This 70's show parades a platform of controversial, left-wing issues in practically every episode, i.e. abortion, living together, racial equality, sexual freedom, and self-identity. In "Doctor, Doctor," Maude and Carol are thrilled that grandson Philip is exploring his sexual freedom with their neighbor's granddaughter. However, right-wing traditionalist Arthur (Conrad Bain, TV's Diff'rent Strokes) is aghast at such behavior and unconventional response.
Harlem's Florida Evans (Esther Rolle, TV's "Good Times") becomes a constant fixture in racial equality as she stands toe-to-toe with Maude. In the episode "Maude Meets Florida, " Maude insists that as an equal, the housekeeper must use the front door instead of the back door; and in "Maude Meets the Radical," she uses Florida as a substitute for a fund-raiser when her black guests beg-off.
Walter is Maude's fourth husband and she explains that marriage is "trial and error." He is loving, supportive, but predominantly assertive when he has to be. He is the perfect counterbalance to this outrageous, colorful women's libber, as can be seen in "Flashback" where they reminesce about their 1968 courtship. "Walter's Secret," "Maude's Night Out," and "Love and Marriage" reveal that a strong love can endure and overcome marital stress.
You'll find appearances by Florida's TV husband, John Amos (also from "Good Times"), Maude's best friend played by Rue McClanahan ("The Golden Girls"), Tom Bosley ("Happy Days"), and a young Ed Begley, Jr. playing a magazine salesman. This series is repleat with gaudy styles and the foiled and flocked décor from this zany era, and will provoke you to readdress some of the issues facing the television audience as the 70's bulldozed their way through the public's conscience, much like this "anything but tranquilizing, right-on Maude!"
Personally, I found that there was an abundance of alcohol and drug dialogue and activity by the adults in this series. There is rarely an episode where alcohol didn't take center stage. Pills were dispensed by the generous doctor on a whim. And in one episode where Maude was pregnant, she took a double-shot of alcohol saying she was drinking for two! In the episode "Grass Story," middle-aged women get arrested for carrying marijuana as a civil protest. Despite the brilliant comedy in this series, I found Maude to be socially irresponsible and wonder how it contributed to some of the social problems we struggle with today.
