after watching the past few days/week on Ch. 23/ME while they are in the "prime" of the show I'm ready to state this

-they didn't have animation (just as justification in that the Simpsons is the greatest show ever, they were able to construct countless characters, not have them age, have fantastical situations- AitF had none of that)
-they didn't have 100's of extra side characters....aside from the Jeffersons, there really weren't that many. by the way I'm not counting the years after they jumped the shark when the had Stephanie and the maid and all that.
-they were WAY ahead of their time
-the show is VERY edgy even by today's standards and it aired in the early 70's- pretty much every race, religion, color, creed, etc. was attacked.
-it still holds up after 30 or so years and is funny as hell
-for 95% of the time, the show took place in the living room and kitchen. they didn't really go on location. yes i know they were at kelsey's bar or upstairs in the bedroom occasionally or in the cellar when archie got locked in, etc. but for the most part the show was very restricted and very plain as far as sets and locations
-it's a great social commentary of the time and some of the situations still resonate today

+1

Archie Bunker is probably the greatest character in the history of television. This is definitely one of my fav shows of all time.

_________________

I love All in the Family. My folks used to watch reruns of that every night at 10:30pm and 11:00pm. Archie and Edith were so funny.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I also liked O'Connor's Sheriff Gillespie character. Very versatile actor.

_________________
Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

great show...the episode where Edith got attacked in her home disturbed me as a young child and still disturbs me

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

It will only be the best of all time until next week when the "Marriage Ref" debuts.

_________________

"The one where Edith almost gets raped"


She got away though


That shit was crazy


As was the Swastica painted on Archie's front door, the black face episode, and Archie singing God Bless America You Dumb Pollack



WAR Lionel

double post


so lets use it for a picture

So that's how you get to 10,000 so fast, RPB

Elmhurst Steve hates that picture.

_________________

i agree that the show is great, but i will contend that it is edgy ESPECIALLY by today's standards. i seriously think people are so uptight these days that a good portion of those jokes would NEVER fly nowadays. too many people get too offended these days, i dont think the censors would let some of that stuff through in a prime-time sitcom.

Elmurst Shreve thinks it's great...

_________________
This is my signature...

no i agree...i'm shocked that this airs today at 8pm on a free tv station...i mean anything and everything gets censored on today's shows but yet they don't censor all in the family at all, pretty much every type of slur is said at some point

Nice synopsis Bagels. Completely agree.

As a kid, it was hard to figure out how I could laugh and cringe at the same time.

Edith Assault comments are spot on. When Archie's daughter lost her baby was a good episode as well as the one where Archie is locked in the basement with Meathead. This one always stuck for me. Found the direct quote:

Mike Stivic: Did you ever think that possibly your father just might be wrong?
Archie Bunker: My old man? Don't be stupid. My old man? Let me tell you, he was never wrong about nothing.
Mike Stivic: Yes he was, Arch. My old man used to call people the same things as your old man. But I knew he was wrong. So is your old man.
Archie Bunker: Don't tell me my father was wrong. Let me tell you something, a father who made you is wrong? A father, the breadwinner of the house there? The man who goes out and busts his butt to keep a roof over your head and clothes on your back you call him wrong? Father, that's the man that comes home, bringing you candy. Father is the first guy to throw a baseball to you. And take you for walks in the park holding you by the hand? My father held me by the hand, hey, my father had a hand on him though I tell you. He busted that hand once, and he busted the other on me to teach me to do good. My father, he shoved my in a closet for seven hours to teach me to do good, 'cause he loved me. Don't be looking at me. Let me tell you something, you're supposed to love your father 'cause your father loves you. How can any man who loves you tell you anything that's wrong?

The father dialogue is great! For me the ep that always stood out is the Sammy Davis Jr one. Its definitely one of the greatest shows

_________________
"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

That was a great episode, and definitely a tear jerk moment. It basically explains why Archie is Archie.

It's surprising that a show can take an uneducated bigot, and actually make him a sympathetic character. Yes, he says all those terrible things all the time, but in the end he is always proved wrong.

_________________

Before my time and I never really got into it later. I watched a bunch of episodes, but never felt it was one of the best...

_________________
This is my signature...

Bagels, the general point of a "thread"(around here ) is to to toss something out for us to either argue about or laugh at.

Here, you've created no controversy. Little to argue about. Nothing to belittle or laugh at.... Congratulations

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

All In the Family was one of the worst sitcoms on television...

_________________
This is my signature...

"I dream of Jeanie" was better.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm going to go make some popcorn...

_________________

"Archie" & Mike Royko taught me virtually every racial/ethnic slur I know. Or should this go in the "Brag about something no one else cares about" thread?

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

As a youth, I didnt know the Jewish people have big noses thing until Archie suggested that Goldberg was gonna (pause and smirk) win by a nose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjhzhK2zryg

One of my favorite scenes in TV history. When George Jefferson meets Tom Willis (the first actor):

Bunker: "Hey Jefferson, you're going to love this!"

Lionel: "Ma, Pa, this is Jenny's parent's Mr. and Mrs. Willis."

Willis: "Mr. Jefferson. Mrs. Jefferson."

Jefferson: "You're White!"

Willis: "And you're Black."

Bunker: "It's a kick in the head isn't it."

. . .

Jefferson: "Think, son, think. What about your children? What are they going to be?"

Lionel: "Boys and girls I hope!"

I found this quote and could not help thinking of how Royko viewed Richard J. Daley...Mayor. Archie Bunker in New York was eerily similar to Richard J. in Bridgeport.

Archie Bunker: That ain't the American Way, buddy. No, siree. Listen here, professor. You're the one who need an American History lesson. You don't know nothin' about Lady Liberty standin' there in the harbor, with her torch on high screamin' out to all the nations in the world: "Send me your poor, your deadbeats, your filthy." And all the nations send 'em in here, they come swarming in like ants. Your Spanish P.R.'s from the Caribboin, your Japs, your Chinamen, your Krauts and your Hebes and your English fags. All of 'em come in here and they're all free to live in their own separate sections where they feel safe. And they'll bust your head if you go in there. *That's* what makes America great, buddy.
[exits Stivic house]
Mike Stivic: [to Gloria] I think we just heard Archie Bunker's Bicentennial Minute.

"All in the Family" was ahead of its time when it first debuted in 1971, and covered many important social topics during its run until it left the air in 1979. My mom, who sadly passed away a couple years ago, was a big fan of this classic series and never missed a rerun.

Carrol O'Connor was a great actor but was the show meaner to liberals??? Meathead was a bum.

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Jimmy, I thought Rob Reiner's character "Mike 'Meathead' Stivic" was a Conservative...

wha?

_________________
This is my signature...