Indeed. This is quite evident when one views the first, initial episodes (including the pilots). Archie Bunker was meant to be an unlikeable, unsympathetic lout, and Mike-Gloria the ‘enlightened’ youth. But O’Connor’s talent made his character so three-diminsional, and the audiences felt more empathy for him as a traditionalist (if not necessarily for his bigotry) than the whiney smugness of the Mike-Gloria youth generation.
I have no doubt that Norman Lear was not happy about this twist of events... but since the show was booming into a huge hit, Lear just rode with it and profited with it.
Funny. I usually sympathized with Archie Bunker. Yes, he was an ignoramus, but his heart was usually in the right place even if his reasons were not.
Archie Bunker reminded me of a kinder version of my Grandfather.
By the end of the show and its spin-off, Archie Bunker had done a 180 and was portrayed as a loveable, if somewhat ignorant person.
“”IBTimes: After about five seasons, “All in the Family” seemed to run out of gas — Nixon was out of office, the Vietnam War was over and U.S. society had drastically changed since the 1960s. Why did the show go on for another four seasons when it had little left to say?
Strate: It was popular, it was profitable, and commerce trumps art for the most part on television, which is why such programs often get stretched out in this way. But in all fairness, along with the lure of success, I think Lear and his colleagues felt that with this platform, they had a responsibility to continue to express their progressive views.””