If you grew up in the 1970s, you had just three channels to choose from, yet the decade produced some of television’s most enduring sitcoms. This article looks back at how 1970s television changed and compares four defining comedies: All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Happy Days.

Many viewers remember three networks, a PBS station, perhaps a fuzzy UHF channel and a few more options for households with cable. The lineup was remarkably strong, with popular shows airing during the same era.

Imagine a Saturday night in 1973: CBS airs All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show and The Carol Burnett Show.

That was an exceptional television lineup.

How did the “rural purge” change 1970s television?

The decade did not begin with the gritty tone often associated with 1970s television. Early in the decade, primetime still featured talking horses, rural communities and unexpectedly wealthy country families.

Early-1970s primetime included rural programming, much of it on CBS, from variety shows such as Hee-Haw to fish-out-of-water sitcoms such as Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies, as well as the large-family comedy Petticoat Junction. CBS later cleared many of these shows from its schedule to pursue a more modern, urban audience with greater spending power. The change became known as the “rural purge”, and it removed some shows that were performing well in the ratings. [There’s a great Mobituaries episode about this very thing.]

The cancellations created room for a different kind of programming: stories about ordinary families facing recognizable social issues, rather than what viewers now call reality TV. This was the Norman Lear era, when issue-driven sitcoms such as All in the Family, Maude and The Jeffersons moved beyond slapstick to reflect American life.

What criteria define the four biggest 1970s sitcoms?

These four choices balance popularity, influence and lasting cultural impact. The selection also considers whether a series began in the decade and how its legacy continued.

• Started in the 1970s: The show began during the decade and made much of its impact then.
• Strong ratings: The series reached millions of viewers each week, not just critical attention.
• Changed television: The show broke conventions, introduced a format or reshaped television.
• Lasting legacy: The series inspired spinoffs, catchphrases, reruns or a lasting place in popular culture.

One additional rule limits the list to one series from each creative family. Because television creators such as Norman Lear often built interconnected worlds, this keeps his shows from taking all four places; that is why Maude and The Jeffersons are not separate selections here. Choosing among them was difficult.

Here are UCR Pop Culture’s selections for the four defining sitcoms of the 1970s.

Why did All in the Family reshape the sitcom? (1971–79)

All in the Family Scene Gets Serious in 1979

All in the Family pushed television’s boundaries so far that, before its first episode aired in January 1971, the network ran a disclaimer warning viewers about its content. The sitcom used domestic life to bring contentious public issues into the living room.

The show drew on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and brought discussions of race, the Vietnam War and feminism to the dinner table. The Bunkers were not an idealized family: Carroll O’Connor played Archie, Jean Stapleton played Edith, and Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers played Meathead and Gloria. The characters became one of television’s best-known families.

READ MORE: TV Shows With Only One Surviving Cast Member

All in the Family held the No. 1 ratings position for five consecutive seasons. It was also the first sitcom to feature the sound of a toilet flushing.

Watch the ‘All in the Family’ Opening

Creator Norman Lear left a broad mark on television, and the All in the Family spinoffs also influenced the medium. They included Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times (through Maude) and Archie Bunker’s Place.

Lear later reflected on whether the show’s controversial subject matter caused a public backlash. In a 2014 interview with NPR, he said, “It went on the air, and believe me, no state seceded from the Union.”

How did M*A*S*H combine war stories and comedy? (1972–83)

Cast of TV Show MASH in Army Vehicle

The Korean War lasted about three years, while the television series M*A*S*H ran for 11 years. Its theme song became a familiar signal that bedtime was near for many children who watched during the series’ original run.

M*A*S*H had already reached audiences in other forms before its television adaptation. The story began with the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, written by Dr. H. Richard Hornberger under the pen name “Richard Hooker.” Hornberger drew on his experience as a surgeon with the 8055th MASH unit in Korea.

Robert Altman adapted the novel into a successful film starring Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye and Elliott Gould as Trapper John. The character later appeared in the separate series Trapper John, M.D., starring Pernell Roberts. That series was technically a spinoff of the film, not the television show, so Wayne Rogers, the TV series’ original Trapper, did not appear.

READ MORE: 12 TV Theme Songs From the ’70s I Can Still Sing by Heart

The television series starred Alan Alda as Hawkeye and ran for 11 seasons, nearly four times as long as the Korean War.

M*A*S*H combined comedy with the emotional consequences of war, allowing lighter moments to sit alongside serious ones. CBS insisted on a laugh track, but a compromise kept it out of operating-room scenes.

