Television comedy can probably be divided into two eras: B.L. and A.L. — Before Lear and After Lear. Norman Lear's seminal 1970s sitcoms —"All in the Family" and its offspring, from"Maude" to "The Jeffersons" — used the laissez-passer of comedy to bring politics, race, abortion and sexism into the nation's living rooms, and made Archie Bunker a virtual member of all of the nation's families. Then in 1981, Lear founded People For the American Way. In Washington, on Thursday night, the organization celebrates the upcoming 90th birthday of the man who pushed the TV definition of family and praises his own wife and six kids as "the greatest family in the history of families."
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