luvuwildbill

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".

The two leads are appealing enough, but there's a built-in flaw to this show: Since the premise is Jake's unspoken crush on Dylan, the weekly plots won't waver too much from one contrived effort after another to keep them apart. This can only happen so many times before we get sick of it-especially when there are no other supporting characters to sustain our interest.(The "weather nun", in particular, is an embarrassment) Why does Dylan's boyfriend have to be such an insufferable jerk? Doesn't this devalue her? Beyond that, the show is trite and unfunny. I can't imagine why an old pro like Suzanne Pleshette would consent to do this series. She deserves better. So do we.