The show was the first spin-off of All in the Family, on which Bea Arthur had made two appearances as Maude Findlay, Edith Bunker's favorite cousin.

Like All in the Family, Maude was a sitcom with topical storylines created by producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin.

Maude embraces the tenets of women's liberation, always votes for Democratic Party candidates, and advocates for civil rights and racial and gender equality.

[1] The show's theme song, "And Then There's Maude", was written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Dave Grusin, and performed by Donny Hathaway.

Carol and her son, Phillip (played by Brian Morrison in seasons 1-5 and by Kraig Metzinger in the sixth), live with the Findlays.

She dates various men throughout the early seasons, later forming a serious relationship with a man named Chris (played by Fred Grandy).

The Findlays' next-door neighbors are Dr. Arthur Harmon (Conrad Bain), a stuffy, sardonic Republican, and his sweet but scatterbrained second wife Vivian (Rue McClanahan).

McClanahan confirmed in an interview with the Archive of American Television that she was approached by Norman Lear during the taping of the All in the Family episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers" (1972) to take on the role as a late replacement for Doris Roberts, the original choice for the part.

After Florida's departure in 1974, Maude hires a new housekeeper, Mrs. Nell Naugatuck (Hermione Baddeley), an elderly, somewhat vulgar, British widow who drinks excessively and lies compulsively.

A "Cousin Maud," with a similar role, had also appeared on an episode of Till Death Us Do Part, the British series on which All in the Family had been based.

[9] After some soul-searching, and discussions with Walter, who agreed that raising a baby at their stage of life was not what they wanted to do, Maude decided at the end of the two-part episode that abortion was probably the best choice for their lives and their marriage.

Noticing the controversy around the storyline, CBS decided to rerun the episodes in August 1973, and members of the country's clergy reacted strongly to the decision.

Walter could not do it ("Dean Martin gets a million dollars for his buzz") and became so frustrated during his attempts to stop that he struck Maude.

The arc, which played out in two parts, was typically controversial for the show but gained praise for highlighting how social drinking can lead to alcoholism.

[12][13] The first-season episode "The Grass Story" tackled the then-recent Rockefeller Drug Laws, as Maude and her well-meaning housewife friends try to get arrested in protest over a grocery boy's tough conviction for marijuana possession.

It was shown beginning in 1975 in the ITV regions of Scottish,[14] Westward,[15] Border,[16] Tyne Tees,[16] Anglia,[17] Yorkshire,[18] Granada[19] and Channel.

In the last three episodes of that season, the fictional governor of New York appointed Maude as a congresswoman from Tuckahoe, as a Democrat during the 1978 U.S. midterm elections.

Maude and husband Walter moved to Washington, D.C., and the rest of the regular cast would be written out of the show in a prospective season seven.

At least one TV columnist reported that CBS had already decided to cancel the show because of low ratings, and Arthur's announcement was an attempt to save face.

[22] Lear still liked the concept of a member of a minority group in Congress, and it evolved into the pilot Mr. Dugan, with Cleavon Little replacing Arthur as the lead character.

The show was scheduled for a March 1979 premiere, but negative feedback from black members of Congress, granted an advance screening, resulted in CBS deciding not to air the three episodes taped.

Lear reworked the project into Hanging In, with Bill Macy playing a former professional football player turned university president.

In August 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library including Maude.

In 2011, Maude began airing on Antenna TV, a digital broadcast network, which has since run the entire six season cycle of the show.

As of April 2021, Maude is on CHCH TV in the Toronto (Hamilton) Ontario area as part of their afternoon retro sitcom lineup.