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And we continue with Our American Stories. In the 1970s, All in the Family was watched by nearly one-third of all Americans and dominated the TV ratings throughout the decade. Before its last of nine seasons and 212 episodes, The show delivered six of the top 50 highest rated TV programs of all time. Here's Greg Hengler with the story. From Television City in Hollywood.
Boy, the way Glenn Miller played.
Songs that made the hit parade. Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days. It was doomed from the start. The social satire television show called All in the Family was seen as too abrasive and failed to pull any punches.
Carol O'Connor played the blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker. The show's creator, Norman Lear, inclined O'Connor for the combination of bombast and sweetness the actor exuded on the big screen. O'Connor believed in the character, but not in the show's chances to succeed on television. Here's Rob Reiner. We knew he had a good show, but we figured it wouldn't last very long because it was so special, it was so different.
I remember Carol saying, you know, we'll probably do four episodes and then we'll probably get thrown off the air because nobody's going to sit still for this. When Norman Lear invited Gene Stapleton to read for the Edith role, Archie's wife, she couldn't get over the script. This on TV? I was terribly amused by it, by its reality and honesty and humor. CBS signed on for the pilot episode.
O'Connor and Stapleton were joined by Sally Struthers, who played Archie's daughter, Gloria, and Rob Reiner, who played Mike Stivick, Gloria's husband. Rob had grown up surrounded by his comic genius father and his friends. Men like Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Dick Van Dyke. Says Rob, that was my kindergarten and they were my teachers. Norman Lear, a friend of Rob's father, Carl, had known Rob for over a decade.
There had even been one day when Lear stopped by Reiner's house that Rob made him laugh with a routine about cheating at Jack's. Noted Lear to Carl Reiner, you've got a funny kid there. Rob's father responded, Get out of here, he's not a funny kid. Years later, Carl Reiner expanded on this exchange. Oh, I knew the kid was funny.
What I didn't know until a long time later was that he had talent. On the evening of January 12th, 1971, as soon as Hee Haw went off the air, All in the Family made its television premiere. This is what America heard at the start of the program. Warning. The program you are about to see is all in the family.
It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show in a mature fashion just how absurd they are. Here's Sally Struthers. I heard that they manned all the CBS stations across the country with extra operators to take all the angry phone calls that were going to come in from people seeing the show, and it didn't happen. They got a lot of phone calls, but people were calling in and saying, What was that?
Is that coming back? In the weeks following All in the Family's debut, CBS initiated and financed an opinion poll. The majority of the people questioned, including minority group members, indicated that they hadn't been offended. People who saw it discussed it. people who hadn't discussed it anyhow.
Bunker gives conservatives a bad name. Stivik gives liberals a bad name were the typical responses. Here's show creator Norman Lear. The stern warning that began our show tonight was used on the first six episodes of All in the Family. Nervous CBS censors required us to warn viewers lest they be offended by the bunkers They didn bothered hardly anyone watched It was in the summer reruns that you found the show and it caught on By the second season, All in the Family had become a certified hit.
In May of 1972, All in the Family swept the Emmy Awards. Johnny Carson dubbed the ceremonies An Evening with Norman Lear. Here's a clip of Archie Bunker and his son-in-law, Mike Stivick, sparring. Oh no, oh no, I'm gonna sue that guy. First two in the morning, I'm gonna get myself a good Jew lawyer.
Archie, do you always have to label people? Why can't you just get a lawyer? Why does it have to be a Jewish lawyer? Cause when I'm gonna sue a neighbor, I'm gonna get a guy that's full of hate. In my day, nobody went around calling himself Chicanos, Mexican-Americans, Afro-Americans.
We was all Americans. After that, if a guy was a jigger or a spick, it was his own business. Archie's a World War II veteran turned loading dock union worker from Queens, New York. In his eyes, he's no bigot. A bigot spouts mindless prejudice, whereas Archie believes that he's thought things through, that he's simply aware of the rules ordained by nature to make some people sluggish and other people cheats.
Besides, to Archie, a racist would only use negative labels, while he's the first to declare that the sharpest lawyers are Jews. At his core, Archie's not prejudiced. He hates everyone. In the complete book of nerds, author Bob Stein lists Archie's wife's name as Dingbat, her nickname as Edith Bunker, and her hobby as taking abuse. Here's Archie and Edith.
