[The] fact that Norman Lear's "All That Glitters" didn't strike gold doesn't mean that it didn't have importance for our culture. It did….

The first hour shown to the press had all the marks of high ideology. "All That Glitters" coruscated like a tract. Women in power, men subservient—the script seemed catechetical. Lines and scenes reached out to nudge the audience: "Get it? Get it?" In real life, any man who dared to behave like the women-imitating-men in this show would be treated with scorn…. American society today is far more complex than the reverse-sterotypical images of males and females in "Glitters." The show seemed for a moment to be carrying the nation backward. It seemed to be a consciousness-lowering exercise.

In addition, Lear's new experiment failed to solve an important narrative problem. Too many couples and too many subplots burdened each episode. Watching night by night...