Amazon’s streaming services, the subscription Prime Video and the free IMDb TV, are adding classic series from producer Norman Lear in a licensing deal with Sony Pictures Television.
“Norman Lear is a national treasure and his impact on television and popular culture is immeasurable,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “We are so honored to bring his classic television series to Prime Video and IMDb TV so new audiences and a new generation can laugh, enjoy and be inspired, like so many of us have been throughout the years.”
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Amazon Prime Video subscribers will be able to start streaming 227 and Diff’rent Strokes on July 15 as part of their membership. Titles including The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son and Sanford will launch on Prime Video later in 2021.
All in the Family, Good Times, Maude and One Day at a Time will come to IMDb TV on July. Amazon said this is the first time all episodes of Maude and all seasons of All in the Family will be available to stream.
“Life is a collaboration. Writing, directing and producing films and television is perhaps the most collaborative work of all. In 2018, our Act III Productions sat with the team at Sony Pictures Television and formed a partnership to not only produce new content, but to bring a new awareness to my former Embassy library,” said Lear. “That Sony found a home for that library with Prime Video/IMDb TV where new generations could find it, is the best present a man entering his 100th year can have.”
At the ripe age of 99, Lear continues to work. He has been executive producing and co-hosting Live in Front of a Studio Audience alongside Jimmy Kimmel. The show features top actors recreating episodes from Lear’s series life.
He’s also executive producer of two films now in theaters, I Carry You With Me and Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For It.