Archie, I'm sorry. I thought I was doing a good thing. Oh, sure. Good thing that's you all over. Always doing good.
Eat it the good. You never get mad at nobody. You never holler at nobody. You never swear, no nothing. You're like a saint, Eat It.
You think it's fun living with a saint? It ain't. It ain't at all. Look at this. You don't even cheat to win.
You cheat to lose. I mean, Eat It, you ain't human. That's a terrible thing to say. I'm just as human as you are. Groove, you're just as human as me.
Do something rotten. Norman Lear gave Gene Stapleton the key to Edith's character, that Edith no longer hears what Archie is saying, having tuned out years ago.
So it's no wonder Edith shuffles the way she does. Her gears are permanently out of whack from a lifetime of turning the other cheek. Here we are! Oh, thank you, Mrs. Bunker.
Thanks, Edith. No, that's all right. I can say, Mr. Davis, get out of here. Here's Gene Stapleton and Carol O'Connor on the show's secret for success.
I feel there was a moral statement made almost every week. But you see, number one, it was entertainment. And it was comedy. You can reach people through comedy. We were kidding American attitudes.
And the artistic term for that is satire. Archie's son-in-law, Mike, is an atheist who renounced his own Catholic baptism long ago. Archie believes in Catholic infant baptism so much that he kidnaps Mike's son, Joey, and baptizes his grandson himself.
Now, this here, Lord, is my little grandson, Joe. See?
Now, his parents, they don't care if he's baptized because his old man is a dopey atheist.
So, they're gonna do it here while we get the chance, you know. I don't want my little grandson growing up without religion in this rotten world of yours. How intense a friend of their lord. Joseph Michael Stivik. I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Now. I hope that took, Lloyd, because they're going to kill me when I get home. And you've been listening to the story of the creation of All in the Family and how it started, the prospects for its success, at least. According to the actors and the people close to it, no one thought it would last or catch. The story of All in the Family continues here on Our American Stories.
Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa. Witness an MMA legend's final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport. Defense her PFL world title one last time.
Unforgettable end to an unforgettable career. And still! Saturday, August 22nd live from Benchmark International Arena. For tickets, visit pfl.info slash Tampa. Spending time outdoors?
Then let's talk about skin cancer, non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get Real About SkinCancer.com.
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When we last left off, we learned that the show had not initially done well. But during summer reruns, it found an audience, particularly the young people of America, but soon the whole country. Let's pick up now where we last left off. Although claiming to be a Christian, Archie's God and his theology are made in Archie's image. All over the world they celebrate the birth of that baby.
And everybody gets time-worn from work.
Now if that ain't proof that he's the son of God, then nothing is. He made us all one true religion, he did Christians. and she named after his son, Christian.
Well, Christ for sure. I never thought of that. Here's Archie and Sammy Davis Jr. I think that, I mean, if God had meant us to be together, he'd have put us together.
Well, look what he'd done. He'd put you over in Africa, he'd put the rest of us in all the white countries.
Well, you must have told him where we were because somebody came and got it. Archie's patriotism and American history are also made in his image. That ain't the American way, buddy. No, sorry. Listen here, professor.
You're the one that needs an American history lesson. You don't know nothing about Lady Liberty. He's standing there in a harbor with a torch on high, screaming out to all the nations of the world, send me your poor, your deadbeats, your filthy. And all the nations sent them in here. They come swarming in like ants.
Your Spanish piyage from the caribou in there. Your Japs, your Chinamans, your Crouch and your Heaves, and your living strands. All of them come in here, and they're all free to live in their own separate sections. where they feel safe and they bust your head if you go in there. That's what makes America great, buddy.
Chicago-born Mike Stivick married Archie's daughter, Gloria, who works full-time while her husband is enrolled in college full-time. Mike is a jobless, peace-marching sociology major of heavily left-wing persuasion, and they both live with Archie and Edith in Queens. Mike's friends frequently seem to appreciate Gloria more than he does. Indeed, in many ways, he treats Gloria just as Archie treats Edith, with the difference that maybe he'll kiss her in the living room. Mike is of Polish descent, sports long hair and a parted Prince Valiant cut, and a mustache, which Rob Reiner grew at 24, to look old enough to get the part of Mike.
You know something, Mr. Bunker? At first I thought I misjudged you, and I was right. I did misjudge you. You're a lot more ignorant than I thought.
