I hated Maude too...
Darn that Lileks! Now I've got that stupid theme from Maude going through my head. And you know, I never realized what one of the lines from the song was really saying until I read this Backfence column:
Joan of Arc had the Lord to guide her / There was a sister who really cooked
Pee. Yoo.
Yes, Maude...the strident, 1970s Norman Lear liberalism, the thoroughly whipped husband, the Maudewear™ and all the charm of Madame Defarge.
Just for bringing up Maude, Lileks deserves this Photoshopping of his picture over at JunkYardBlog. And I don't feel as guilty now for laughing at these Fark desecrations of that same pic.
You must admit, though, that the whipped husband, whatever his name was,* often got a good zinger or two in from time to time. I remember this, in an episode about some old relative who died. Maude was intoming: "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..." and her huaband chimed in with, "If the whiskey don't get you, the women must." I've never been able to hear that "ashes to ashes" line anywhere now without finishing it up in my head that way.
*Walter, that was it. Now I have Bea Arthur in my head screaming "Walter!" over and over. Thought I'd share...