Watch the ‘M*A*S*H’ Opening

M*A*S*H became known for both its spinoff legacy and its extraordinary audience numbers. Its finale, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” aired on Feb. 28, 1983, and drew 105 million viewers. It remained the most-watched broadcast in U.S. history until the 2010 Super Bowl and is still the most-watched scripted television episode. A widely repeated story says the finale affected New York’s water system when viewers used the bathroom at the same time. Decades later, M*A*S*H continued to attract viewers in reruns.

Pitching M*A*S*H was not straightforward. Alan Alda recalled that a network programming chief, reacting to one of the show’s dark early episodes, asked, “What is this, a situation tragedy?”

How did The Mary Tyler Moore Show redefine the workplace sitcom? (1970–77)

Cast of Mary Tyler Moore Show in Mary’s Apartment in 1975

For many women building careers in the 1970s and beyond, Mary Richards, played by Mary Tyler Moore, became a memorable television role model. The series placed an independent working woman at its center.

In a 2002 interview with Larry King, Moore was asked whether Mary Richards was a feminist. Moore replied, “She wasn’t aggressive about it, but she surely was.”

The original concept would have made Mary divorced, but CBS rejected the idea, reportedly concerned that viewers might associate the character’s divorce with Moore’s role opposite Dick Van Dyke on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Instead, Mary began her independent life after a breakup.

The revised premise worked: Mary had a comfortable apartment, a friend upstairs and a job she enjoyed. The theme song, “Love Is All Around,” reflected her journey; its first-season lyrics questioned whether a single woman in a new city could manage, while the second-season version offered a more confident answer.

READ MORE: The ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ Apartment and TV’s Other Most Famous Homes

The opening credits’ image of Mary tossing her hat on a Minneapolis street became one of television’s most recognizable moments. Sonny Curtis wrote and performed the theme; before joining the Crickets, he played with Buddy Holly, and he also wrote the rock standard “I Fought the Law.”

Watch the ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’ Opening

The Mary Tyler Moore Show helped establish the modern workplace sitcom, where coworkers become a kind of family. Co-creator James L. Brooks later developed Taxi, and the workplace-family idea also appears in WKRP, Cheers, The Office and Parks and Recreation.

The series also produced several spinoffs. Valerie Harper starred as upstairs neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern in Rhoda, while Phyllis starred Cloris Leachman as Mary’s landlady and friend, Phyllis Lindstrom. Lou Grant shifted tone, turning Ed Asner’s newsroom boss into the lead of an hour-long newspaper drama. Asner won Emmy Awards for playing Lou Grant in both a comedy and a drama.

Why did Happy Days become a hit and inspire so many spinoffs? (1974–84)

Happy Days Cast in 1975 Promotional Photo

Unlike sitcoms set in contemporary life, Happy Days looked back to the 1950s, specifically to Milwaukee. Its nostalgic setting distinguished it from other popular comedies of the era.

With George Lucas’ American Graffiti still popular, the timing suited a return to postwar 1950s optimism. The story followed Richie Cunningham, played by Ron Howard, who had already appeared in The Andy Griffith Show and American Graffiti. As the series developed, Richie’s friend Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, played by Henry Winkler, became its breakout character. Fonzie’s thumbs-up “Aaaayy” became one of television’s best-known catchphrases.

The series also changed its opening theme. It first used Bill Haley & His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” then replaced it with the original song best associated with the show, whose lyrics run through the days of the week and end with the title.

Watch the ‘Happy Days’ Opening

The show famously dropped a major character, Richie’s brother Chuck, who went to college and was never seen or mentioned again. The disappearance was so complete that the term “Chuck Cunningham syndrome” came to describe television characters who vanish without explanation.

One important production change was less widely discussed: the first seasons used a single-camera format and were not filmed before a live studio audience. The series later moved to a traditional multi-camera sitcom setup, changing its feel. Fonzie’s clothes changed too, from a simple tan jacket to a leather motorcycle jacket, a look that initially made the network nervous.

Happy Days also contributed a lasting expression about a series that has gone past its best. In 1977, Fonzie water-skied over a shark, wearing swim trunks with his leather jacket; the scene prompted questions about whether the show had run out of ideas and helped popularize “jumping the shark.” In a 2023 NPR interview, Winkler joked about the scene: “… I think I had very nice legs at that time.”

The series generated varied spinoffs. Laverne & Shirley gave two characters who dated Fonzie and Richie their own show, while Mork & Mindy expanded a one-off alien guest character into a popular series and helped make Robin Williams a star. Richie’s younger sister Joanie, played by Erin Moran, later starred with Scott Baio in Joanie Loves Chachi, a spinoff that did not last as long.

Want more retro TV trivia? Check out our list of ’80s and ’90s TV shows that were always on, but nobody seemed to watch.