704 Hauser

704 Hauser was a short-lived CBS television series in 1994. It was a spin-off of All in the Family (the last of many) and was built around the concept of an African-American family, the Cumberbatches, moving into the former Queens home of Archie Bunker years after Bunker had sold the house. Joey Stivic (Archie's grandson) makes a cameo in the first episode.

Related Topics:
CBS - 1994 - Spin-off - All in the Family - African-American - Queens - Archie Bunker

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Norman Lear created the series during the time when Conservative U.S. talk radio was experiencing its initial upswing in popularity, particularly in the form of Rush Limbaugh. Lear felt that the time was right for a new show to explore some of the issues being discussed, and 704 Hauser was even more explicitly political than All in the Family.

Related Topics:
Norman Lear - Conservative U.S. talk radio - Rush Limbaugh

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John Amos, a veteran of the earlier All in the Family spin-off Good Times, starred as Ernie Cumberbatch, while Lynnie Godfrey played his wife, Rose. T.E. Russell played their live-at-home son, Thurgood Marshall "Goodie" Cumberbatch.

Related Topics:
John Amos - Good Times - Lynnie Godfrey - T.E. Russell

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The central plot conceit of the show involved a reversal of the original All in the Family formula. Ernie and Rose Cumberbatch were blue-collar, working-class Democrats, while their son Goodie was an assertive black conservative activist in the vein of Armstrong Williams, Walter Williams, or Thomas Sowell. To add further conflict, Goodie's girlfriend was a white Jewish girl (played by Maura Tierney).

Related Topics:
Black conservative - Armstrong Williams - Walter Williams - Thomas Sowell - Jewish - Maura Tierney

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The show did not do well, arguably in part because fans could not see anyone but Archie living in that house. Others cite the fact that the American T.V. viewing public weren't ready to have an interracial couple prominently featured in a prime-time program. Still others claim that many blacks were turned off the show by Goodie's Conservatism. Regardless, only six episodes were filmed, and only five were aired.

Related Topics:
Interracial - Conservatism

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