Norman Lear |
| Starring | Beatrice Arthur Bill Macy Adrienne Barbeau Conrad Bain Rue McClanahan (1974-1978) Esther Rolle (1972-1974) Hermione Baddeley (1974-1977) J. Pat O'Malley (1975-1977) Marlene Warfield (1977-1978) Michael Keaton |
| Opening theme | "And Then There's Maude" written by Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Dave Grusin, performed by Donny Hathaway |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | List of Maude episodes |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 12, 1972 – April 22, 1978 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | All in the Family |
| Followed by | Good Times Hanging In |
| Related shows | The Jeffersons Archie Bunker's Place Gloria 704 Hauser |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Maude is a Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated half-hour American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978.
Maude starred Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York with her fourth husband. 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, in which Beatrice Arthur portrayed the title role of Maude, Edith Bunker's cousin; like that show, Maude was a sitcom with topical story lines created by producer Norman Lear.
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[edit] Characters
Maude had been married three times before; two of her husbands, Albert and Barney, had died and she had divorced the other, Chester, who would appear on the show played by Martin Balsam. Her current husband, Walter Findlay (played by Bill Macy), owned an appliance store called Findlay's Friendly Appliances. Maude and Walter met just before the 1968 presidential election. Maude sometimes got in the last word during their many arguments with her trademark catchphrase, "God'll getcha for that, Walter."
Maude's divorced daughter, Carol Traynor (from her second marriage, played by Adrienne Barbeau; in the Maude pilot, an episode of All in the Family, Carol was played by Marcia Rodd), and Carol's son, Phillip (played by Brian Morrison and later by Kraig Metzinger), also lived with the Findlays. Though single, Carol maintained her reputation of dating many men, as evidenced by her weekend "business trips" with various boyfriends. She dated various men throughout early seasons, eventually forming a serious (but brief) relationship with a man named Chris (played by Fred Grandy) in the later seasons. Like her mother, Carol was an outspoken liberal feminist who was not afraid to speak her mind.
The Findlays' next-door neighbors were Dr. Arthur Harmon (a stuffy, sardonic Republican who clashed with Maude's political views, played by Conrad Bain) and his sweet but scatterbrained wife Vivian (played by Rue McClanahan, who in the 1980s would star again with Beatrice Arthur in The Golden Girls). Arthur had been Walter's best friend since the two men served together in World War II; he was the one who brought Walter and Maude together in 1968 and "affectionately" called Maude "Maudie." Vivian had been Maude's best friend since they both attended college together. When the series began, Arthur was a widower and Vivian was a soon-to-be divorcée (her previous last name was Cavender); in a late first-season episode, Vivian and her husband, Chuck, were getting a divorce after 21 years of marriage. Arthur and Vivian began dating at the beginning of the second season and were married during the middle of it.
[edit] The housekeepers
For the entire run of the show, Maude also had a housekeeper, a fact that sometimes contradicted her earnest, liberal intentions.
When the series began, the Findlays' maid was Florida Evans, a no-nonsense African American woman who often had the last laugh at Maude's expense. Maude would often make a point of conspicuously and awkwardly demonstrating how open-minded and liberal she was (Florida almost quit working for Maude because of this). Despite Florida's status as a maid, Maude emphasized to Florida she felt that they were "equals," and insisted she enter and exit the Findlay house via the front door (even though the back door was more convenient).
As portrayed by Esther Rolle, the character of Florida proved so popular that, in 1974, she became the star of her own new series entitled Good Times. In the storyline of Maude, Florida's husband, Henry, received a raise at his job, and she quit to be a full-time housewife and mother. Good Times is based on the childhood of its creator, Mike Evans, who starred as Lionel Jefferson on All in the Family and The Jeffersons.
After Florida's departure in 1974, Mrs. Nell Naugatuck (played by Hermione Baddeley), an elderly (and vulgar) British woman who drank excessively and lied compulsively, took over. Unlike Florida, who commuted, Mrs. Naugatuck was a live-in maid. She met and began dating Bert Beasley (an elderly security guard at a cemetery; played by J. Pat O'Malley) in 1975. They married in 1977 and moved to Ireland to care for Bert's mother. Mrs. Naugatuck's frequent sparring with Maude was, arguably, just as comedically popular as Florida's sparring. The difference in the two relationships was that Mrs. Naugatuck often came off as if she despised Maude Findlay, whereas Florida seemed periodically frustrated by her boss.
Lear admitted the last name 'Naugatuck' was directly taken from the Town of Naugatuck, Connecticut, which he found amusing. Due to the popularity of the program, Baddeley even visited the town in the late 1970s and was given a warm, official ceremony at the town green.
Maude then hired Victoria Butterfield (played by Marlene Warfield), a native of the island of Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands, whom Maude initially accused of stealing her wallet. Victoria remained until the end of the series in 1978.
