All That Glitters (TV series)

All That Glitters
Screen shot from promotional ad for the series, from Chicago station WFLD
Genre	Sitcom Soap opera parody
Created by	Norman Lear
Directed by	James Frawley Herbert Kenwith
Theme music composer	Alan and Marilyn Bergman
Opening theme	"Genesis Revisited" performed by Kenny Rankin
Composer(s)	Ray Brown Bobby Knight Shelly Manne
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	65
Production
Executive producer(s)	Norman Lear
Producer(s)	Norman Lear Stephanie Sills
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	25 mins.
Production company(s)	Norman Lear/Tandem Productions
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	Syndicated
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	April 18 (1977-04-18) – July 15, 1977 (1977-07-15)

All That Glitters is an American sitcom by producer Norman Lear. It consisted of 65 episodes and aired 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 features 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 networks.

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.:

"I had visited the Institute of Policy Studies, and I just loved the whole thing. And I thought there was a series in it—a five-times-a-week series: I went to bed thinking about that, and I woke up the next morning thinking what would happen if the male-female equation were changed? What would happen if the women had all the power and all the advantage, and the men had what the women normally would have?”