Gloria

The short-lived comedy series "Gloria" was the sixth and final installment that became a spin-off of "All In The Family" that lasted one season and produced 22 episodes as part of CBS' Sunday Night lineup of comedies that dominated much of the early-1980's. The series was a spin-off of one of the greatest situation comedies to ever grace the 1970's,"All In The Family". But it wasn't the first. In 1972,Bea Arthur's situation comedy series "Maude" was the first spin-off of "All In The Family",which launched after the success of "Maude" came "Good Times"(the second spin-off that was associated with Maude by way of All In The Family)in 1974. In 1975,the third spin-off "The Jeffersons" saw Archie and Edith neighbors,George and Louise Jefferson moved from Queens to the exclusive upper East Side. By 1979,the fourth spin-off was a sequel to All In The Family titled "Archie Bunker's Place". Another spin-off of The Jeffersons by way of All In The Family focus on Marla Gibbs's character Florence Johnston,the sassy housekeeper on The Jeffersons,moved out of the Jefferson's residence to strike out on her own. The series "Checking In"(the fifth spin-off)lasted no more than one season in 1981. Sally Struthers' series "Gloria" was the last of the spin-offs that were associated with All In The Family.

Speaking of this series "Gloria" was placed on the Sunday Night lineup of comedies that CBS had during the early 1980's and it was placed between "Archie Bunker's Place",and "The Jeffersons",along with another success Norman Lear produced sitcom "One Day At A Time". The setup of the show indicted that Gloria's husband,Michael Stivic(who did not appear in the new series)left her and moved to a commune to live with a flower child. Gloria,now alone and divorced left California and moved back to New York so that she can be closer to her father,and to move with her young son,8-year old Joey(Christian Jacobs)to pick up the pieces of her life as a assistant veterinary in the town of Foxridge in upstate New York.

Veteran actor Burgess Meredith played Gloria's boss Dr. Willard Adams,and was also the landlord to the apartment where Gloria and her son were staying. Jo De Winter was Gloria's best friend and confident. The series ran on CBS from September 26,1982 until September 21,1983. From September of 1982 until April 10,1983,the original 22 episodes ran for one season. From June of 1983 until September of 1983,CBS moved the show from its Sunday night schedule to Wednesday nights,where the put it opposite the ABC-powerhouse prime-time soap drama "Dynasty". Another short-lived sitcom "Goodnight Beantown!" was the sitcom that replaced "Gloria" on CBS' Sunday night schedule.

When I acquired a box set of All in the Family, one of the DVD extras was the pilot episode of the Gloria series. Had it not been for this special feature, I would never have known that Gloria ever existed. I don't remember this show ever being on network TV. I watched the pilot episode, out of curiosity. Wasn't impressed. Sally Struthers looked pretty, but that in itself is not enough to carry a show. Carroll O'Connor makes a guest appearance, also to no avail. When Mike and Gloria departed All in the Family, that was not good. Having Gloria as a single mother, supposedly separated permanently from Mike, only gives plausibility to the bad decision which was made in the first place. As I said, Sally looks pretty here, but that doesn't cut it. She also looks pretty on All in the Family, the far superior show.

Television can milk a good thing and beat a dead horse better than Hollywood can in the movies. All in the Family was television gold that broke new ground and will be just as funny two generations from now as it was when it originally aired. Obviously Gloria was yet another attempt to capitalize upon the success of the original. I suppose it can be considered an excellent example of the law of diminishing returns. Even the most in depth reviews of this show consist of vague memories of catching one of the 22 episodes around 35+ years ago, so it's probably best this show is totally forgotten. With a classic like All in the Family it's best to use your imagination to envision the future of everybody's favorite Queens, New York family. I don't think any fan's fantasy consists of Gloria being a struggling single mom. For that reason this show is best left in obscurity to be completely forgotten.

Although you'd think a series like this would have taught television a lesson, it did not. Nor was it the last attempt at a spin off. Take a moment to look up a show from the early 1990s which took place at Archie's old address called 704 Hauser Street.

'Gloria' as a somewhat cheesy but family-friendly 80's sitcom could have worked, if not for that tragedy in the background. Knowing that main character Gloria Bunker-Stivic is in fact THAT Gloria from All in the Family, whose ex-husband Mike is now apparently working with fifty naked hippies growing vegetables at some nutbar commune, it simply doesn't work - and it's too bad, because 'Gloria' had some genuinely decent plot ideas, some excellent acting and a solid premise, if only it hadn't been connected to AITF. If it had simply been another woman totally unconnected to AITF, a struggling single parent at a ramshackle vet clinic, I could see it having two strong legs to stand on as far as sitcoms go. It's cute, it's harmless, but it has a bit of depth when it needs it. The constant reinforcement, however, that Gloria is a mom whose socialist husband dumped her only dredges up sad memories that these deep, profound characters on AITF have been reduced to fodder based purely on their worst attributes.

All of this being said, every episode of 'Gloria' was up on CTV's Rewind service on its main website, so I watched them all in succession, and it's not bad. Burgess Meredith gives it his all and steals the show as Dr. Willard Adams, Jo de Winter as the frigid, no-nonsense Maggie is a lot of fun, and Lou Richards as the dorky but lovable Clarke really grew on me as the series progressed. It's unfortunate that this had to be written as an AITF spin-off and not as its own standalone sitcom. The idea that the legacy of AITF became this series where the first episode has Gloria slipping in animal droppings and getting it all up the seat of her pants is just sad, when considering that this was the girl who brought America to tears when she had a miscarriage, who caught the world's attention when she had Joey, who brought up all kinds of important issues like sexual assault, unequal pay, being an uneducated woman in today's competitive world, and more. 'Gloria' was doomed from the beginning.

Ill-conceived spin-off from "All In the Family" that should never have existed. Archie & Edith's "little girl" Gloria is now a struggling single mom, split from husband Mike. That the show wasn't particularly funny was bad enough; what I really object to is the way it ruined our memories of the Stivics. Mike and Gloria were so much in love, I don't believe for a minute they would split up. The spin-off left a bad taste in my mouth before it even aired. So did "Archie Bunker's Place", the mutation of "All In the Family" that had the widowed Archie running a tavern and raising his niece. It's a shame those two shows had to come from an all time favorite-the best way to enjoy those characters is in the original. Edith completes Archie, Mike completes Gloria. The proof? Nobody remembers this spin-off, and nobody wants to remember "Archie Bunker's Place".