Tudo em Família

In my book, All in the Family wins the award for the best television show of the seventies. This show is very historic. It talks about politics and racism and the way things were in the seventies and somewhat teaches you what it was like back then and on top of that it was funny as Hell! Archie Bunker alone will be a character that will really go down in history. As the show went on you really saw how he also learned and not to be such a racist and you just saw him change. Edith wins as thee craziest TV housewife with her high voice and that shes always so happy and full of energy and a pleasure to be around, pretty much the opposite of Archie. You got to have the crazy kids too that are getting on there nerves, but in this case it was the other way around. I love this show and thank goodness TV Land shows the re-runs.

Still one of the best shows ever!!!!!!!! You can watch it over and over again, and never get sick of it.

This is definitely my favorite show and I am glad that there are re-runs on Nick-At-Nite. One of my favorite episodes is when Archie gets locked in the cellar and is finally "rescued" by a repair man, but Archie is drunk and he thinks that the repair man is god, little does know, that the repair man is black!(not that it matters, but to archie?!) And when he bows down to him and lifts his head to see his "god" the audience roared in laughter as did I. Sometimes I wish that this show was on now, (of course with all the stupid issues today, that would be close to impossible), but then again it wouldn't be as good as it was, with all of the "1970's issues" to make fun of and comment on....infact, I think that the issues of the day greatly helped make this show the hit it was, along with the superb acting of course.I hope this show remains on the air for a long time, because I could never get sick of watching All In the Family!

In today's politically correct environment, a show like this could not be made today. This show dealt with the prejudices that ALL of us have in us. I am African-American and I admit that at times I have said things about other races that I now regret. I get that from my late father who was a Black version of Archie, even down to the favorite easy chair. Anyone can be a bigot and I feel that this show pointed it out in its own unique way.

Also, this show really dealt with issues besides predjudice. In fact it was groundbreaking due to the fact it dealt with so many controversial issues such as Vietnam, menopause, impotence, gun control and rape. In fact, the episode that pretty much stands out in a lot of peoples minds is when Edith had to deal with the fact that she was nearly raped on her birthday and what she went through to face her worst fear.

Even though it took three years and three pilots to get All in the Family on network TV, it has become one of the most classic 70s sitcoms as well as the show that broke the genteel world of comedies like Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver by featuring subjects that weren't explored on those shows. Subjects like bigotry, racism and menopause were controversial topics that were finally brought out of the closet and used as the basis for a number of episodes.

The four main actors, Carroll O'Connor as Archie, Jean Stapleton as Edith, Rob Reiner as Mike and Sally Struthers as Gloria had great chemistry but it was O'Connor's portrayal of Archie is what made the show a major hit after a slow start. His bigoted rants and numerous malaprops stood out and were very funny. Also, the many scenes with Archie and Mike clashing on a lot of subjects were also extremely funny, especially in the flashback episode where Archie met mike for the first time.

All in the Family's success paved the way for more shows with more controversial topics such as Maude and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Besides Maude, the show also had two other spinoffs, the hit sitcom The Jeffersons and the not so successful Gloria.

As the years went by, I felt the show jumped the shark when Archie became a lot mellower after buying Kelsey's Bar and when Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers left the show. The episode about Mike and Gloria leaving for California was one of the saddest sitcom episodes I ever saw but it remains a classic. Mike and Gloria leaving also lost most of the show's edge since the Archie-Mike conflict was one of the show's centerpieces. Another shark jump was the addition of Edith's niece Stephanie, another example of a sitcom adding another kid.

All in the Family, despite all the racial slurs was one of my all-time sitcom favorites. There well never be another show like it.