With All's Fair, Norman Lear tried to do for politics what he did to put down bigotry with All in the Family. Richard Crenna plays a 49 year old conservative newspaper columnist and author. Bernadette Peters plays a twenty-three-year-old politically liberal photographer.
I remember liking this series when it aired, and I just found a very few episodes of it on YouTube. I wish I could get the whole thing. My wife and I watched the first episode last night and laughed out loud more than we have in years except for watching reruns of Frasier ... and this is funnier than even Frasier.
Some critics claim the arguments between the leads were too much. I'd respond that most All in the Family episodes were nothing but one long argument also, and that series hit #1 and ran for years.
No, the problem All's Fair failed to overcome was scheduling. It simply couldn't compete with Monday Night Football to find an audience. It's lead in was Maude ... already a few years into its run, and another show with frequent and lasting antipathy between its characters. So I think "Maude fatigue" may have also held it back.
Try out the episodes on YouTube. You won't be disappointed.
