Note: this article contains detailed discussions of sexual assault.
Norman Lear's seminal sitcom "All in the Family" was known for bringing laughs and thought-provoking discussions, but a 1977 episode entitled "Edith's 50th Birthday" was an outlier. Instead of a comedy, the two-parter felt like a horror show, one with a gravely serious topic: rape. In it, family matriarch Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) survives a harrowing, extended assault attempt by a stranger and is forced to muddle through the aftermath of intense trauma. It's a dark point for the series, but it's one that show creator Lear said elicited the strongest live-action response of any moment in the show's nine-season run.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Lear (who died at the age of 101 in 2023) was asked to recall the biggest audience uproar in the show's history. "I never heard a bigger sound on television than when Edith got...
Norman Lear's seminal sitcom "All in the Family" was known for bringing laughs and thought-provoking discussions, but a 1977 episode entitled "Edith's 50th Birthday" was an outlier. Instead of a comedy, the two-parter felt like a horror show, one with a gravely serious topic: rape. In it, family matriarch Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) survives a harrowing, extended assault attempt by a stranger and is forced to muddle through the aftermath of intense trauma. It's a dark point for the series, but it's one that show creator Lear said elicited the strongest live-action response of any moment in the show's nine-season run.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Lear (who died at the age of 101 in 2023) was asked to recall the biggest audience uproar in the show's history. "I never heard a bigger sound on television than when Edith got...
- 3/31/2024
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
The death of Norman Lear at the age of 101 ended the reign of one of the most prolific television producers in the industry’s history. Lear was known for pushing viewers’ buttons in some of his most unforgettable television series, including All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, and Good Times. Lear never shied away from tackling the tough topics. Here are 5 of Norman Lear’s most controversial TV episodes.
‘All in the Family’: Edith’s 50th Birthday
The two-part All in the Family episode titled “Edith’s 50th Birthday” was a dark look into Edith Bunker’s (Jean Stapelton) attempted rape. It was the first time a television sitcom dealt directly with the subject.
The season 8 episode centered on Edith’s milestone birthday. As her family was next door planning her birthday party, an attacker posing as a police detective entered her home.
‘All in the Family’: Edith’s 50th Birthday
The two-part All in the Family episode titled “Edith’s 50th Birthday” was a dark look into Edith Bunker’s (Jean Stapelton) attempted rape. It was the first time a television sitcom dealt directly with the subject.
The season 8 episode centered on Edith’s milestone birthday. As her family was next door planning her birthday party, an attacker posing as a police detective entered her home.
- 12/6/2023
- by Lucille Barilla
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Elizabeth Olsen may save the day in Marvel films, but on Wednesday evening she highlighted her own hero: Gail Abarbanel, the founder and director of the Rape Foundation and Stuart House.
In her speech at Variety’s Power of Women event presented by Lifetime, Olsen spoke passionately about Abarbanel, also in attendance, and the Los Angeles organization that the activist founded nearly five decades ago.
“When I learned about tonight, I asked Gail if there is anything that she would like to do next with the foundation, because in my mind she’s already thought of everything. She said, ‘Yes, to stop sexual abuse on the internet,'” Olsen said. “To me that sounded very, very big and maybe impossible. But if you were to ask her what she wanted to create in 1974, I think that would have also sounded just as big and impossible.”
Olsen recalled her first meeting with Abarbanel,...
In her speech at Variety’s Power of Women event presented by Lifetime, Olsen spoke passionately about Abarbanel, also in attendance, and the Los Angeles organization that the activist founded nearly five decades ago.
“When I learned about tonight, I asked Gail if there is anything that she would like to do next with the foundation, because in my mind she’s already thought of everything. She said, ‘Yes, to stop sexual abuse on the internet,'” Olsen said. “To me that sounded very, very big and maybe impossible. But if you were to ask her what she wanted to create in 1974, I think that would have also sounded just as big and impossible.”
Olsen recalled her first meeting with Abarbanel,...
- 9/29/2022
- by Kate Aurthur and J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Elizabeth Olsen is one of creative leaders honored for Variety‘s 2022 Power of Women. For more, click here.
Power of Women honoree Elizabeth Olsen has volunteered at Stuart House since 2016, spending time with young children and teens who’ve been sexually abused. She first learned of the Stuart House program, part of the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center-affiliated Rape Foundation, as she was prepping for “Wind River,” a film in which she plays an FBI agent investigating the rape and murder of a young woman.
This was in 2015, when Olsen had just moved back to Los Angeles from New York, and was looking for ways to feel more connected to the city. Through her agency, she was introduced to Gail Abarbanel, the president of the Rape Foundation and founder of Stuart House. Abarbanel gave Olsen a tour of the Stuart House space in Santa Monica, where kids who’ve been...
Power of Women honoree Elizabeth Olsen has volunteered at Stuart House since 2016, spending time with young children and teens who’ve been sexually abused. She first learned of the Stuart House program, part of the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center-affiliated Rape Foundation, as she was prepping for “Wind River,” a film in which she plays an FBI agent investigating the rape and murder of a young woman.
This was in 2015, when Olsen had just moved back to Los Angeles from New York, and was looking for ways to feel more connected to the city. Through her agency, she was introduced to Gail Abarbanel, the president of the Rape Foundation and founder of Stuart House. Abarbanel gave Olsen a tour of the Stuart House space in Santa Monica, where kids who’ve been...
- 9/27/2022
- by Kate Aurthur
- Variety Film + TV
Angela Bassett, Gail Abarbanel and Christina Hendricks arrived at the Rape Foundation’s 2019 Annual Brunch, in Beverly Hills, California. The Rape Foundation mission is to support comprehensive, state-of-the-art treatment for victims of rape, sexual assault and other forms of sexual abuse, adults and children as well as, prevention and education initiatives that reduce the prevalence […]
The post Angela Bassett, Gail Abarbanel & Christina Hendricks Attended The Rape Foundation’s Annual Brunch appeared first on uInterview.
The post Angela Bassett, Gail Abarbanel & Christina Hendricks Attended The Rape Foundation’s Annual Brunch appeared first on uInterview.
- 10/13/2019
- by Sofia Shengelia
- Uinterview
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