Maude, Fifty Years Later

Tubi has an excellent catalog of the lesser known and older titles, inlcuding the Norman Lear-produced Maude, a spinoff of his previous sitcom All in the Family (currently only two seasons of Maude are streaming on Tubi).  

The show touched on numerous contemporary sociopolitical topics including Watergate and Nixon, divorced single moms, the ERA, alcoholism, and even the 1973 Oil Crisis, most of which are viewed through the main character’s feminist lens.  

In some aspects, Maude’s progressivism comes across as revolutionary for the time. She, along with her fourth husband Walter and daughter Carol, forcefully advocates for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, letting the audience know the explicit text of the amendment and its current journey through passage. And she does this battling her misogynist neighbor and apparent friend Arthur, who doesn’t think women should be CEOs or, god forbid, the president, due to their “high emotionality” (Season 2. Episode 10: The Will). In a two part episode, Maude faces the prospect of becoming pregnant at 47 and the then recent legalization of abortion. “It’s legal now in New York,” Walter and Carol remind her (Season 1, Episode 9: Maude’s Dilemma Part 1). And in another episode, Maude attempts to get herself and other elderly women arrested for marijuana possession as a protest against the harsh and unjust legal consequences of possession at the time (Season 1, Episode 12: The Grass Story). 

When it comes to these more progressive topics, it’s also Carol, the daughter and next generation of feminists, that pulls Maude even further to the left. She insists to Maude that abortion is no longer a dirty word as Maude mulls it over. In an episode where Carol’s boyfriend stays the night, Carol wants them to sleep in the same bed while Maude has hesitations about that since they aren’t married yet (Season 2, Episode 8: The Double Standard).  

And like Maude’s hesitancy to allow pre-marital sleeping together, she has other areas where her feminism and progressivism has limits. She derides her best friend Vivian’s (Rue McClanahan) facelift thinking it’s vain, but then she herself gets one (Season 2, Episodes 4 and 5: Maude’s Facelift: Parts 1 and 2).

In another two part episode, Maude contends with Walter’s alcoholism, an affliction that gets to the point where he slaps her while drunk. Carol recognizes the seriousness of the situation and makes the hard decision to take her son Philip to live in a motel while Walter and Maude work it out. To my surprise, Maude brushes off the slap, despite it giving her a black eye, and she even claims she’s thankful for him slapping her because it means he’s “finally going to change” (Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2: Walter’s Problem). And in another episode, Maude takes in a 16 year old Black girl for a few weeks to learn from her. In a severe misstep, Maude makes the first meal for her be fried chicken. The girl, Francie, takes this along with Maude’s other “well-intentioned” actions as a sign that white people still don’t fully understand Black people (Season 2, Episode 16: Maude’s Guest). Throughout these first two seasons it’s evident that racism and race relations are where Maude’s liberalism falls short the most, a blindspot that has parallels today but is a topic for another essay.  

It’s not surprising that Maude has regressive beliefs despite her otherwise progressive approach. She admits that she grew up in a different generation and those old ways are still inside her, ways that she tries to overcome for the betterment of herself, her family, and society. And that, I think, is her true progressivism: to recognize outdated, even harmful or nonsensical beliefs, in ourselves, and be open to change. It’s a perennial lesson for audiences and society. And in that sense, along with Bea Arthur’s hilarious comedic delivery, make this show rather timeless.