All That Glitters

I really hope that "All the Glitters" is rerun or that videos are made available. It was such a good show! I would love to see it again. It was intelligent and definitely ahead of its time. Norman Lear is a national treasure. I miss Dark Angel also. So many of the actors in All That Glitters were top notch and went on to do other things. Most of my friends missed All That Glitters when it was on tv. It's hard to explain to them how well done it was. I also felt maybe I had imagined it when it disappeared so fast. Maybe a cable channel will rerun it. Tina

My sister and I lived together in Florida in 1977 and fell upon this show one night after the news. After that we NEVER missed an episode. If we were out, we rushed home by 11:30 for the show. The best part was how absolutely perfectly it was cast. Poor submissive Bert, the hotty secretary (who knew how to work it), and of course, gorgeous and strong executive women. The subject matter was razor sharp. Then out of nowhere it was gone. At the time, we couldn't figure out how such a good show had died. We kind of thought it was the time slot. It was years later that we found it was intentionally yanked. Such a pity. Please, please get it back. Someone somewhere can figure it out. On DVD at the very least. I really need to see how Bert makes out...really.

"All That Glitters" was undoubtedly Norman Lear's most cutting edge work. To say that this show was ahead of its time is an understatement. Staying very much in the vein of Lear's trademark "social commentary" brand of humor, the society into which this show's characters were cast portrayed women as dominant and men as submissive and oppressed.

The key to its charm was the blatant inversion of traditional gender power dynamics as well as the complete inversion of gender-based rituals and ceremonies. I recall one episode where a wedding took place where the groom--still dressed in traditional tuxedo--came down the aisle with his bouquet in hand to meet his bride waiting at the altar.

As a first run syndicated television show, "All That Glitters" never had a regular "national" primetime slot which would have made more of the public aware of its existence. But one thing was sure: the sexism inflicted by the women on the men in this show didn't look any better than it has coming from men. By switching the typical gender roles, Lear managed to make both a humorous and serious statement about the ugly side of sexism without preaching––an all too rare occurrence in television. This one ended much too soon.

This sit com came on the heels of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" -- it "mysteriously" disappeared directly following an early episode which presented an older woman (Linda Gray?) in bed with a buff young black man. Zap. Gone. The network sponsors weren't having it. Most people don't remember the show -- it was canceled so prematurely -- because it touched too many nerves. Racism/age-ism/sexism -- it was incredibly smart. There should be a secret All That Glitters Society --people who "got it." I definitely did -- and I was only 15 at the time.

What a little wonder this show was!! If you got to see any of it, you are very lucky. So far as I know it has never been shown in any other format than its original one on network TV. I particularly remember Lois Nettleton (a great favorite of mine) and Gary Sandy. Gary as a sexually harassed secretary was funny and pitiful at the same time. I guess it maybe cut too close to home for the network, because it sank with no trace. But, gosh, it was funny.

Isn't it unfortunate that it has not had the same exposure as some of the other, far more familiar, Lear products? If someone is sitting on this little jewel, why don't you put it out there for people to see? I have a feeling it would be every bit as funny as it was almost 30 years ago. Maybe more so.