Maude
Vivian's Decision
TV Flash files “Vivian's Decision” as hour 134 of 141 in the TV Flash guide — Maude (1972–1978) on CBS, season 6, episode 17, aired 1978-02-18, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E17: listed hour 134 of 141 in the Maude guide, hour 17 of 24 in season 6. It aired 1978-02-18 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Maude's Foster Child” (S06E16). Next is “Carol's Dilemma” (S06E18).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Maude and Vivian go out of town for their thirty-year college reunion and Vivian really takes advantage of the free champagne. When Maude and Vivian get back to their room Vivian becomes depressed about her life and everything that she could have accomplished, this leads her to make a decision, she calls Arthur and says that she is leaving him.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Vivian's Decision sit in the Maude guide?
S06E17 is listed hour 134 of 141 — hour 17 of 24 in season 6, season 6 episode 17.
When did Maude S06E17 air?
Vivian's Decision aired 1978-02-18 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I start with All in the Family or jump to Maude?
Jump. Maude was introduced on the parent series, but Arthur's Tuckahoe household is a self-contained political sitcom. Archie is context, not a gate.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Bea Arthur detonates a Tuckahoe living room as Lear's most unapologetic heroine: abortion episodes, political dinner combat, and a middle-aged woman who will not demur. Bill Macy and Rue McClanahan keep the household sharp. Essential relevant comedy beyond Archie Bunker, sponsors included.
Flash: Tuckahoe, a dinner party already on fire, and Bea Arthur's voice clearing the room before the salad. Maude Findlay does not demur — she detonates. CBS's Maude (1972–1978), spun from All in the Family, ran six seasons, 141 episodes, with Norman Lear's relevant-comedy shop treating hot-button politics as plot, not a very-special footnote. Bill Macy's Walter, Rue McClanahan's Vivian, Adrienne Barbeau's Carol, and Conrad Bain's Arthur complete the combat circle. The afterglow is a laugh track trying to keep…
Filed against
- Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay
Bea Arthur delivered Dorothy Zbornak’s withering one-liners on The Golden Girls like velvet artillery — tall, dry, and never wrong for long. A Broadway powerhouse who also headlined Maude, she made older women the sharpest people in the…
- Bill Macy as Walter Findlay
Bill Macy’s Walter Findlay kept Maude’s Tuckahoe living room sharp — Bea Arthur as Lear’s most unapologetic heroine, abortion episodes, political dinner combat, a middle-aged woman who will not demur, Rue McClanahan in the orbit. Relevant…
- Adrienne Barbeau as Carol Traynor
Adrienne Barbeau’s Carol Traynor needled Bea Arthur’s unapologetic heroine on Maude — Tuckahoe living room, abortion episodes, political dinner combat, a middle-aged woman who will not demur. Bill Macy and Rue McClanahan keeping the…
- Conrad Bain as Arthur Harmon
Conrad Bain’s Arthur Harmon needled Maude’s Tuckahoe living room as the next-door conservative — 1970s catalog Lear combat, then Diff’rent Strokes recasting the posture as Phillip Drummond’s Park Avenue experiment. TV Flash files him as…
- Rue McClanahan as Vivian Cavender Harmon
Rue McClanahan’s Blanche Devereaux was The Golden Girls’ carpet in human form — Miami satin, a neckline the censors negotiated, dating after divorce as a weekly after-party. Four women, one kitchen, chemistry biographies that still…