[edit] Title sequence
The opening title sequence begins with an aerial shot of New York City, including the Chrysler Building. It then showcases a drive from the city to Maude's house in Tuckahoe, where Maude answers her door to greet, ostensibly, the viewing audience. Although the sequence supposedly shows the trip in the then-present day (1970s), the cars in one part of the sequence appear to be from the 1950s.
One shot in the title sequence takes the viewer over the George Washington Bridge. In reality, this bridge connects New York City with New Jersey to the west, whereas Westchester County, where Maude lives, lies to the north of Manhattan.
The show's theme song, And Then There's Maude, was written by Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Dave Grusin, and performed by Donny Hathaway
[edit] Series history and topicality
Maude spun off from All in the Family after the character of Maude Findlay appeared on two episodes of the first program, the first of which aired in December 1971. Maude was Edith Bunker's cousin, and she represented everything Archie Bunker did not: she was a liberal, a feminist, and upper-middle class whereas Archie was none of those things. Although Maude's political beliefs certainly mirrored those of the series creators more than did those of Archie Bunker (the character of Maude was in fact said to be loosely based on creator Norman Lear's then-wife Frances), episodes of Maude often lampooned Maude as a naive "limousine liberal" and did not show her beliefs and attitudes in an entirely complimentary light. Just before the show's premiere in September 1972, TV Guide described the character of Maude as "a caricature of the knee-jerk liberal."
While the show was written as very funny in nature, scripts also incorporated much darker humor and even drama, to the point where the show, in some episodes, could be seen as depressing rather than humorous.
Maude took Miltown, a mild tranqulizer, and also Valium; she and her husband Walter Findlay (Bill Macy) began drinking in the evening.
Maude had an abortion in November 1972, two months before the Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal nationwide, and the episodes which dealt with the situation are probably the series' most famous and certainly its most controversial. Maude, at age 47, was crushed when she found herself pregnant, and everyone agreed with her that having a baby at her age was very risky and not a wise thing to happen. Her daughter, Carol, brought to her attention that abortion was now legal in New York state. After some soul-searching (and discussions with Walter, who agreed that raising a baby at their ages was not very wise), Maude tearfully decided at the end of the two-parter that abortion was probably the best choice. Noticing the wide controversy around the episode, CBS decided to rerun the episodes in August 1973, and members of the country's clergy reacted strongly to the decision. At least 30 stations dropped the show.
The producers and the writers of the show tackled other controversies. In a story arc that opened the 1973-74 season, Walter came to grips with his alcoholism and subsequently had a nervous breakdown. The beginning of the story arc had Maude, Walter and Arthur enjoying a night of revelry. However, Maude panicked when she woke up the following morning to find Arthur in her bed. This scared her to the point that both of them swore off alcohol entirely. Walter could not do it ("Dean Martin gets a million dollars for his buzz"), and became so aggravated during his attempts to stop that he struck Maude. Afterward, he suffered a breakdown as a result of his alcoholism and the domestic violence incident. The arc, which played out in three parts, was also controversial.
In the later seasons, Maude went through menopause, and many episodes showed Maude, sitting on a couch in a psychiatrist's office, talking through her insecurities about getting old as well as life in general. During the fifth season, Walter suffered another nervous breakdown, this time even attempting suicide, when he saw his business go bankrupt.
The Nielsen Ratings for Maude were high, particularly during the first seasons of the program (during the heyday of topical sitcoms which its presence helped to create), when it was regularly one of the top ten highest-rated American television programs in any given week.
[edit] End of program
By 1978, when the series was in its sixth season, the ratings had started to sink and CBS decided to revamp the series. The final few episodes paved the way for Maude to get elected to Congress as a Democrat during the 1978 U.S. midterm elections (she helped campaign for a congresswoman who unexpectedly died in her house), causing Maude and husband Walter to move to Washington, D.C., with the rest of the cast being let go. In the story, the Harmons moved to Idaho where Arthur accepted a job offer, and Carol got married and she and Phillip moved to Denver.
Those plans changed after just four episodes in the new format, when Bea Arthur decided she no longer wanted to continue the role of Maude. The idea was revamped repeatedly and in 1979 led to a short-lived CBS sitcom, Hanging In, starring Bill Macy; the show bore almost no resemblance to the original idea (Macy even played a different character).
[edit] DVD release
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season of Maude on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time on March 20, 2007.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | 22 | March 20, 2007 |
[edit] Syndication
Maude airs in Canada weekdays at 4:30pm, 9:30pm and 3:30am (all times Eastern) on Canwest's digital specialty channel, DejaView.
Reruns of Maude are not currently being shown on any national networks in the United States.
[edit] Theme and casting
- The theme song for Maude was performed by Donny Hathaway.
- A 1977 TV Guide article, perhaps meant to be somewhat tongue in cheek, stated that Kraig Metzinger had replaced Brian Morrison in the role of Phillip because 16-year-old Morrison had grown taller than everyone in the cast but Bea Arthur.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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