ALL IN THE FAMILY

'''All in the Family''' is an acclaimed American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, the show was repackaged under the title, ''Archie Bunker's Place''. This version of the sitcom lasted another four years, ending its run in 1983.
Produced by Norman Lear and based on the British television series ''Til Death Us Do Part'', the show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously deemed unsuitable for U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, miscarriage, breast cancer and impotence.
The show ranked #1 in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1972 to 1976. As of 2007, ''The Cosby Show'' has been the only other show to top the ratings for at least five consecutive seasons. In 2002, ''All in the Family'' was ranked #4 on ''TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest TV shows of all time. ''TV Guide'' also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time.

Contents

Premise

Cast

Main characters

Supporting characters

Recurring characters

Actors in multiple roles

"Kelcy" or "Kelsey"

Controversial nature

Production

Awards

Episodes

Ratings

Spin-offs

Theme song

Cultural impact

DVD releases

See also

References

External links

Premise

This series starred veteran character actor Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, a working-class, very outspoken bigot, prejudiced against everyone and everything not in agreement with his view of the world. His ignorance and stubbornness tend to cause his malaprop-filled arguments to self-destruct. He often responds to uncomfortable truths by blowing a raspberry. He longs for simpler times, when people sharing his viewpoint were in charge, as evidenced by the nostalgic theme song, "Those Were the Days." Most of the show's biggest fans are unaware that the last line of the theme song (before those were the days) is: "Gee our old LaSalle ran great."[1]
By contrast, his wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) is a sweet, understanding, if somewhat intellectually limited woman. She usually defers to her always-opinionated husband, but on the rare occasions when she takes a stand, she proves to be one of the wisest characters in the series. This is perhaps best seen in episodes "The Battle of the Month" and "The Games Bunkers Play". Archie often tells her to "stifle [herself]" and calls her a "dingbat", but despite their very different personalities, they love each other deeply.
They have one child, Gloria (Sally Struthers), who is married to perennial college student Michael Stivic (Rob Reiner). Michael is an archetypal 1960s-style liberal. He and Archie constantly clash over political, social, and personal issues. For much of the series, the Stivics live in the Bunker home to save money, providing even more opportunity for the two men to irritate each other. Archie frequently calls his son-in-law "meathead" and "Polack"^[1] (pronounced Polock) to underline Michael's Polish ancestry.
The show is set in the Astoria section of Queens, one of New York City's five boroughs.

Cast

Main characters

★ 'Carroll O'Connor' as 'Archie Bunker', frequently called a "lovable bigot," an assertively prejudiced blue-collar worker. Former child actor Mickey Rooney was Lear's choice to play Archie, but Rooney declined the offer due to the strong potential for controversy and, in Rooney's opinion, poor chance for success. O'Connor enthusiastically sought the part, even though he agreed with Rooney's assessment. O'Connor was living in Italy at the time, and made his acceptance contingent on Lear's covering his airfare back to Italy if the show failed. At the end of the 1973-74 season, O'Connor attempted to renegotiate his contract. When he and producers reached a stalemate, he went on strike. To work around his absence, the writers devised a three-part episode in which Archie disappears on his way to a convention (O'Connor only appears for less than a minute, at the very end of the third part). Had O'Connor not returned to work by the time taping began on the third part, the writers had reportedly planned to kill the character off. Ironically, O'Connor, the actor who fought the most with Lear, remained with the series throughout its run, including the ''Archie Bunker's Place'' era. All the other actors either were written off before the end of its run or debuted in later seasons.

★ 'Jean Stapleton' as 'Edith Bunker', née Baines (as revealed in the episode ). Stapleton remained with the show all through the original series run, but decided to leave before the first season of ''Archie Bunker's Place'' had wrapped up. At that point, Edith was written out as having suffered a stroke and died off camera, leaving Archie to deal with the death of his beloved "dingbat".

★ 'Sally Struthers' as 'Gloria Bunker-Stivic', the Bunkers' college-age daughter, married to Michael Stivic. Gloria frequently attempts to mediate Archie and Michael's arguments. The roles of Archie and Edith's daughter and son-in-law (then named "Dickie") initially went to Candice Azzara and Chip Oliver. However, after seeing the show's pilot, the original production company, ABC, requested a second pilot, expressing dissatisfaction with both actors. Lear recast the "Gloria" and "Dickie" roles with Struthers and Reiner. Penny Marshall, whom Reiner married in April 1971, shortly after the program began, was also considered for the role of Gloria.

