All That Glitters

All That Glitters is an American sitcom by producer Norman Lear. It consisted of 65 episodes, running five nights a week between April 18 and July 15, 1977, in broadcast syndication. The show, a spoof of the soap opera format, depicted the trials and tribulations of a group of executives at the Globatron corporation. The twist of the series was that it was set within a world of complete role-reversal: Women were the "stronger sex," the executives and breadwinners, while the "weaker sex" – the men – were the secretaries or stay-at-home househusbands. Men were often treated as sex objects. The series featured Eileen Brennan, Greg Evigan, Lois Nettleton, Gary Sandy, Tim Thomerson and Jessica Walter. Comic actor and cartoon voice artist Chuck McCann was also a regular. Linda Gray played transgender fashion model Linda Murkland, the first transgender series regular on American television. Critically, All That Glitters was negatively received and a ratings disappointment across syndicated television stations. Production All That Glitters was series creator Norman Lear's attempt to duplicate his success with the syndicated soap opera spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Lear described the premise simply: "God created Eve first, took out her rib and gave her a companion so she wouldn't be lonely." Lear came up with the idea on a trip to Washington, D.C.: The world of All That Glitters had always been female-dominated, but Lear also used the series to comment on changing sex roles in the United States in the 1970s. Under the working title Womb at the Top, All That Glitters was co-created by longtime soap writer Ann Marcus, with a transgender consultant hired to help Linda Gray develop her character Linda Murkland as well as Eve Merriam, whose off-broadway show The Club featured women as turn-of-the-century male chauvinists "strutting around in top hats and tails and telling sexist jokes."