Susan Harris: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Susan Harris wrote the abortion two-parter for Maude before she turned the soap opera inside out and then handed four women in Miami the sharpest jokes on network television. This mix traces her path from Norman Lear's politicized Hollywood writers' rooms through the daytime serials she burlesqued in Soap, to the Witt/Thomas/Harris partnership and the ensemble comedies that still copy her blueprint.

The Kynda mix for Susan Harris

• Key Influence · Maude by Norman Lear (1972). Harris's breakthrough came in Lear's shop: she wrote for Maude, including the 1972 two-part 'Maude's Dilemma,' in which the 47-year-old title character chooses abortion months before Roe v. Wade. Lear's model — topical argument staged as living-room comedy, with a loud, middle-aged woman at the center — gave Harris both her craft training and the conviction that a sitcom could carry subject matter networks considered unairable.','
• Influencia Obscura · Dark Shadows by Dan Curtis (1966). The gothic daytime serial that ran five afternoons a week with vampires, séances and possession is the strain of soap opera Soap pushed furthest: Harris gave Corinne's baby a demonic possession storyline, complete with an exorcism, alongside amnesia, alien abduction and a mob hit. Soap's genius was that it did not exaggerate daytime's supernatural turns so much as deliver them with a punchline attached.
• Local Roots · The Partridge Family by Bernard Slade (1970). Harris broke in as a freelance writer across the Los Angeles studio comedy circuit of the early 1970s, with credits on Screen Gems and Columbia family comedies before Lear hired her. That freelance economy — pitching to a dozen staffs on the same lots, learning act structure on assignment — is how a writer with no connections and no college degree in the trade became, within five years, a creator with her own series on the air.
• Beyond the Medium · The Odd Couple by Neil Simon (1965). Simon's Broadway construction — mismatched housemates, escalating curtain lines, jokes built on rhythm rather than situation — is the stagecraft underlying Harris's single-set ensembles. The Golden Girls plays like a four-hander comedy of manners: entrances, cheesecake-table scenes staged as act breaks, and insult exchanges timed for a live audience, with Sophia given the role of the unanswerable last word.
• Peer · Designing Women by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (1986). Arriving a year after The Golden Girls, it took the same gamble: four adult women, one business, long argumentative monologues on abortion, AIDS, sexism and aging, written by a woman with creator-level control in an industry that had almost none. The two shows ran in parallel through the late 1980s as proof that female ensembles were a commercial format and not a novelty, and shared writers, guest stars and critical framing.
• From the Canon · Soap by Susan Harris (1977). Harris wrote every episode of the first two seasons herself — an almost unheard-of workload — turning a daytime-serial parody into a serialized comedy with amnesia, possession, the Mafia, impotence and Jodie Dallas, one of American television's first continuing gay leads. Affiliates preempted it and religious groups organized against it before it aired; it won her the Emmy and defined her reputation for provocation.
• Key Collaborator · Brian's Song by Paul Junger Witt (1971). Witt produced this landmark ABC Movie of the Week before he, Tony Thomas and Harris formed Witt/Thomas/Harris, the company behind Soap, Benson, The Golden Girls and Empty Nest. Witt was also Harris's husband from 1983, and the partnership gave her something few television writers had: a production company that could protect difficult material from network and sponsor pressure long enough to reach air.
• Legacy · Will & Grace by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan (1998). A four-hander of friends in one apartment, structured around insult comedy and a gay lead written as a full character rather than a topic — a lineage that runs directly back through Soap's Jodie Dallas and The Golden Girls' quartet. The show's creators have repeatedly placed Harris's Miami series among their models, and its four-way ensemble rhythm is unmistakably hers.

What influenced Susan Harris

• Maude by Norman Lear. Maude (Norman Lear) — titan for Susan Harris (also via Golden Girls) “the script was written by Susan Harris who later went on to create "Golden Girls."” (Fresh Air (WHYY))
• The Odd Couple by Neil Simon (1965). The Odd Couple (Neil Simon) — culture for Susan Harris “She then wrote for Love, American Style, All in the Family, The Partridge Family and the TV adaptation of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963). The Feminine Mystique (Betty Friedan) — culture for Susan Harris (openlibrary.org)
• Peyton Place by Paul Monash (1964). Peyton Place (Paul Monash) — ghost for Susan Harris (themoviedb.org)
• The Producers. The Producers (Mel Brooks) — culture for Susan Harris (themoviedb.org)
• Dark Shadows by Dan Curtis (1966). Dark Shadows (Dan Curtis) — ghost for Susan Harris (themoviedb.org)
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns (1970). The Mary Tyler Moore Show (James L. Brooks and Allan Burns) — titan for Susan Harris