★ 'Rob Reiner' as 'Michael Stivic', Gloria's college-student husband, a liberal who constantly spars with Archie. As discussed in ''All in the Family'' retrospectives, Richard Dreyfuss sought the part, but Norman Lear was convinced to cast Reiner.

Supporting characters

★ 'Sherman Hemsley', 'Isabel Sanford' and 'Mike Evans' as 'George Jefferson', his wife 'Louise' and their son 'Lionel', Archie's African American neighbors. George is Archie's combative black counterpart, while Louise is a smarter, more assertive version of Edith. Lionel and Louise joined the show in its first season. Although previously mentioned many times, George wasn't seen until 1973. Hemsley, who was Norman Lear's first choice to play George, was performing in the Broadway musical ''Purlie'' and didn't want to break his commitment to that show. However, Lear kept the role waiting for him until he had finished with the musical.

★ 'Mel Stewart', as George's brother 'Henry Jefferson'. Stewart filled in for Hemsley. The two appeared together only once, in the 1973 episode in which the Bunkers host Henry's going-away party, marking Stewart's final episode and Hemsley's first. Even when the Jeffersons were spun off into their own show in 1975, Stewart's character was rarely referred to again and was never seen.

★ 'Betty Garrett' and 'Vincent Gardenia' as liberal next-door neighbors 'Irene' and 'Frank Lorenzo'. They joined the show as semi-regulars in 1973; Gardenia only stayed for one season, but Garrett remained until her character was phased out in late 1975, later resurfacing as a regular in the sitcom ''Laverne and Shirley''.

★ 'Danielle Brisebois' as Edith's 9-year old niece, 'Stephanie Mills'. The Bunkers take her in after the child's father, Floyd Mills, abandons her on their doorstep in 1978. (He later extorts money from them to let them keep her.) She would remain with the show through its transition to ''Archie Bunker's Place''.

★ 'Allan Melvin' as Archie's neighbor and best friend 'Barney Hefner'. The character first appeared in 1973, and began as a fairly minor character. Barney's role expanded toward the end of the series, after the departures of Reiner and Struthers.

Recurring characters

★ James Cromwell as Stretch Cunningham (1973-1976), Archie's friend and coworker from the loading dock

★ Liz Torres as Theresa Betencourt (1976-1977), a Latina nursing student, who initally meets Archie when he is admitted to the hospital for surgery; she later rents Mike and Gloria's former room at the Bunker house

★ Bob Hastings as Kelcy and Tommy Kelsey, who owns the bar Archie frequents and later buys

★ Jason Wingreen as Harry Snowden, a bartender at Kelcy's Bar who continues to work there after Archie purchases it and eventually becomes his business partner

★ Gloria LeRoy as Mildred "Boom-Boom" Turner, a buxom, middle-aged secretary at the plant where Archie works, who is not initially fond of Archie due to his and Stretch's leering and sexist behavior, but later becomes friendly with him, occasionally working as a barmaid at Archie's Place.

Actors in multiple roles

A number of actors played multiple roles during the show's run:

★ Jean Stapleton, of course played Edith Bunker throughout the series. On one occasion (episode 192[2]), she played both Edith Bunker and Judith Klammerstadt. The end credits show actress Giovanna Pucci for the latter character. In fact, it is a play on words with Jean Stapleton's married name: Jean Putch.

★ Vincent Gardenia, played neighbor Jim Bowman, who sells the Jeffersons their house in "The Jeffersons Move In"; Curtis Rempley, half of a wife-swapping couple Edith befriends in "The Bunkers and the Swingers" (from the show's first and third seasons respectively); and later had a recurring role as neighbor Frank Lorenzo during the 1973-74 season

★ Gloria LeRoy, played the wife of one of Archie's old Army buddies (Duke Loomis) in third season episode "The Threat" and later portrayed Mildred "Boom-Boom" Turner in a few episodes between 1974 and 1978

★ Allan Melvin, played sergeant Paul Pulaski in episode 16, "Archie and the Lock-up" (second season[3]), as well as Archie's best friend and neighbor, Barney Hefner, from later on in the second season (1972) until the end of the series.

★ Marcia Rodd appeared in two episodes during the 1971-72 season, playing two different characters. She appeared as a single mother who accused Mike of being the father of her eight-year old son in ''Mike's Mysterious Son'', and toward the end of that same season, played Maude's daughter Carol in the episode ''Maude''. (Adrienne Barbeau would take over the role of Carol when ''Maude'' spun off as a series.)

