A newly released trailer for Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” introduces the doc’s subject by saying, “He has been around approximately forever.” What the footage goes on to demonstrate is that Lear has impacted the medium of television to such a degree that it feels like he has been around forever because he changed TV forever.
As one interviewee puts it, “Television can be broken into two parts: before Norman and after Norman.” Lear produced classics of the small-screen such as “Maude,” “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” and “Sanford and Son.”
Lear has made a considerable impact off-screen as well. In 1981, he founded People For the American Way (PFAW), an organization that fights for progressive causes.
Ewing and Grady’s “Jesus Camp” received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 2007 Academy Awards.
“Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Check out the trailer —which includes a number of famous faces — below.
