Well, sorry, I am not a fan of this show. In essence, what Norman Lear did was forever blacken the eye of prime-time television. I recall when "AITF" first debuted. People were shocked. Remember, this was still in the day of "Green Acres" and "The Beverly Hillbillies". I never gave any thought about the show, until one day in the fall of 1971 I happened to see a copy of "TV Guide" which praised the series and ranked it No. 1. We say Archie Bunker is one of the most memorable characters in television history. Well, if that is the case, perhaps television is indeed a "vast wasteland". I watched some of the early All in the Family episodes, and the only thing funny about the show was the producers wish to mix in live audience laughter with canned laughter. Perhaps the only people laughing at it where the backwood rednecks who shared Archie's opinion. No, sorry. This is not quality television. AITF marked the end of television, and to this day, because of Lear and AITF, the medium continues to lick its wounds, with audience shares declining more and more each season.

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Wow. I just read the feedback from the person saying that "All In The Family" wasn't really "all that great" and that it signaled the end of television. Wow again. "All In The Family" literally changed the face of television, bringing in an era or relevancy, realism and topics ranging from racism, abortion to athiesm that had never been broached on a situation comedy before. It was the first "sitcom" to show a toilet in the bathroom, for God's sake! Before "All In The Family", CBS relied on bucolic comedies like "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Green Acres", "Petticoat Junction", "The Andy Griffith Show", "Mayberry RFD", "Hee Haw" and "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" for their primtime schedules. CBS decided to jettison all of these shows at once, because while these programs were frequently in the top 20, the overall audience skewed older and CBS wanted to attract a younger (18-49) crowd.

While all of these programs had their good points (and I enjoyed most of them), there was never any character growth; the characters were all squeaky-clean with asexual lives (which was typical of all the sitcoms of the time). "All In The Family" ushered in an unheard of realism which opened the doors to other "relevant" comedies: "The Jeffersons", "Maude", "Sanford & Son" and "Good Times". And, while it's true that rednecks and bigots watched "All In The Family" and rooted for Archie, the rest of us "got it" that Archie was an idiot and always came out looking like a loser in the end. What I think is ironic is the fact that in this political correct era, a show like "All In The Family" would never get pitched to a network.

But, to each his own. I can watch reruns of "Beverly Hillbillies" and "Andy Griffith" and laugh my head off. But, watching "All In The Family" is different because you're laughing at someone and at situations that are quite real and that's what sets "All In The Family" above all other sitcoms.

--Mitchell1660

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