It’s taken months, but we’re almost down to sixteen sweet classic TV comedies in this Battle Royale for the hearts and minds of a dedicated few. In the second half of our Tubular 32, we’ve got the definitive groundbreaking Norman Lear classic, the sketch show that drove its creator to flee over 10000 miles from the country, and another sketch show that featured pigs guarding ATM machines alongside mid-level managers going on mundane rampages. In this group we have the meta-ist meta show ever to meta, the animated adventures of a New Jersey restauranteur and his family, and those four Florida retirees who were somehow supposedly in their 50s. More possible candidates for the next round include the first profanity implying show title to feature Annie Murphy, the Scranton paper office that included the most demented member of the Grass Roots, and that show about nothing. So without further ado, it’s time to start VOTING!
Screen Scholars 
Here’s a story I should have told in the Jeffersons post — Norman Lear came up with the character of George Jefferson as a foil to Archie, and loved Sherman Hemsley for the role, but he was under contract somewhere else. But instead of recasting, he just introduzed Weezy, who’d make frequent references to George. “If my husband George was here…”, so by the time he actually appeared on the show, he was hyped up… and then Hemsley stepped up to the plate and delievered.
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