Rob Reiner, who rose to fame playing All In The Family‘s liberal firebrand Michael Stivic – or Meathead, to Caroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker – has paid tribute to Norman Lear, the man who created that launching pad and one of television’s most impactful and enduring sitcoms.
“I loved Norman Lear with all my heart,” Reiner tweeted this morning. “He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family.”
Reiner’s father, comic icon Carl Reiner, died in 2020.
Rob Reiner, who rose to fame playing All In The Family‘s liberal firebrand Michael Stivic – or Meathead, to Caroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker – has paid tribute to Norman Lear, the man who created that launching pad and one of television’s most impactful and enduring sitcoms.
“I loved Norman Lear with all my heart,” Reiner tweeted this morning. “He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family.”
“I did talk to Norman and to one of the producers [at ABC] about who might play parts and maybe which episodes they could pick,” Reiner told Page Six at the Tribeca Film Festival’s 35th-anniversary screening of “This is Spinal Tap” on Saturday. “The one I suggested was about gun control and I don’t know if they picked that one or not, but I thought it was appropriate because the issues are exactly the same and the arguments are the same. But I’m not going to be involved other than that.”
It was announced earlier this month that the network is airing episode re-creations of both “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.”
Lear said in a statement at the time, “They have said over and over again that these two shows were meant for the ’70s and would not work today. We disagree with them and are here to prove, with two great casts depicting ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons,’ the timelessness of human nature.”