"Kelcy" or "Kelsey"

In fact, it is both. Clearly, the name of the establishment is Kelcy's Bar (as seen in the bar window in "Judging Books by Covers" and "Edith's Night Out" episodes). However, unaccountably, the end credits of the first two seasons' episodes, involving the bar owner, show Kelcy for that character, while they show Kelsey from season three onward.

Controversial nature

In a warning to viewers, CBS ran a disclaimer before airing the first episode (which disappeared from the screen with the sound of a toilet flushing):
"The program you are about to see is'' All in the Family''. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are."
''All in the Family'' was notorious for featuring language and epithets previously absent from television, such as "fag" for homosexual, "spic" for hispanics, "chink" for Asians, "spade" for blacks, and phrases such as "God damn it." It was also famous for being the first major television show to feature the sound of a flushing toilet; it became a running gag on the show.
While moral watchdogs attacked the show on those grounds, others objected to the show's portrayal of Archie Bunker as a "lovable" bigot. Defenders of the series pointed out that Archie usually lost his arguments by reason of his own stupidity (it is perhaps worth noting that Alf Garnett, Archie Bunker's counterpart in the original British series, was far from lovable and used much stronger language that would not have been allowed on US network television).
In addition to its candid political dialogue, ''All in the Family's story lines also included a sense of realism not previously associated with sitcoms. A 1973 episode, for example, found the Bunkers discovering a swastika painted on their front door. (It had been intended for their Jewish neighbors down the street.) An activist from the Hebrew Defense League showed up, proposing violent retaliation against whomever painted it, but upon leaving, he was blown up in his car, as the Bunkers watched in horror from their front door. To interweave illness, crime, or in this case, the offscreen violent death of a character into the plot of a comedy show was an unprecedented move.

Production

Lear bought the rights to ''Till Death Us Do Part'' and incorporated his own family experiences with his father into the show. Lear's father would tell Lear's mother to "stifle [herself]" and she would tell Lear's father "you are the laziest white man I ever saw" (two 'Archieisms' that found their way onto the show).
There were three different pilots shot for the series, first was named "Justice" in reference to Archie's family name (later changed to Bunker). The second was titled ''Justice for All'' but was later changed to ''Those Were the Days''. Different actors played the roles of Mike, Gloria, and Lionel in the first two.
ABC became uneasy at about the time Richard Dreyfuss sought the role of Michael and canceled the project. Rival network CBS was eager to update its image, and was looking to replace much of its then popular "rural" programming (''Mayberry R.F.D., The Beverly Hillbillies'', ''Petticoat Junction'' and ''Green Acres'') with more "urban", contemporary fare (see Rural purge), and was interested in Lear's project. They bought the rights from ABC and re-titled the show ''All in the Family''.
Lear initially wanted to shoot in black and white, perhaps feeling that it would emphasize the Bunkers' stark surroundings to greater effect. While CBS insisted on color, Lear had the set furnished in rather neutral tones, keeping everything relatively devoid of color.
''All in the Family'' was the first major American series to be videotaped in front of a live studio audience. At the time, sitcoms were shot on film in front of an audience, and the 1960s had seen a growing number of sitcoms filmed on soundstages without audiences, with a laugh track simulating audience response. After the success of ''All in the Family'', videotaping sitcoms in front of an audience became the standard format for the genre. However, the use of videotape also gave ''All in the Family'' the look and feel of the classic sitcoms of early television, which had been performed live before a studio audience (including the original live broadcasts of ''The Honeymooners'', to which ''All in the Family'' is sometimes compared.
In later seasons, the practice changed to playing the already taped and edited show to an audience and recording their laughter to add to the original sound track. Thus, O'Connor's voice-over during the end credits was changed from "''All in the Family'' is taped before a live studio audience" to "''All in the Family'' was played to a studio audience for a live response." (Typically, the audience would be gathered for a taping of ''One Day At A Time'', and get to see ''All In the Family'' as a bonus.) Throughout its run, Norman Lear took pride in the fact that canned laughter was never used (mentioning this on many occasions); the laughter heard in the episodes was genuine.
The house shown in the opening credits is located at 89-70 Cooper Avenue in the Glendale neighborhood of Queens, New York. The fictional address of the Bunker home was 704 Hauser Street. One may notice there isn't a porch to the house, although a number of scenes took place there during the series' run.

