Do You Remember " All in the Family"?

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
I found a used book on the history. Sadly before my time to understand. Okay try to explain this...as a pre-teen I was forbidden to watch it when it first aired. Okay Archie is a bigot and that is offensive. But when my uncles talk like that at the family reunion then I guess it's okay...right...gotcha. But in this age of political correctness...

Really they've gone too far. Let's see...Lenny Bruce, racist, sexist. homophobic, even Jew bashing in his own way.

What happened here? "All in the Family" was a groundbreaker. "Sanford and Son" same era and just as much fun. But "All in the Family" and later "In Living Color". What a terrific show...the Wayans Brothers made fun of everyone. Black, white, gay, fire fighter...dang we'll give them all two snaps up.

Now we're virtually back to Lucy and Ricky in separate beds. What the heck happened? George Carlin is twirling somewhere.
 

When Archie Bunker said racist/sexist/bigoted things, it was shown how stupid and wrong it was.

I remember All in the Family well. It was based on a British show called To Death do us Part, which I've never seen.

When my husband who has never lived in the US, visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History we saw the chairs Archie and Edith sat in. He couldn't believe they were there. How could they possibly belong in a museum of history. He just didn't get it no matter how I explained that they did belong there.
 
I just watched the show to check out Gloria
 

I enjoyed the show very much. I thought Archie was hilarious because he showed everyone how ignorant bigotry was. :eek:
 
Reruns are on our local TV. It is amazing how the things that were "shocking" then are completely off the table as "non-PC" today.

I love the show's balance. Archie was "Archie" - George was "black-Archie". Mike showed up Archie's extremism - and, every now and then, showed his own extremism.

But, beyond all the ideological "side show" elements, it was and is a very, very funny show.
 
That show was a real groundbreaker. I remember when it first aired, the newspapers said it was going to be a comedy about a bigot. I thought, "How can anyone laugh at bigotry?" The genius of the show was that it demonstrated how idiotic his ideas were. I think it was instrumental in changing public attitudes about a lot of things.

Modern Family has done the same thing for gay marriage.
 
I'm not sure because I don't watch much in the way of TV or movies...but are there any shows or comedians now that equal say George Carlin? Any that might come close? Movie makers like Mel Brooks? You do wonder which if any present day celebrities will still have them laughing in fifty years.
 
I was a teen when All in the Family was on. Great show. My original thought when it first came on was that Archie sounded a lot like my father. My father was prone to saying some very biased/racist things and it always made me cringe. He still does from time to time, but age has mellowed him. Funny how he never saw himself as racist in his beliefs.

Others who have commented above are right that it exposed the dark side of many of the social issues of our time, particularly race, homosexuality, abortion, sexual assault, aging, divorce, etc. I liked how the show evolved over time. Norman Lear showed his genius with that show.
 
Warren Mitchell
who played Alf garnet in till death do us part
died recently It was very popular PROGRAME
back in the day you couldn't show it now

there was another one called
love thy neighbour about a
west Indian family moving
in to a town in Britain
both really racist in fact
i saw on of the stars of it
on a talk show and she didnt
want to talk about it she said
most of the stars were embarrassed
about starring in it

tony Blairs father in law was in till death do us part
tony booth
 

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