Peers and kindred spirits

• I'm a Big Girl Now. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of I'm a Big Girl Now. “Harris then went on to create and write I'm A Big Girl Now, Hail to the Chief, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Good and Evil.” (Encyclopedia of TV & Radio)
• The Golden Palace. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of The Golden Palace. “Creator and executive producer, The Golden Palace, CBS, 1992.” (Film Reference)
• It Takes Two. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of It Takes Two. “Harris created It Takes Two and Empty Nest , both shows about the trials of parenthood.” (Television Academy)
• Soap. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of Soap. “PRODUCERS Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, Susan Harris, J.D. Lobue, Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon” (Television Academy Interviews)
• Good & Evil. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of Good & Evil. “Creator and executive producer, Good and Evil, ABC, 1991.” (Film Reference)
• Hail to the Chief. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of Hail to the Chief. “1985 Hail to the Chief (also creator and producer) 1985-92 The Golden Girls (also creator and producer)” (Encyclopedia of TV & Radio)
• Empty Nest. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of Empty Nest. “Creator and executive producer, Empty Nest, NBC, 1988-95.” (Film Reference)
• Benson. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of Benson. “PRODUCERS Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas , Susan Harris, Don Richetta” (Television Academy Interviews)
• The Secret Lives of Men. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of The Secret Lives of Men. “1995 Platypus Man (script supervisor) 1998 The Secret Lives of Men (producer)” (Encyclopedia of TV & Radio)
• Nurses. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of Nurses. “Creator and executive producer, Nurses, NBC, 1991--.” (Film Reference)
• The Golden Girls. The credits identify Harris as an executive producer of The Golden Girls. “Outstanding Comedy Series - 1990 Susan Harris , Executive Producer The Golden Girls NBC Nominee” (Television Academy)
• Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions. Harris co-founded the named production company. “Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions with husband Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas.” (Television Academy)
• Paul Junger Witt. Harris and Witt formed a production company together. (also via Brian's Song) “Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas .” (Wikipedia)
• Blossom by Don Reo (1990). Blossom (Don Reo) — collaborator for Susan Harris “He, with his partners Tony Thomas and Susan Harris (also his wife), produced such television shows as Here Come the Brides, The Partridge Family, The Golden Girls, Soap, Benson, It's a Living, Empty Nest, and Blossom.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Tony Thomas. Harris and Thomas formed a production company together. “Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas .” (Wikipedia)
• Bea Arthur. Harris and Arthur worked together on The Golden Girls. “She worked with Arthur again in the 1980s when Arthur took one of the lead roles in The Golden Girls .” (Wikipedia)
• Brian's Song by Paul Junger Witt (1971). Brian's Song (Paul Junger Witt) — collaborator for Susan Harris “Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Murphy Brown by Diane English (1988). Murphy Brown (Diane English) — peer for Susan Harris (themoviedb.org)
• Designing Women by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (1986). Designing Women (Linda Bloodworth-Thomason) — peer for Susan Harris (themoviedb.org)
• Dead Poets Society. Dead Poets Society (Tony Thomas) — collaborator for Susan Harris “Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Partridge Family by Bernard Slade (1970). The Partridge Family (Bernard Slade) — geography for Susan Harris (themoviedb.org)
• Cheers by Glen Charles, Les Charles and James Burrows (1982). Cheers (Glen Charles, Les Charles and James Burrows) — peer for Susan Harris
• Three's Company by Don Nicholl, Michael Ross and Bernie West (1977). Three's Company (Don Nicholl, Michael Ross and Bernie West) — geography for Susan Harris
• Barney Miller by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker (1975). Barney Miller (Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker) — geography for Susan Harris

Who Susan Harris influenced

• Hot in Cleveland by Suzanne Martin (2010). Hot in Cleveland (Suzanne Martin) — legacy for Susan Harris (themoviedb.org)
• Grace and Frankie by Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris (2015). Grace and Frankie (Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris) — legacy for Susan Harris
• Will & Grace by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan (1998). Will & Grace (Max Mutchnick and David Kohan) — legacy for Susan Harris