"All in the Family" premiered 40 years ago today

01/12/11

[Borges]

PC would prevent something like it from getting on the air today.

Norman Lear transferred the British show "Till Death Do Us Part" very accurately - same characters with different names. The former had started airing in the U.K. in 1965.

Nixon can be heard discussing the show on one of the Watergate tapes.

T-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers showing O'Connor's image and promoting "Archie Bunker for President" appeared at the time of the 1972 presidential election. Archie Bunker received votes as a write-in candidate.

[Borges]

[ClearCase_guy]

Archie was right about quite a lot.
Meathead was wrong about everything.

[wally_bert]

Even as a kid when this ran, I couldn’t stand Meathead.

[Borges]

A lot of people mistakenly think that AITF was out to demonize Archie and the fact that people liked him was some sort of backfire. It’s the not the case. He was supposed to be a ‘loveable bigot’. They wanted people to like him.

[skeeter]

All these years I grudgingly gave Norman Lear credit for this series, when actually all he contributed was add coast liberal smarm.

Loved Archie, BTW, even if Caroll OConner didn't.

[skeeter]

add=east

[GenXteacher]

I used to have one of these.....

[Borges]

Lear had very little hands on involvement. His contribution was the idea of an Americanized version and hiring a bunch of New York comedy writers. O’Connor claims he re-wrote much of it.

[troy McClure]

Life was better when BETTER when Bumpers were Chrome.

[dfwgator]

Funniest moment in TV History

"Now, Mr. Davis, do you take cream and sugar in your eye?"

[Responsibility2nd]

Boy, the way Glenn Miller played.

[Durus]

Norman Lear, a noted socialist, used the Archie Bunker character as Republican Archetype framing him as ignorant of history and principle, Morally bankrupt, and incapable or rational discussion. He was successful as many modern liberals formed their opinions of what a Republican is based purely on this piece of modern propaganda.

[skeeter]

I do remember Archie's character softening after a season or two.

Of course I liked the season one Archie best.

[Huskrrrr]

PELOSI:

[curiosity]

Archie was right about quite a lot. Meathead was wrong about everything.

True, but the directors didn't see it that way. Their intent was to make the reactionary Archie look stupid and make meathead and his wife look like the brilliant, forward-thinking progressives. Fortunately, the effect was opposite to that which was intended, as most viewers ended up sympathizing with Archie.

But the leftist bias is very clear if you pay attention.

[Borges]

It was better than propaganda. Archie was a moral and principled man when push came to shove and Rob Reiner’s liberal character was often quite flawed.

[wardaddy]

My dad hated that smarmy Lear production....I was a libertarian-southern lib then

'Funny though...much like American History X this was one of those attempts to push leftism which actually garnered the opposite reaction...many were sympathetic to the purported bad guy. Best actor on the show was Jean Stapleton.

[edpc]

Some of my favorite lyric excerpts from the theme are:

Girls were girls and men were men

Didn't need no welfare state
Everybody pulled his weight

Oh, how things have changed.....for the worse.

[Borges]

Not true. See post 4.

[curiosity]

Archie was a moral and principled man when push came to shove and Rob Reiner’s liberal character was often quite flawed.

That's how it came across to 90% of the population, but the directors were too tonedeaf to realize it.