Arthur pushes the envelope onto DVD in 'Maude' series

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2007 | by Gary Strauss; Robert Bianco; Elysa Gardner

Before Roseanne, Kate and Allie and One Day at a Time became hits featuring strong women and frequently mature themes, there was Maude, the groundbreaking, six-season CBS comedy featuring Bea Arthur. Big, brassy and pushing 50 at the time, Arthur concedes she was an atypical TV star. The Broadway veteran was tapped for her own series after a stint on All in the Family as Maude Findlay, the liberal nemesis and sister-in-law of arch-conservative Archie Bunker.

That prompted series creator Norman Lear to create a spinoff based on an upper-middle-class New York feminist on her fourth marriage. "She was not your average, beautiful heroine, but I felt like Cinderella,'' says Arthur, now 83. "It was one of the first times on television that a woman was seen as the head of the...