Norman Lear Script Collection

This collection features scripts from eleven different Television Programs, most of which are affiliated with one or both of Norman Lear's production companies, Tandem and T.A.T.. The bulk of the collection contains scripts from the show Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which aired between January 1976 and May 1977. All of the programs feature what can be considered the signature of Norman Lear's productions: situational comedies that deal with topical and sometimes controversial subject matter. Many of Lear's shows became so popular, they added spin-off series which became popular in their own right. Maude and The Jeffersons were spin-offs of Lear's most popular show All in the Family. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman became Forever Fernwood when star Louise Lasser left the program, and a spin-off Fernwood 2-Nite, a talk show parody set in the same fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio. After one season, Fernwood 2-Nite became America 2-Night which reset the show outside of the fictional setting and freed the writers from having to include contrived explanations for celebrity appearances.

Some scripts, particularly in the Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman series contain more than one entry for the same episode number. Multiple scripts with the same episode number are not duplicates and therefore one is notated as being an alternate by the addition of a letter "A". This notation is a holdover from the original receipt of the collection. Some scripts contain notes and additional lines from an unknown contributor.