Awards

''All in the Family'' is the first of three sitcoms in which all the main characters won Emmy Awards (O'Connor, Stapleton, Struthers, and Reiner). The other two are ''The Golden Girls'' and ''Will & Grace''.
It won numerous Emmys:

★ Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Carroll O'Connor, 1972, 1977-1979

★ Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Jean Stapleton, 1971, 1972, 1978

★ Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series - Sally Struthers, 1972 (tied with Valerie Harper for ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show''), 1979

★ Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series - Rob Reiner, 1974, 1978

★ Outstanding New Series - Norman Lear, 1971

★ Outstanding Comedy Series - Norman Lear, 1971, 1972, 1973 (with John Rich); Mort Lachman and Milt Josefsberg, 1978

★ Outstanding Direction in a Comedy Series - John Rich, 1972; Paul Bogart, 1978

★ Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series - Burt Styler, 1972; Michael Ross, Bernard West and Lee Kalcheim, 1973; Bob Weiskopf, Bob Schiller, Barry Harman and Harvey Bronsten, 1978

★ Outstanding Live or Tape Sound Mixing - Norman Dewes, 1972
It was nominated an additional 34 times.
Its Golden Globe Awards are:

★ Best TV Actor, Musical/Comedy - Carroll O'Connor, 1972

★ Best TV Actress, Musical/Comedy - Jean Stapleton, 1973, 1974

★ Best Supporting Actress, Television - Betty Garrett, 1975

★ Best TV Show, Musical/Comedy - 1972-74, 1978
There were also 21 nominations.

Episodes

Main articles: List of All in the Family episodes

The longest sustained audience laughter in the show's history occurred in the famous episode-ending scene in which guest star Sammy Davis, Jr. plays himself. Archie is working as a cabdriver. Davis leaves a briefcase behind in his taxi and goes to the Bunker home to pick it up. Archie asks for a photograph with the famous celebrity; the picture captures Davis (after hearing some of Archie's racist remarks) suddenly kissing a stunned Archie on the cheek. The laughter went on for so long that it had to be severely edited for network broadcast as Carroll O'Connor still had one final line to get out following the kiss. (That line, "Well, what the hell — he said it was in his contract!" is usually cut in syndication.)

Ratings

''All In the Family'' is one of two television shows, ''The Cosby Show'' being the other, that has been number 1 in the Nielsen Ratings for five consecutive TV seasons.
The ratings for each season, at the end of the season, were:

'Season'	'Ratings Rank'
1970-1971	#34
1971-1972	#1
1972-1973	#1
1973-1974	#1
1974-1975	#1
1975-1976	#1
1976-1977	#12
1977-1978	#6
1978-1979	#9

Spin-offs

''All in the Family'' spawned several spin-offs, beginning with ''Maude'' on September 12 1972. Maude Findlay, played by Beatrice Arthur, was Edith's cousin; she had first appeared on ''All in the Family'' in December 1971 in order to help take care of the Bunkers when they all were sick. Maude disliked Archie intensely, mainly because she thought Edith could have married better, but also because Archie was a conservative while Maude was very liberal in her politics. Maude was featured in another ''All in the Family'' episode in which Archie and Edith visited Maude's home in Westchester County to attend the wedding of Maude's daughter Carol — it aired near the end of the second season in the spring of 1972. The episode was essentially designed to set up the premise for the spin-off series ''Maude''. In the episode, Bill Macy played Maude's husband, Walter; it was a role he would reprise for the weekly series that fall. Marcia Rodd, the actress who played Carol in the episode was replaced by Adrienne Barbeau in ''Maude''. (Rodd had previously appeared in a 1971 episode of ''All in the Family'', playing a different character.)
The second and longest-lasting spin-off of ''All in the Family'' was ''The Jeffersons''. Debuting on CBS on January 18, 1975 ''The Jeffersons'' lasted 11 seasons compared to ''All in the Family's'' 9 seasons. The main characters of ''The Jeffersons'' were the Bunkers' former next-door neighbors George Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley, who had appeared from 1973 to 1975 on ''AITF'') and his wife, Louise "Weezie" Jefferson (played by Isabel Sanford, 1971-1975 on ''AitF''). George Jefferson was the owner of a chain of seven successful dry-cleaning stores; as ''The Jeffersons'' began, he and Louise had just moved from the Bunkers' neighborhood in Queens to a luxury high-rise apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East Side. George was considered to be the "Black Archie Bunker", and was considered as racist as Archie, according to some people.
Other spin-offs of ''All in the Family'' include:

★ ''Archie Bunker's Place'', technically a spin-off, but was a continuation of the AITF series.

★ ''Gloria'', wherein Gloria divorces Mike and starts a new life.

