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All in the Family

All in the Family is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. It was later produced as Archie Bunker's Place, a continuation series, which picked up where All in the Family ended and ran for four seasons through 1983.

For other uses, see All in the Family (disambiguation).

All in the Family

Sitcom

Till Death Us Do Part
by Johnny Speight

Norman Lear

Lee Adams (lyrics),
Charles Strouse (music), Roger Kellaway (ending theme)

"Those Were the Days"
Performed by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton

"Remembering You"
by Roger Kellaway, (music) and Carroll O'Connor (additional lyrics added in 1971; instrumental version)

United States

9

205 (list of episodes)

CBS Television City
Hollywood, California (1971–75)
Metromedia Square
Hollywood, California (1975–79)

25–26 minutes

Tandem Productions

CBS

January 12, 1971 (1971-01-12) –
April 8, 1979 (1979-04-08)

Based on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part,[1][2] All in the Family was produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. It starred Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, and Rob Reiner. The show revolves around the life of a working-class man and his family. It broke ground by introducing challenging and complex issues into mainstream network television comedy: racism, antisemitism, infidelity, homosexuality, transphobia,[3] women's liberation, rape, religion, miscarriages, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. The series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with more dramatic moments and realistic, topical conflicts.[4][note 1]


All in the Family has been ranked as one of the best American television series.[7] The show became the most watched show in the United States during the summer reruns of the first season,[8] and topped the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976,[9] the first television series to have held the position for five consecutive years. The episode "Sammy's Visit" was ranked number 13 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[10] TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as number four. Bravo also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time.[11] In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked All in the Family the fourth-best written TV series[12] In 2023, Variety ranked All in the Family #16 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows.[13]

Premise[edit]

All in the Family centers on a working-class White American family living in Queens, New York. Its patriarch, Archie Bunker (O'Connor), is an outspoken, narrow-minded man, seemingly prejudiced against everyone not like him or his ideas of how people should be. Archie's wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) is sweet and understanding, which can make her appear naïve and uneducated. Her husband often treats her dismissively and uses disparaging language, calling her "dingbat".[14]


Their one child, Gloria (Sally Struthers), is generally kind and good-natured like her mother, but displays traces of her father's stubbornness and temper. Unlike them, she is a feminist. Gloria is married to college, later graduate student, later college instructor Michael Stivic (Reiner)–referred to as "Meathead" by Archie–whose values are likewise influenced and shaped by the counterculture of the 1960s. The two couples represent the real-life clash of values between the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers. For much of the series, the Stivics live in the Bunkers' home to save money, providing abundant opportunity for them to irritate each other.


The show is set in the Astoria section of Queens, with the vast majority of scenes taking place in the Bunkers' home at 704 Hauser Street. Occasional scenes take place in other locations, especially during later seasons, such as Kelsey's Bar, a neighborhood tavern that Archie spends a good deal of time in and eventually purchases, and the Stivics' home after Mike and Gloria move out.


Supporting characters represent the changing demographics of the neighborhood, especially the Jeffersons, a Black family, who live in the house next door in the early seasons and then left the area for the higher end Upper East side of Manhattan after George (the husband) made a fortune with his dry cleaning business. The Jeffersons then rented their home to Gloria and Mike.

as Archie Bunker: Frequently called a "lovable bigot", Archie was an assertively prejudiced blue-collar worker. A World War II veteran, Archie longs for better times when people sharing his viewpoint were in charge, as evidenced by the nostalgic theme song "Those Were the Days", also the show's original title. Despite his bigotry, he is portrayed as loving and decent, as well as a man who is simply struggling to adapt to the constantly changing world, rather than someone motivated by hateful racism or prejudice. His ignorance and stubbornness seem to cause his malapropism-filled arguments to self-destruct. He often rejects uncomfortable truths by blowing a raspberry. Former child actor Mickey Rooney was Lear's first choice to play Archie, but Rooney declined the offer because of the strong potential for controversy, and in Rooney's opinion, a poor chance for success.

Carroll O'Connor

as Edith Bunker, née Baines: Edith is Archie's ditzy but kind-hearted wife. Archie often tells her to "stifle" herself and calls her a "dingbat", and although Edith generally defers to her husband's authority and endures his insults, on the rare occasions when Edith takes a stand, she proves to have a simple but profound wisdom.[15] Despite their different personalities, they love each other deeply. Stapleton developed Edith's distinctive voice.[16] Stapleton remained with the show through the original series run, but decided to leave at that time. During the first season of Archie Bunker's Place, Edith was seen in five of the first fourteen episodes in guest appearances. After being largely carried as an invisible character, Edith was written out as having suffered a stroke and died off-camera in the following season, leaving Archie to deal with the death of his beloved "dingbat". Stapleton appeared in all but four episodes of All in the Family. In the series' first episode, Edith is portrayed as being less of a dingbat and even sarcastically refers to her husband as "Mr. Religion, here ..." after they come home from church, something her character would not be expected to say later.

