All in the Family is a popular and acclaimed American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 to September 16, 1979, when the final original episode aired.
The Daytime Series aired from November 3, 1975 to September 14, 1979.
On September 23, 1979, the show was retooled and given a new name, Archie Bunker's Place. With that title, the sitcom lasted another four years, finally ending its run in 1983.
Produced by Norman Lear and based on a British television series Til Death Us Do Part, the show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously deemed unsuitable for network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, breast cancer and impotence.
The show was wildly popular, and ranked #1 in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976. Only one other program, The Cosby Show, has tied All In The Family in terms of years at the top of the ratings. In 2002, it ranked #4 on TV Guides list of the 50 greatest TV shows of all time. TV Guide also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time.
Currently reruns of All in the Family are aired on TV Land.Overview
Set in the borough of Queens in New York City, the program starred:
- Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, frequently called a "loveable bigot," a prejudiced blue-collar worker whose ignorance and stubbornness tended to cause his arguments to self-destruct.
- Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker, Archie's traditional yet occasionally outspoken wife. Edith was never the sharpest member of the family, but she was definitely the kindest and most understanding, and often comes off as one of the wisest characters in the series. Stapleton remained with the show all through the original series run and decided to leave before the first season of
Archie Bunker's Place had wrapped. At that point, Edith was written out as having suffered a stroke and died off camera, leaving Archie to deal with the death of his beloved "Dingbat."
Rob Reiner as Michael "Meathead" Stivic, Gloria's college-student husband, an archetypal, self-righteous, 1960s-style liberal who constantly sparred with Archie on political and social issues.
Sally Struthers as Gloria Stivic, Archie and Edith's college-age daughter, married to Michael. Gloria frequently attempted to mediate Archie and Michael's arguments.
Earlier seasons also featured Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford and Mike Evans as George and Louise Jefferson and their son, Lionel, Archie's African American neighbors. Lionel and Louise joined the show in its first season. George joined the show in 1973. (Hemsley, who was Norman Lear's first choice to play George, was performing in the Broadway musical "Purlie" and didn't want to break his commitment to that show. However, Lear kept the role waiting for him until he was finished appearing in the musical.)
Betty Garrett and Vincent Gardenia joined the show as semi-regulars in 1973, playing next-door neighbors Irene and Frank Lorenzo. Gardenia only stayed for one season, but Garrett remained until her character was phased out in late 1975.
Other recurring characters included Stretch Cunningham, Archie's friend and coworker from the loading dock, played by James Cromwell from 1973 - 76; Theresa Betencourt (Liz Torres), a Latina nursing student, who rented Mike and Gloria's former room at the Bunker house during the 1975-1976 season; Barney Hefner (Allan Melvin), Archie's best friend and neighbor; Tom Kelsey (Bob Hastings), who owned the bar Archie frequented and later bought and Harry Snowden (Jason Wingreen), a bartender at Kelsey's, who continued to work there after Archie purchased the establishment and eventually became his partner.
In 1978, the Bunkers took in Archie & Edith's 9-year old niece, Stephanie Mills (Danielle Brisebois), after the child's father – Edith's deadbeat cousin, Floyd Mills – abandoned her on their doorstep. (He later reappeared, after Archie and Edith had become attached to the girl and extorted money from them to allow her to remain with the Bunkers.) She would remain with the show through its transition to Archie Bunker's Place.
All in the Family was notorious for featuring language and epithets previously absent from television, such as "fag" for homosexual, "spade" and much less frequently, "nigger" for Blacks and phrases such as "God damn it." (It was also famous for being the first major television show to feature a flushing toilet; the sound of a flushing toilet became a running gag on the show.) While moral watchdogs attacked the show on those grounds, others objected to the show's portrayal of Archie Bunker as a "lovable" bigot. Defenders of the series pointed out that Archie usually lost his arguments by reason of his own stupidity (it is perhaps worth noting that Alf Garnett, Archie Bunker's counterpart in the original British series was far from lovable and used much stronger language that would not have been allowed on US network television).[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for All in the Family ]
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