Meathead. What a perfect role for this guy. Except the writers twisted into knots writing episodes to depict Archie as being a white racist dunce.
Hollyweird shifted over from wholesome shows, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, The Real McCoys, Beverly Hillbillies, often with morals to tell, to this benighted genre about ‘75: All In The Family, Mary Hartman, MASH, etc., dark lefty, ironic, sarcastic, comedy-drama.
Reiner wasn’t acting.
All over America now, angry wine aunts at the groaning boards are drunkenly harassing/abusing decent Americans thinking of grabbing their coats and leaving, even if it is their own home.
“Except the writers twisted into knots writing episodes to depict Archie as being a white racist dunce.”
That kind of backfired, though. Audiences actually loved the Archie character. Part of that was due to Carroll O’Connor being such a fine actor, but Archie was a working-class guy who provided for the family. Meathead was a pseudo-intellectual bum. The writers present him as their mouthpiece for countering Archie’s supposedly retrograde views, but the audiences found themselves agreeing with Archie.