The first several seasons of AITF is still very funny. There were plenty of “good” white males on it. It was a satire of the generation gap. Brilliantly written and acted.
Lear himself opined that AITF did not go the way he wanted it to.
Mike and Gloria were supposed to be the stars of the show, not Archie and Edith.
Archie was supposed to be Mike’s foil but it would up the other way around.
He directed the writing to emphasize the liberal Mike’s philosophy but every time it would just make Mike a more comic character.....................
Agreed. Lear may have been intending to make Archie look bad for lack of a better word, but instead millions of white men directly identified with Archie or knew someone like him "at the docks" or as a drinking buddy, and Lear portrayed him having a heart.
AITF jumped the shark fairly fast, though, having Luciferian Sammy Davis Jr. on to shuck and jive his way through S2E21.