Norman Lear’s shows shaped television. So why don’t they do it with streaming?

Tributes continue to pour in following the death of 101-year-old television pioneer Norman Lear this week.

Amidst the celebration and reflection on his immense legacy, a contemporary realization of Lear’s unique catalog has arisen, which includes shows such as All in the family, The Jeffersons And Maud. With the exception of Sanford & Son And good times on Peacock and 227 There are no shows created by Lear available on Hulu via a subscription streaming offering. Instead, some programs can be purchased for download and many can be streamed on free, ad-supported services such as Pluto, Freevee and Tubi.

Joe Adalian mentioned the loophole in his Buffer newsletter for Vulture on Thursday, noting that Lear pioneered it. Maria Hartmann, Maria Hartmann is completely MIA.

Sony Pictures Entertainment, which controls the rights to Lear’s catalog, declined to comment to Deadline about its shows’ streaming presence. The company’s CEO, Tony Vinciquerra, paid tribute to Lear along with many others. “Norman and the shows he created defined what great television could be,” he said in a statement this week. “Always entertaining, effective and fearless when it comes to tackling society’s most complex and difficult problems with humour…” [they] set the standard for modern television audiences and paved the way for virtually every major comedy or drama that has followed since.

No one would be inclined to argue about it. Then why wasn’t there a pot? Friends– or His field-Plain gold for one of Lear’s creations or just a seat at the subscription table?

The statement may be hidden in plain sight, according to a veteran TV executive who has signed a number of major licensing deals with top streamers. Lear’s performances, the director said, were ahead of their time, but their edge might play very differently with today’s audiences, especially with Archie Bunker in the mix All in the family Ditch the N-word and other insults. “I just don’t know if it could be done today on network television or on an SVOD,” the director said. “He tackled so many taboos, but the shows worked because there were so few options in the three-network world.”

Netflix partnered with Lear on the 2017 reboot of One day at a time. When co-CEO Ted Sarandos accepted the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award at NATPE in 2015, he told Lear in the audience an anecdote about his lifelong passion for All in the family. He remembered stealing a framed cover TV show during a visit to the magazine’s sales offices with the show. Despite this huge fan base in the executive suite, it is new One day at a time was canceled after three acclaimed seasons on Netflix explain that “in the end, there just weren’t enough people watching to warrant another season.” Reaction to the move was intense, especially due to the fact that the reboot featured Latino characters. Cable channel Pop rescued the show in 2019, but it ended for good the following year.

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Obviously, the subscription services no longer have control over the entire streaming business like they used to. Free, ad-supported streaming television (aka FAST) is now a booming industry, bringing in billions of dollars in annual advertising revenue and growing viewership as pay TV package cuts continue to shrink. “If I were Sony,” the executive said, “I would create a tribute channel in FAST where Norman fans could find everything in one place.” It would be a destination where you can tap into the wealth of feelings that we all have.”

According to a person familiar with the deals, Sony has licensed many of Lear’s shows to AVOD platforms on a non-exclusive basis, meaning bundling them together could be possible.

While the streaming picture for Lear’s shows is still fuzzy, they remain in constant rotation on linear television, thanks in part to the multicast networks (or “Diginets”) that emerged a decade ago as the industry shifted to HD signals. has been switched. . Antenna TV, a Diginet owned by Nexstar, has scheduled several Lear-created shows including 227, Archie Bunkersplaats, Different strokes, Facts of life, Jefferson’s, Maud, One day at a time And Silver spoon. In January, a Lear series will debut on Weigel Broadcasting’s MeTV and two more will join the cable network’s TV One lineup.