All in the Family

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 until April 8, 1979, when the final original episode aired. In September 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.

Overview

Set in the borough of Queens in New York City, the program starred:

Related Topics:
Queens - New York City

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• Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, frequently called a "loveable bigot," a bigoted 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. 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, if occasionally 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.)

All in the Family was notorious for featuring language and epithets previously absent from television, such as "fag" for homosexual, "spade" and, less frequently, "nigger" for blacks, and phrases such as "God damn it." 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 never have been allowed on US network television).

Related Topics:
Nigger - Blacks - Alf Garnett

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