Post: #1

I stopped watching TV several year ago when I launched my business to help me stay sharp and focus. This is easy considering the content they show today. If you've taken the red pill you will appreciate what All in the Family has to offer.

You'll see traditional roles at play vs liberal and comedy in the mix. I think we can agree that most of us want the old ways back! Enjoy:

All in the Family - A Video PlayList on Dailymotion

Post: #2

It's one of the best TV series ever made. I strongly recommend it. The parallels to today are... unsettling.

Post: #3

It was a groundbreaking series at the time. Sitcoms had generally touched on safe issues and never discussed the things that the Bunkers talked about. Lucille Ball hated it.

It was also the first series to be taped before a live audience and to have the sound of a toilet flushing.

One thing you'll realize is that red-pill Archie is often portrayed to be a fool though.

Post: #4

"All in the Family" can still be seen weeknights at 9 p.m. on the Antenna TV network. Afterwards, at 10 p.m., they run "Family Ties," which had another outspoken conservative TV character, Alex P. Keaton (played by a young Michael J. Fox).

While both of these shows depicted conservatives as pompous and foolish (especially "All in the Family") that's just because of what the characters *said.*

But what about what the characters *did?* This is an important distinction.

Archie might have been a blowhard, but he was a hard worker at his blue collar job and he was always faithful to his wife, even when his friends were cheating on theirs. Later in the series, he opened his own bar, so he was a small business owner.

For years Archie also supported his big-mouthed liberal son-in-law Mike Stivic. Mike might have supposedly been smarter, but it was Archie who was putting food on the table and putting a roof over their heads. The series made sure people knew this.

As for "Family Ties," Alex P. Keaton was the top student in all of his classes and was considered a genius. He also dated the hottest women (a young Courteney Cox, for example), then went onto an extremely lucrative job on Wall Street in the series finale episode, "Alex Doesn't Live Here Anymore."

Meanwhile, the less conservative characters on all these shows weren't nearly as successful (with the exception of Alex's mom, who was an architect). I don't know if the series creators realized the larger messages they were sending, but they presented a pretty good case in favor of conservatism to a minor degree with Archie Bunker and to a major degree with Alex P. Keaton.

Post: #5

Even though Norman Lear painted both liberal and conservative viewpoints, in the end - Gloria cheats on Mike whilst he earns a living and takes cares of his family. This just goes to show subliminally that Archie and Edith's relationship ultimately prospered.

I might pick a few episodes for my future kids to watch instead of what we have on air today.

Post: #6

This show was not about liberal versus conservative as much as it was about the cultural changes in society and the differences of generational ideals. This was before red/blue states, MSNBC vs Fox News, and Crossfire type shows. It was more about the fall out of the 1960s, covering the racial, religious and cultural themes of its time. Despite their differences, Archie and Meathead found common ground in the love for their family and recognized it as the most important part of their lives.

Post: #7

Archie was very hard on the outside, but very soft on the inside. Carrol O'Connor did a masterful job. It's easy to understand why TV Guide called Archie the greatest character in TV history.

This clip is from "Archie Alone," which is an episode of Archie Bunker's Place. This is how Archie reacts to the death of his "dingbat."

Post: #8

This is the most memorable argument Mike and Archie ever had. And it had NOTHING to do with politics. It's brilliant because even a little kid understand it. It's just as timely now as it was then:

Post: #9

(06-21-2016 11:34 PM)puckerman Wrote:  This is the most memorable argument Mike and Archie ever had. And it had NOTHING to do with politics. It's brilliant because even a little kid understand it. It's just as timely now as it was then:

I grew up watching "All in the Family" on Nick-at-Nite, and to this day, I literally think about this scene almost every time I'm putting on my socks and shoes.

Post: #10

Archie had collective judgments about people. But when he was dealing with those people one-on-one, he was more civilized. His bark was always worse than his bite. And while he was often disrespectful toward Edith, he never acted violent or even threatened violence.

Post: #11

I never liked this show. I'm old enough that I watched the first run episodes. There were only three networks, so I'd sometimes watch it for lack of anything else.

I didn't care about politics at the time. I was just a kid. I thought Archie was just a jerk, Meathead was stupid and argumentative, and Edith was retarded. The shoe and sock thing is a perfect example. Who cares how he puts on his shoes? Archie is just obnoxious here. That's his whole persona. His identity as a blue collar, hardworking provider was just a backdrop to his personality as a complaining, criticizing jerk.

Now that I'm Archie's age, and I understand the social, historical, and cultural subtext, I'm highly sympathetic to Archie and Edith, but I still wouldn't care to spend time with them.

I really liked Carroll O'Connor in the show "In the Heat of the Night".

Post: #12

(06-21-2016 07:47 AM)puckerman Wrote:  It was a groundbreaking series at the time. Sitcoms had generally touched on safe issues and never discussed the things that the Bunkers talked about. Lucille Ball hated it.

It was also the first series to be taped before a live audience and to have the sound of a toilet flushing.

One thing you'll realize is that red-pill Archie is often portrayed to be a fool though.

Yeah, Rob Reiner is actually a big lib in real life; they did a spoof on him in South Park.