The time may have arrived for the Norman Lear factory to close down and take serious stock of its product. The machine may be overworked. No matter how well "One Day at a Time" may be doing … in the ratings, the character of the older daughter is an abrasive drag. No matter how many sophisticated excuses are proferred for deadpan monotony of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," the syndicated series is tedious in extended doses. And now … the hastily concocted product is "The Dumplings."

Joe and Angela Dumpling operate a lunch counter in a New York office building. [They] are a fat couple very much in love with each other. At work or at home, they are surrounded by oddball characters, from hostile customers to Angela's neurotic sister….

No doubt, Mr. Lear will argue that he is saying something positive about love, about ordinary people. In fact, he is...