Many feel compelled to emphasize the topical themes addressed over its 6 yr run, but I view those just as the basis on which great Catskills type comedy was built. Fine by me. If I want the news I'll watch 60 minutes. People claim it was daring to feature controversial plots, but I bet others before would have done that if conditions had permitted. I can't pinpoint the style elements and humor that links I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke and other CBS comedies, but Maude also has it. When it's corny, it's sophisticated corn. When it almost gets too sappy and serious like a Facts of Life episode or a Golden Girls social justice episode (ugh the worst thing a comedy can do) someone cracks a joke to break the tension (Thank goodness) to remind us this is a sit-com not a grim play.
I love the show, but I wish the people in charge had toned down/reduced the ear=splitting yelling by the Findlays. It got old and is puzzling why it was allowed to endure. Bea Arthur brought her lungs to Golden Girls too so maybe the sforzando style is her trademark.
