The ultra-obscure 1978 sitcom "Apple Pie" was created by Norman Lear, the mastermind behind such shows as "All in the Family," "Maude," "One Day at a Time," and "The Jeffersons." His successes are legion and span many decades. He passed away in 2023 at the age of 101, leaving behind one of the largest legacies in the history of television. Every working comedian knows the legend of Norman Lear.

No one, however, remembers "Apple Pie," one of the master's greatest failures. "Apple Pie" was set in 1933, right smack in the middle of the Great Depression, in Kansas City, Missouri. Rue McClanahan, who would go on to star in "The Golden Girls," played the protagonist, Ginger-Nell Hollyhock, a lovelorn hairdresser. She lived with a rogue's gallery of "relatives," a fake family she culled togeth

See Full Page