Jean Stapleton

as Gloria Stivic, née Bunker: The Bunkers' college-aged daughter who is married to Michael Stivic. She has the generally kind nature of her mother, but the stubbornness of her father, which early in the series manifests as childishness, later as a more mature feminism. Gloria frequently attempts to mediate between her father and husband, generally siding with the latter. The roles of the Bunkers' daughter and son-in-law (then named "Dickie") initially went to Candice Azzara and Chip Oliver. After seeing the show's pilot, ABC requested a second pilot expressing dissatisfaction with both actors. Lear later recast the roles of Gloria and Dickie with Struthers and Reiner. Penny Marshall, Reiner's wife, whom he married in April 1971, shortly after the program began, was considered for the role of Gloria. During the earlier seasons of the show, Struthers was known to be discontented with how static her part was and, in 1974, sued to get out of her contract. But the character became more developed, satisfying her.[17] Struthers appeared in 157 of the 202 episodes during the first eight seasons—from January 12, 1971, to March 19, 1978. She later reprised the role in the spin-off series Gloria, which lasted one season in 1982–1983.

Sally Struthers

as Michael "Meathead" Stivic: Gloria's Polish-American hippie husband is part of the counterculture of the 1960s. While good-hearted and well-meaning, he constantly spars with Archie, and is equally stubborn, although his moral views are generally presented as being more ethical and his logic somewhat sounder. He is the most-educated person in the household, a fact which gives him a self-assured arrogance, and despite his intellectual belief in progressive social values, he tends to expect Gloria to defer to him as her husband. As discussed in All in the Family retrospectives, Richard Dreyfuss sought the part, but Norman Lear ultimately cast Reiner. Harrison Ford turned down the role, citing Archie Bunker's bigotry. Reiner appeared in 174 of the 202 episodes of the series during the first eight seasons—from January 12, 1971, to March 19, 1978. Reiner is credited with writing three of the series' episodes.[18]

Rob Reiner

as Stephanie Mills, the nine-year-old daughter of Edith's cousin Floyd, who is a regular throughout the ninth season. In addition to being thought cute and having a sweet side, she is smart, clever, and does give her own few remarks at Archie from time to time. The Bunkers take her in after her father abandons her on their doorstep in 1978. He later extorts money from them to let them keep her. She remained with the show through its transition to Archie Bunker's Place and appeared in all four seasons of the continuation.

Danielle Brisebois

Maude

The Jeffersons

was technically a spin-off, but was essentially a renamed continuation of the series, beginning in September 1979 following the final season of the original. It was primarily set in the titular neighborhood tavern which Archie Bunker purchased in the eighth season of All in the Family. It aired for four seasons, until April 1983.

Archie Bunker's Place

was the third spin-off of All in the Family, focusing on now-divorced Gloria, starting a new life as an assistant trainee to a couple of veterinarians in Foxridge, New York. It premiered in September 1982, and ran for one season.

Gloria

features the Bunkers' house with a new family, the Cumberbatches. It was an inversion of the formula of the original, featuring a liberal black couple with a conservative son, who is dating a Jewish woman. Gloria and Mike's son Joey Stivic, now in his 20s, makes a brief appearance in the first episode. Five episodes aired in April and May 1994. The sixth episode was unaired.

704 Hauser

As of 2009, All in the Family has the most spin-offs for a US prime-time television series, directly spawning five other shows, three of which were very successful, as well as two of those spin-offs each having a spin-off of their own:[49]

Outstanding New Series (Won)

Outstanding Series – Comedy (Won)

Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series: (Nominated)

Carroll O'Connor

Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series: (Won)

Jean Stapleton

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy: for "Gloria's Pregnant" (Nominated)

John Rich

Norman Lear

All in a Family

List of American television shows based on foreign shows

List of All in the Family episodes

Adler, Richard P., ed. (1979). . New York: Praeger. ISBN 0275903265. OCLC 5853047.

All in the Family: A Critical Appraisal

Cullen, Jim, 1962–. Those Were the days: Why All in the Family Still Matters. New Brunswick.  978-1-9788-0577-4. OCLC 1100000865.

ISBN

(2002). Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments. Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0-7407-2693-5. OCLC 60671579.

Garner, Joe

McCrohan, Donna (1988). . New York: Workman Publishing. ISBN 0-89480-527-4. OCLC 759882713.

Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria: The Tumultuous History of All in the Family

Moriarty, Jay (2020). Honky in the House: Writing & Producing The Jeffersons. Antler Publishing  978-1-7330795-8-7 (print) ISBN 978-1-7330795-9-4 (ebook). (Mentions AITF episodes, especially, "The Draft Dodger", Good Times, Maude and working with Norman Lear.)

ISBN

All in the Family Sitcom

All in the Family TV Show on Facebook

at IMDb

All in the Family

All in the Family on emmys.com

All in the Family on TVLand.com

Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

All in the Family on TV.Com

at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

All in the Family