Aug 31, 2015 2 min read

In a column that appeared in Monday’s Observer-Reporter, radio and television columnist Terry Hazlett makes a thought-provoking argument – that Bud Yorkin, the television producer, moviemaker and Washington native who died last month at age 89, had a greater impact on popular culture than some of the other, more celebrated figures from the county who made a name for themselves in the entertainment world, such as singers Perry Como and Bobby Vinton, “Silver Bells” composer Jay Livingston or, more recently, television producer Abraham Higginbotham.

Yorkin’s name may not have been one that tumbled readily off the lips, especially in recent years, and you won’t find any statues commemorating his achievements anywhere in Washington County. But, yes, the argument Yorkin had a broader impact on popular culture is a solid one.

Having labored in the movies and television for years, Yorkin made his imprint in the 1970s by helping to shepherd into existence the sitcoms “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons,” “Sanford and Son” and “Good Times.” Bowing in an era marked by social turbulence and rapidly changing mores, these sitcoms, while entertaining, confronted issues that were perplexing the nation, and some episodes didn’t have pat, happy endings – one particularly memorable episode of “All in the Family” from 1973 began with swastikas being painted on Archie Bunker’s Queens house, and ended with the leader of a Jewish vigilante group being killed as a result of a car bomb. As Hazlett pointed out, characters in these television series were far from Ozzie and Harriet: “Their lives became entangled in layoffs, menopause, divorce and abortion. Characters didn’t merely have flaws, they embellished them. And some of them died.”

Forty years after Yorkin’s heyday, we are more inclined than ever to let it all hang out on television, at the movies and in all forms of popular media. For better or worse, Yorkin helped to bring that about.