Tripp Whetsell is a bestselling author, entertainment journalist, show-business historian, and adjunct media studies professor at Emerson College in Boston. His previous books include The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionized Stand-Up. As a journalist, he has covered TV, film, comedy, music, theater, and other aspects of popular culture for more than two decades. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vulture, and Variety, Vanity Fair,The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and TV Guide, among others. He lives in Manhattan.

Journalist Whetsell paints a lovingly detailed portrait of the late producer of such seminal sitcoms as All in the Family.... Whetsell scrupulously catalogues the intimate details of Lear’s personal and professional life, including his many ‘creative battles’ with actor Carroll O’Connor, who played Archie Bunker, and multiple marriages. Throughout, Whetsell persuasively argues that Lear helped shift a sitcom landscape full of ‘white picket fences, cardigan-sweater- and pearl-necklace-wearing parents... and virtually nonexistent problems’ into something more reflective of American culture. It’s a fitting tribute to a consequential figure in television history.

Tripp Whetsell is a bestselling author, entertainment journalist, show-business historian, and adjunct media studies professor at Emerson College in Boston. His previous books include The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionized Stand-Up. As a journalist, he has covered TV, film, comedy, music, theater, and other aspects of popular culture for more than two decades. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vulture, and Variety, Vanity Fair,The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and TV Guide, among others. He lives in Manhattan.

Journalist Whetsell paints a lovingly detailed portrait of the late producer of such seminal sitcoms as All in the Family.... Whetsell scrupulously catalogues the intimate details of Lear’s personal and professional life, including his many ‘creative battles’ with actor Carroll O’Connor, who played Archie Bunker, and multiple marriages. Throughout, Whetsell persuasively argues that Lear helped shift a sitcom landscape full of ‘white picket fences, cardigan-sweater- and pearl-necklace-wearing parents... and virtually nonexistent problems’ into something more reflective of American culture. It’s a fitting tribute to a consequential figure in television history.

Tripp Whetsell is a bestselling author, entertainment journalist, show-business historian, and adjunct media studies professor at Emerson College in Boston. His previous books include The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionized Stand-Up. As a journalist, he has covered TV, film, comedy, music, theater, and other aspects of popular culture for more than two decades. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vulture, and Variety, Vanity Fair,The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and TV Guide, among others. He lives in Manhattan.

Journalist Whetsell paints a lovingly detailed portrait of the late producer of such seminal sitcoms as All in the Family.... Whetsell scrupulously catalogues the intimate details of Lear’s personal and professional life, including his many ‘creative battles’ with actor Carroll O’Connor, who played Archie Bunker, and multiple marriages. Throughout, Whetsell persuasively argues that Lear helped shift a sitcom landscape full of ‘white picket fences, cardigan-sweater- and pearl-necklace-wearing parents... and virtually nonexistent problems’ into something more reflective of American culture. It’s a fitting tribute to a consequential figure in television history.