Retro TV

Yeah, Maude arrived. I really, really love Netflix, and no, I’m not getting paid to write that (but I’m not sayin’ I’m not interested…hint hint, Netflix).

Alright, so in honor of Bea Arthur…let’s watch Maude.

The opening credits are a lot like the Mary Tyler Moore Show. I guess a driving montage was big in the early 1970’s, probably part of a larger campaign to not only promote the automobile industry, but also to promote urban flight as in the case of Maude’s move to the tony Long Island suburbs of New York City.

The set is totally All in the Family. Perhaps to let everyone know that it’s a spin-off. That is one thing I love about Norman Lear shows. He’s like the James Ivory of 1970’s television sitcoms. The production design is all obviously the same team.

As the episode opens, Walter is reading the paper in his chair, and Maude is anxious about Carol being late for dinner as Maude has to go to the hospital during visiting hours to see her friend, who had a hysterectomy. Oh, that’s a female thing, so let’s start with the feminism right off.

The doorbell chimes, and get this, it’s a super young Ed Begley Jr at the door asking for money for Vietnam vets in a college contest. Vietnam is pronounced funny. It’s like Vee ‘EHT nam. And Maude finds out his little scam — he’s selling magazines — and sends him off while making a comment about how lousy the Vietnam War is. Wow, feminist and political.

Maude is suspicious about Carol, and thinks she’s having an affair. Carol arrives home, pissy and wearing sunglasses. I think that means she has been crying. And then Maude explains that when a woman wears sunglasses in the house she’s trying to hide that she’s been crying. I’m so smart.

Maude presses the issue. Carol is being difficult, and the glasses are starting to annoy me. Carol removes them finally, and yes, she’s been crying. I think she’s touched.

Maude’s investigative skills turn up that Carol is seeing a psychiatrist. Oh, no, not a shrink. Hasn’t Bob Newhart taught us anything? So my summation of where this is going is that Maude won’t let this go, and instead she’s going to face the shrink herself and maybe with some comic consequences.

There is an odd scene at the dinner table and if anyone can explain it, that would be great. I guess it’s Maude trying not to bring up the subject, and it’s literally fighting to come out. Either that or Maude is constipated.

And then, the truth comes out. Maude thinks that Carol’s need for a psychiatrist is because Maude failed as a mother. Ah, reminds me of the Fear of Flying episode from the Simpsons…great episode. Maude starts droning on about how devoted she always has been as a mother, but Carol has no recollection, as she doesn’t remember the ages before 10. What? Really? She really does need a shrink.

By the way, it was brilliant casting Adrienne Barbeau as Bea Arthur’s daughter. They have very similar eyebrows and almost as manly voices.

Cut to the psychiatrist’s office. Maude enters and finds herself with a very nervous looking lady. She feels threatened by Maude’s presence, and Maude tells her she is there to steal her appointment. Odd, and Maude is thinly veiling threats of violence in order to run her out so Maude can in fact steal her appointment.

And we have our first Jew joke. Maude tells Dr. Stern that the only thing she knows is that Carol said he wasn’t Jewish. Hi-larity.

Dr. Stern points out that Maude has a control issue when it comes to her Carol. No! And then during Maude’s defensive ranting, she says something about her own mother. And Doctor Stern has a new patient.

You wouldn’t know that Bea Arthur can carry off physical humor really well, as that you don’t see in her later years on the Golden Girls. She uses her body to great effect to strike the overly dramatic stances of an over-protective mother. At times, it’s a bit much, but come on, it’s the pilot, so we’ll have to see how Maude and Bea Arthur develop.

Maude, Norman Lear, Bea Arthur, Adrienne Barbeau, television, sitcom