“Baser is a real writer, but he missed on Archie Bunker. The program was such a raving success because so many Americans, men and women alike, identified with Bunker’s populist reaction against the liberal mind virus. Norman Lear, who had intended the opposite, was distraught at what he had done. He had inadvertently tapped into a deep well of discontent.”
You are right. I remember seeing a guy in the 70’s wearing a T-shirt with Archie Bunker’s image and the caption: “In your heart, you know he’s right.”
And Lear made Meathead look like a buffoon, leeching off of Archie’s money, and being condescending to Lionel Jefferson, only wanting to show off how much he “cares” about black people.