You hear what he called me, ignorant?
Well, let me tell you something. Sticks and stones may break my goal, but you are one dumb prologue. The jobless Mike doesn't consider that Archie has lived firsthand a life he only reads about in sociology books. Get all these ideas. Oh, from the college of hard knocks, sonny boy.
I've been everywhere the grass grows green. I've seen everything there is to see. I know people. The reason you don't know nothing about people is you always got your big mouth open. You're never willing to listen to nobody.
How do you do, sir? May I have a moment of your time? No. The relationship between Archie and Mike was written by Norman Lear to reflect his relationship with his own father. In fact, Lear's father also referred to Norman as dead from the neck up, an expletive which Lear has Archie hurling at Mike as early as the first episode.
Let me tell you something, Mr. Bunker. No, let me tell you something, Mr. Stivik. You are a meathead.
A meathead, dead from the neck up. Meathead. What Archie would love to see, most of all, is Mike working.
So, adding insult to injury, when Mike inherits money, he decides to donate it to George McGovern's presidential campaign instead of toward repaying Archie, who has been subsidizing his lifestyle, and then pontificates that Archie doesn't do enough for his fellow man. And since Archie doesn't choose to give more of his money away, Mike advocates a socialist system that will call him nasty names and give it away on his behalf. But through all of the wincing and laughter, we also learn something. We learn how to be less hateful and bigoted towards those who are hateful and bigoted. The episode, Two's a Crowd, chronicles the events of Archie and Mike getting locked in a storeroom overnight.
When escape seems futile, the two turn to sharing a bottle and a large blanket it as the episode slowly turns into an incredibly honest, personal look at who these two men are. This episode was Carol O'Connor's favorite. Here a clip Don't tell me my father was wrong. Let me tell you something. Your father who made you, you wrong, your father, the breadwinner of the house there, the man who goes out and busts his butt to keep a root over your head, and clothes on your back, you call your father wrong.
Hey, your father. You're supposed to love your father. Of course, your father loves you. But how can any man that loves you tell you anything that's wrong? As Rob Reiner's father, Carl, remarked, a few would deny.
All in the family reshaped the face of television. For years, every new sitcom on the air was either liberated by or reacting to it. You better hold it there, Daddy.
Now listen, little girl. Been around a lot of places, I've done a lot of things, but there's one thing Archie Bunker ain't never going to do, and that's break bread with no jungle bunnies. Within a few years of its debut in 1971, All in the Family, together with its spinoffs and godchildren, The Jeffersons, Maud, Good Times, and Sanford and Son, reached 120 million Americans, more than half the nation's population. All in the Family frequently earned the accolade of national theater And its best scripts fall not an iota short of national literature While Archie has joined the pantheon of American folk heroes For his portrayal of Archie Bunker Carol O'Connor earned more awards than any other actor ever received for a single TV characterization When the Guinness Book of World Records recognized All in the Family as commanding TV's highest advertising rates, the series became known as the Super Bowl of sitcoms, and Archie as the most expensive racist on television. Any topical program runs the danger of quickly becoming dated.
All in the Family escaped that fate.
So strong is the story, so real are the people, that the episodes work even when occasional references elude the audience. It is why Archie's chair, Edith's chair, and Archie's beer can occupy a place of honor on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. They are as much a part of our national heritage as Abe Lincoln's stovepipe hat and George Washington's wooden teeth. All in the Family was recorded on tape before a live audience. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler.
And what a story he told. Norman Lear, the genius behind this show, and the many shows that spawned from it. But the primary and driving force was that relationship between Michael, his son-in-law, and Archie himself. But those scenes of intimacy were always there. Both were equally ridiculed in the writing and equally human in the writing of Lear's.
It's what made it so good. It infuriated everybody and everybody loved the characters and recognized the characters in themselves, their own families, and their own lives. No doubt, this show reshaped the face of TV. Every show thereafter was liberated by it or shaped by it. It was the Super Bowl of TV sitcoms.
The story of all in the family, here on Our American Stories. Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa. Witness an MMA legend's final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport.
Defense her PFL world title one last time. Unforgettable end to an unforgettable career. Saturday, August 22nd, live from Benchmark International Arena. For tickets, visit pfl.info slash Tampa. Spending time outdoors?
Then let's talk about skin cancer, non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get Real about SkinCancer.com.
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