"All In The Family" trivia

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by toptentwist, Jul 1, 2016.

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  1. toptentwist

    toptentwist Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    A non-TV related comment in the music are of this web site got me looking at some trivia concerning "All In The Family".

    I remember the show eventually ended and a new show called "Archie Bunker's Place" arrived - but I forgot some of the other parts of the story.

    1.) Edith never died on "All In The Family"... she was briefly on "Archie Bunker's Place" but she wasn't featured much - and Caroll O'Conner made the decision to permanently end her character. Her death was a sub-plot on "Archie Bunker's Place"
    2.) Gloria got her own (short lived) spin-off series - and that spin-off was promoted by having her briefly appear in "Archie Bunker's Place" - as a single mother - divorced from the Meathead.
    3.) There are extra lyrics for the opening theme song. I'm not sure they were ever used on television. I'm not certain but the songs seems to have been written FOR the television series.

    I'm not sure why I stopped watching "All In The Family". I think the basic reason is it moved to a different night from a very comfortable, very dominant position on Saturday night.

    After it moved, I lost track of it. I think I watched it on Monday nights for a while - but it moved again
    it was then gone from my mind.

    In the days without a VCR or a DVR, moving a show could easily kill it. The networks did it often hoping
    to either dethrone some other show - or create a dominant night for their series.

    I'm surprised it was still on the air as last as 1979... I probably stopped watching it around 1975 or 1976.

    I remember when Gloria and Michael moved next door - and when they had a baby - but without them in the house creating tension - the show lost it's steam (in my opinion).

    Oddly, I do remember watching "Archie Bunker's Place" in the 80s. Bunker's character was more of a softie - and the show was nothing close to what "All In the Family" was in its prime - but there probably wasn't much else on at the time to lure me away. I seem to remember "Archie Bunker's Place" being aired on Sunday nights.
     
  2. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    I remember when Mike and Gloria moved away and it was just Archie and Meathead on the front porch. Meathead told Archie I know you always thought I hated you but I love you. Then he gave Archie a big hug. Archie was stunned but then slowly hugged him back. That one scene gave me the weepies.


     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2016
  3. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    The show should have ended when Mike and Gloria moved away but CBS offered more money. I think that the decision to stay, as well as soften some of Archie and not tape with an audience affected the show more than anything else. About season 6 or 7 on it just never was the same.
     
  4. AndyNicks

    AndyNicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    I thought the show was generally still very strong even with Mike and Gloria next door. Because they wrote them to be together most of the time anyway it didn't seem like they had moved. When they finally moved to California that's when the show changed dramatically. IMO
     
  5. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    One of my favorite shows as a kid. When they brought in the little girl and changed it to "Archie Bunker's Place" it started to suck bad.

    How many shows were spawned from "All in the Family"?

    Off the top of my head:

    Good Times
    Maude
    Gloria
    The Jeffersons
    (Whatever the Marla Gibbs failed show was. 227?)

    Probably a few I'm missing.
     
  6. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I just rewatched this recently too. And it still really gets to me. Everything in the second half has the perfect pacing (after the silly first half) to make it very emotional. When Archie sits back down after they leave, and Edith pretends to not have seen him is when I lose it.

    That really should have been the last episode of All in the Family, but in a way I am glad it wasn't. Although the last season really feels like the first season of Archie Bunkers Place to me now, I feel if they had changed to a spin-off then, no one would have paid attention. And that last season had a few great moments (the one where they learn Stephanie is Jewish in my favorite).
     
  7. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    That was supposed to be the series finale, but the show was doing so well in the ratings that they decided to continue.
     
  8. Linda Belcher

    Linda Belcher Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Ocean Avenue
    i don't have enough praise for this show... i'm so glad they're airing it again, so the current generation can discover it... i played a few episodes for my 18 yr old recently, and oh how gratifying it was to watch her laugh and react to the same things i did when i watched them while they were all new.... just a testament to the top notch writing and acting... they just don't make 'em like that anymore...
     
  9. Moshe

    Moshe "Silent in four languages."

    Location:
    U.S.
    One of my favorite tv shows.
    In my top 2, aside from The Honeymooners.
     
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  10. Moshe

    Moshe "Silent in four languages."

    Location:
    U.S.
    Also I think, the best acting I've ever seen on a sitcom.
    Caroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton were both amazing.

    Caroll O'Connor in The Draft Dodger episode.
    Excellent.
    I've never seen acting like that in sitcoms, let alone tv dramas.

    Also, the one where Mike and Gloria leave for California.
    O'Connor and Stapleton were just so great in that one.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2016
  11. thestereofan

    thestereofan Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose
    It would have been the greatest ending to a show ever. Just amazing acting and writing. The classic.
     
  12. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    227 was very successful. You're thinking of Checking In.
     
  13. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

  14. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Carroll O'Connor wrote a lyric for the end theme:

    Carroll O'Connor and Roger Kellaway - Remembering You
     
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  15. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    IMO Season 8, Episode 3, "Edith's 50th Birthday" is one of the best episodes of any show.
     
  16. philly67

    philly67 Forum Resident

    One of the (many) episodes that i always think of, when i think of the best of that show, was the Everybody Tells The Truth episode. To have a TV show do their version of Rashomon...just stunning!
     
  17. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Is this the episode when Edith pulls out the pen knife and Archie says, "They used one of those in ancient Rome to kill Sid Ceasar"? Haha!
     
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  18. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    Greatest sitcom ever.
     
  19. Jeff Minn

    Jeff Minn Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    Agreed, it had it all. My absolute favorite of all-time.
     
  20. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    AITF and MASH were my favorite 70s sitcoms.
     
  21. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Besides Lucille Ball's shows how many sitcoms were filmed in front of an audience between the time of Dick Van Dyke left in 1966 and Mary Tyler Moore and All in the Family went on the air in 1970/1971? I can't think of many, if any, that did.
     
  22. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    It's impossible to watch that without welling up let alone flat out bawling. The series made you laugh and cry, and you're right, the writing and acting was exceptional. O'Connor could slay you with facial expressions alone. There has never been a better acted sitcom.
     
  23. thestereofan

    thestereofan Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose
    Yes, every one was perfect for their part. In the Top 10 shows of all time. Up there with Lucy, Twilight Zone, Seinfeld.
     
  24. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    Not many at all. It's odd. The Joey Bishop Show, The Danny Thomas Show and The Mothers In-Law are the only other '60s sitcoms I can think if that were filmed
    that way.
    I guess, even in the '50s, it fairly rare. I think the '70s-'90s were the peak for multi-cam sitcoms.
     
  25. Ken K

    Ken K Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sayreville, NJ USA
    "Everybody Tells the Truth" is one of my top-5 AITF episodes. I always thought that having the characters "depict" each other from their point-of-view was awesome. Archie thinking he was nice all the time and that everyone "takes me up wrong", etc. That entire episode is non-stop hilarity from start to finish. Ron Glass portraying the repairman's assistant in different personalities was hysterical ("Here come the tools! Here come the tools!" and laughing like a hyena).
     
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