The king of the sitcom, Norman Lear, is having a big chunk of his work come to streaming via a new licensing deal between Amazon and Sony Pictures Television that will see a number of Lear’s classic TV series available on Prime Video and IMDb TV. I’ll save you all from a “Movin’ on Up” joke or a version of “Whatchu ‘talkin ‘bout, Willis” to mark the occasion.
Norman Lear, TV producer extraordinaire, has been a creative force behind many classic TV shows, including All in the Family, Diff’rent Strokes and The Jeffersons. This new deal will constitute the largest collection of Lear’s work to become available on streaming, with it being the first time that episodes of Maude and All in the Family are available to stream.
Starting July 15, 227 and Diff’rent Strokes will be available on Prime Video at no extra cost to subscribers. Other Lear titles, including The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son and Sanford are expected to become available on the service later in 2021.
IMDb TV, the free, ad-supported streaming service from Amazon, will also add some of the classic TV series to its lineup of shows and movies on July 15. IMDb TV will be the streaming home for All in the Family, Good Times, Maude and One Day at a Time.
“Norman Lear is a national treasure and his impact on television and popular culture is immeasurable,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “We are honored to bring his classic television series to Prime Video and IMDb TV so new audiences and a new generation can laugh, enjoy and be inspired, like so many of us have been throughout the years.”
Incredibly, Norman Lear, 99, is still around to see his life’s work reach these new audiences that Salke mentions.
Prime Video is the streaming service that subscribers to Amazon Prime are given access to, which features not only a healthy library of movies and TV shows, but Amazon Original series and movies like Flack, The Boys and The Tomorrow War.
IMDb TV, meanwhile, requires no subscription to watch its content (you do need to create a free IMDb account) and is available to watch on Roku and Amazon Fire TVs, as well as online.