★ ''704 Hauser'' features the Bunker's house with a new family.
''All In The Family'' also spawned two spin-offs from spin-offs:

★ ''Good Times'', features Maude's maid Florida Evans and her family in the ghetto

★ ''Checking In'', where The Jefferson's maid Florence gets her own show

Theme song

The series' opening theme song "Those Were the Days"[4], written by Lee Adams (lyrics) and Charles Strouse (music), was presented in a unique way for a 1970s series: O'Connor and Jean Stapleton were seated at a console or spinet piano[5] (played by Stapleton) and singing the tune on-camera at the start of every episode. Several different performances were recorded over the run of the series (including one version that includes an additional verse). The song is a simple melody (that can be played exclusively with black keys on a piano) in which Archie and Edith wax nostalgic for the simpler days of yesteryear. Listening to each version chronologically, there are two trends: Jean Stapleton's screeching high note on the line "And you knew who you WEEERRE then" became louder, longer, and more comical; and the final lyrics (especially "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great"[6].) were sung with increasingly deliberate enunciation as viewers had initially complained that they couldn't understand the words.
In interviews, Norman Lear stated that the idea for the piano song introduction was a cost-cutting measure. After completion of the pilot episode, the budget would not allow an elaborate scene to serve as the sequence played during the show's opening credits. Lear decided to have a simple scene of Archie and Edith singing at the piano -- a sequence that became one of the most famous and parodied openings in TV history.
The closing theme (an instrumental) was "Remembering You" played by Roger Kellaway with lyrics co-written by Carroll O'Connor. It was played over footage of houses in Queens intended to represent the Bunkers' neighborhood.
Except for some brief instances in the very first episodes, there was no background or transitional music.

Cultural impact

★ Then-US President Richard Nixon can be heard discussing the show (specifically the 1971 episodes "Writing the President" and "Judging Books by Covers"[7]) on one of the infamous Watergate tapes.

★ Popular T-shirts, buttons, and bumperstickers showing O'Connor's image and farcically promoting "Archie Bunker for President" appeared around the time of the 1972 presidential election. A number of voters were said to have voted for the fictional TV character as a write-in candidate.

★ Archie and Edith's chairs are now in the Smithsonian Institution. Originally purchased by the show's set designer for a few dollars at a local Goodwill thrift store, the originals were given to the Smithsonian (for an exhibit on American television history) in 1978. It cost producers thousands of dollars to create replicas to replace the originals on the show's set.

★ On the TV series ''Family Guy'', the episode "PTV" depicts a fictional All in the Family scene where Archie and Edith get the Jeffersons to move by burning a cross on their lawn while dressed like members of the KKK.

★ The episode of ''The Simpsons'' Lisa's Sax features a parody of the opening sequence of ''All in the Family'', with Marge playing piano and Marge and Homer singing an updated version of ''Those were the Days''. The episode then proceeds to state that it was filmed in front of a live studio audience. Homer Simpson also has some notable comparisons to Archie as well.[8]

★ The show inspired the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series ''Wait Till Your Father Gets Home''.

DVD releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released the first 6 seasons of ''All in the Family'' on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. It is expected that the remaining 3 seasons will be released soon.
'Season Releases'

DVD Name	Broadcast Season	Release Date	# of Eps
The Complete First Season	1971	March 26 2002	13
The Complete Second Season	1971-72	February 4 2003	24
The Complete Third Season	1972-73	July 20 2004	24
The Complete Fourth Season	1973-74	April 12 2005	24
The Complete Fifth Season	1974-75	January 3 2006	25
The Complete Sixth Season	1975-76	February 13 2007	24
The Complete Seventh Season	1976-77	TBA 2008	25
The Complete Eighth Season	1977-78	TBA	24
The Complete Ninth Season	1978-79	TBA	24

See also

★ ''Til Death Us Do Part''

★ ''Archie Bunker's Place''

★ ''All In A Family'' - a popular Hong Kong sitcom/soap opera also based on ''Til Death Us Do Part''

References

1. American Heritage Dictionary; http://www.bartleby.com/61/65/P0406500.html


★ ''All in the Family: A Critical Appraisal'', edited by Richard P. Adler, (Praeger; 1979) ISBN 0-275-90326-5

★ ''Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria : the Tumultuous History of All in the Family'', Donna McCrohan, (Workman Publishing; 1988) ISBN 0-89480-527-4

★ ''Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments'', Joe Garner, (Andrews McMeel Publishing; 2002) ISBN 0-7407-2693-5

★ ''All In The Family'': 35 Years Of Defining Moments (WCBS-TV story with video, January 12 2006)

External links

★ Encyclopedia of Television entry on ''All in the Family''

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