"All In The Family" trivia

My childhood was filled with watching All In The Family and my dad agreeing with Archie Bunker all the time.

 

Haha are we long lost brothers?

 

Yes, same father/son dynamics here, as well (I being the "Meathead").

On a different note, I wonder what kind of music Mike and Gloria listened to. That character detail never seemed to have come up in any episode that I can recall. I'm guessing Motown! I'm sure there'd be no rock n roll under Archie's roof.

 

AITF was based on Till Death Do Us Part, a British show. What was that one like, was the man like Archie and the wife like Edith?

 

From what I've heard, the wife was a bit more biting than Edith. I've never really watched the show, though.

 

I wish I could like that one more than once!

Fantastic.

 

I seem to remember Gloria dancing to Sly and the Family Stone in an early episode

 

That's funny, because I was going to say I wouldn't peg them for Motown, it'd be too straitlaced, IMO. They'd no doubt like something freakier like Sly.

 

Wonder what Archie would have thought of Meathead making Spinal Tap.

 

One fun piece of trivia is that Vincent Gardenia played two different characters on All in the Family: neighbor Frank Lorenzo, and the husband half of a "swinger" couple whose newspaper ad Edith innocently answered.

P.S. Now that I look it up, Sorrell ("Boss Hogg") Booke also guest starred as two different characters: Archie's boss at the plant, and the manager of the TV station where Archie delivered his infamous gun control editorial.

 

I love that "swingers" episode! Jean is a riot in that one!

 

Fu

Funny you mentioned that. I saw a rerun over the weekend and I remember noticing when they were in their room alone, there is a shelf full of records in the background. Couldn't see what any of them were though.

 

Good eye!

 

Can’t say **** now, that he got away with!

 

I remember this too. A lot of the complete episodes are on Youtube, but I have not found this one yet. I believe it is from Season 1.

 

I was thinking about the episode "Edith vs The Intruder".

This has to be my least favorite episode.
I don't like it at all.
It's horrible in so many ways.
First, the same thing had happened to Gloria in a pervious episode, so, it just didn't seem necessary and made no sense to have it happen to Edith.
Just the idea of this happening to Edith and on her birthday was just a bit much.
Also, the audience were (awkwardly) laughing at inappropriate times.
Also, inspite of what a lot of people have said, I don't think this was Jean Stapleton's best performance.
I think the whole episode was awkward.
The audience felt awkward and I felt Jean Stapleton felt awkward doing this episode. She didn't say that, but I just got a sense that she was.
She seemed very much so.
The thing I didn't like most about it was that Archie was portrayed as a bumbling coward.
This was not at all Archie Bunker to me.
Archie was no coward, especially when it came to protecting Edith and Gloria.
I've never liked this episode, at all.
It's the only episode that I don't like.
It's very uncomfortable to watch.
It's horrible.
I love this show, Just not this episode.
Glad I got this off my chest.

 

Is that the one with the dog alarm, or was this actually an intruder and not a burglar? If it is about the two colored burglars, I thought it was hysterical and that Edith showed true compassion towards the racism and disadvantages colored folks experienced, and apparently still do. It's hard for me to believe we still have any of that nonsense in this country, so much so that I literally wonder if it really happens. But with more recent events we have all seen on the news, it is apparent it is real and we have a long ways to go. Anyway, sorry if I am referencing the wrong episode. And I respect your opinion if it is the right one, I guess I just thought it did strike the right tone given the subject matter. Comedy and reality....tricky and few shows ever did it better.

 

It's the attempted rape.

 

Yikes. I have all the seasons but don't remember seeing that one. And probably never will. That sounds bad on all levels.

 

It's one of the best episodes of the series.

 

It is.
In my opinion anyway.
It's horrible.

 

We used to get AITF on TV over here, a long time ago. It was sometimes compared to the British Till Death Us Do Part series, featuring one Alf Garnett, a horrible caricatured racist bigot, brilliantly played by Warren Mitchell. I used to like AITF but I don't think I understood all of the jokes, because they were for a US audience.

 

I thought he was talking about the one where an unusually patient rapist was trying to rape Edith, but she kept stalling, and eventually was able to smash him in the face with a pan of burning brownies that she literally just took out of the oven, and ran next door.

BTW, I realize you may be of an older generation, but please don't use the term "colored". It's offensive nowadays. Thanks.

 

I'm just finishing a book entitled "You'll Never Get That on Television" in which this show is gone over in great detail.
Credit Norman Lear for sure.

Regarding "Till Death Do Us Part", the male character is described as being cold & crass, with no heart, as compared to Archie. Jean Stapleton describes that she introduced that persona of Edith, from a character that she used to play on stage. They loved it, and let her run with it.