ABC to recreate “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” eps for special

I admit I'm intrigued. Should be a fun trip down memory lane. I wonder if the other networks will do something similar with other shows.

 

Unbelievable that anyone could laugh during this! Studio audiences in the 70s were used to laughing at everything, I guess. They didn’t know any better. This scene should have been shot without an audience.
It also made me realize my own dad didn’t do anything Archie was reminiscing about: the baseball throwing- or the hitting (and I’m glad for that!)

 

I remember hearing some laughter during the episode where there was an attempted rape on Edith, during the attempted rape scene. I was flabbergasted and alarmed. But then I though to myself that those audience members, probably on vacation, were thinking they were going to see one of the top comedies and were going to get lots of laughs, and in fact were determined to get laughs. They might have actually believed that the attempted rape was supposed to be just another funny scene because they were unaccustomed to TV comedies being anything more than light entertainment.

 

My future wife and eventual ex-spouse at the time in the late '70's while we were dating told me her step mom would lock her in a dark closet as punishment. What's with the dark closet approach to disciplining a child? Future training for solitary confinement in prison?

Fortunately my step mom was more level headed and never abused me and my three siblings, nor did my dad. They did like to give us a long leash to figure out the world especially while we lived in the country. Good times!

 

its always strange when a traditional sitcom veers into serious subjects, I think its cause theyre so used to these characters and laughing at them....and also theyre waiting for the shoe to drop, expecting the laugh around the corner, it usually takes a bit for them to figure out...oh, this isn't supposed to be funny

 

Expectations are a huge factor - I've seen plenty of movies where audience members laugh at completely unfunny material just because they're primed for comedy.

Example that stayed with me: 1982's "48 Hours". There was one guy who figured that with Eddie Murphy as a lead, this had to be a non-stop comedy.

With that mindset, he laughed at everything. Man brutally shot in the head? Roar with laughter!

It was crazy - the guy constantly laughed at dark, dramatic material, all because (presumably) he expected a comedy and he assumed that everything was intended to be funny!

 

Normans Archie Bunker was intended to be a mocked relic of a generation that was on it's way out and his fallout in a progressive new world..This concept backfired because many related in concert to many of Archies old world views and took America by storm. It didn't hurt either being blessed with both Carroll o Conner & Jean Stapleton who were brilliant as Archie & Edith Bunker. I don't think the reboot will work because America can't laugh at it's self anymore without someone or group being offended. In the beginning that was the meat of the show. Boy did we laugh..

 

The problem is not all stereotypes among all "groups" are equally funny or can be made fun of due to how certain groups were treated throughout history that wasn't so funny. Quite a bit of Archie's humor focused more on stereotypes of minorities but also included outright ignorance of the facts of one or other of these groups. It was that character's outrageous ignorance of that particular group that put the joke on the Archie character. I think that sort of created some balance.

"The Neighborhood" with African American actor Cedric The Entertainer playing somewhat the Archie role is making fun of the stereotypical Caucasian that's moved into his neighborhood, but from what little I've seen of this sitcom the jokes just don't seem to land right. They're too obvious making the characters not believable.

 

It should be interesting as to what they will be allowed to use for content. I think one would be hard put to find any AITF episode which could be re-done in its entirety today.

 

They'll probably have to edit the scripts or use bleeps for the on-air broadcasts and most certainly will have an audience warning at the start of the show about how sensibilities have changed and the following material might offend some viewers.

 

After the first year or so, though Archie’s bigotry remained, it was shown more in attitude than offensive language...

 

And the fact that they were actually funny...regardless of one's politics.

 

Very true and well stated.

 

I was quite gung ho on this when first announced, but the more I think and hear about it, the less excited I get.

The idea of recreating these shows is inspired, but the “All Star” casting indicates that they are more concerned with ratings than doing it right.

All that said, I’ll be watching and be hoping I’m wrong.

 

By the way, how come Archie and Edith looked like Gloria's grandparents and not her parents? Was it that everyone looked so much older back then? I think they were 47 and 41 when the show started and they looked like people in their 60s look now.

 

I forgot about this! Yes, I'll be watching!

 

I keep thinking that when I see old reruns - I am older than Archie was!

And Marisa Tomei doesn't look old enough to be Edith to me, but she is considerably older than Edith was in the first few seasons.

 

I'll be down to watch this in a minute after *toilet flush sound*

 

People looked older back then because most people smoked, didn't eat healthy, and didn't get regular exercise.

 

I think part of it is the way they dressed. Most people don't eat healthy or get regular exercise today either. We have way more people overweight today than there we had back then.

 

Huh? It's not on for at least two or three more hours in your time zone.

 

My mom wants to watch this tonight, so I'll be watching it with her.

 

I'm going to watch. I'm interested to see which episodes they recreate, among other things.