While watching Larry King's tribute to the late Carroll O'Conner, I suddenly realized how much television has changed.

It was absolutely wonderful how white American television sitcoms went from the silly Green Acres with its not-so-charming pig Arnold, to include a focus more palatable to all Americans. This I knew was because of Carroll O' Conner and Norman Lear. All In The Family opened the door for Good Times, The Jeffersons, Benson and Redd Foxx's Sanford & Son. (I played the bride in "Here Comes The Bride; There Goes The Bride.")

While actress Denise Nicholas chatted away on Larry King about Carroll O' Conner's fairness and loyalty to his friends, I thought about a story she told us about her Hawaiian vacation, during the Dorothy Dandridge Hollywood Blvd. Star Dedication/Brown Derby Party.

Denise Nicholas was on a resort elevator with some white woman on her way to the beach, when the vulgar woman said, "You shouldn't get any darker, because someone might think that you're black."

So many many thanks to Carroll O' Conner and Norman Lear for their tremendous impact on the white bread, homogenized television shows of the 1970's. They changed the thought process of America forever.

Carol Speed, June 2001