All in the Family

Premise

All in the Family centers on a working-class White American family living in Queens, New York. Its patriarch, Archie Bunker (O'Connor), is an outspoken, narrow-minded man, seemingly prejudiced against everyone not like him or not holding his ideas of how people should be. Archie's wife, Edith (Stapleton), is sweet and understanding, which can make her appear naive and uneducated. Her husband often treats her dismissively and uses disparaging language, calling her "dingbat".

Their one child, Gloria (Struthers), is generally kind and good-natured like her mother but displays traces of her father's stubbornness and temper. Unlike them, she is a feminist. Gloria is married to college student, later graduate student, later college instructor Michael Stivic (Reiner)—referred to as "Meathead" by Archie—whose values are likewise influenced and shaped by the counterculture of the 1960s. The two couples represent the real-life clash of values between the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers. For much of the series, the Stivics live in the Bunkers' home to save money, providing abundant opportunity for the family members to irritate one another.

The show is set in the Astoria section of Queens, with the vast majority of scenes taking place in the Bunkers' home at 704 Hauser Street. Occasional scenes take place in other locations, especially during later seasons, such as Kelcy's Bar, a neighborhood tavern that Archie spends a good deal of time at and eventually purchases, and the Stivics' home after Mike and Gloria move out.

Supporting characters represent the changing demographics of the neighborhood, especially the Jeffersons, a Black family, who live in the house next door in the early seasons and then leave the area for the higher-end Upper East Side of Manhattan after George (the husband) makes a fortune through his dry cleaning business. The Jeffersons then rented their home to Gloria and Mike.

Cast

Main characters

Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker: Frequently called a "lovable bigot", Archie is an assertively prejudiced blue-collar worker. A World War II veteran, Archie longs for better times when people sharing his viewpoint were in charge, as evidenced by the nostalgic theme song "Those Were the Days", also the show's original title. Despite his bigotry, he is portrayed as loving and decent, as well as a man who is simply struggling to adapt to the constantly changing world rather than someone motivated by hateful racism or prejudice. His ignorance and stubbornness seem to cause his malapropism-filled arguments to self-destruct. He often rejects uncomfortable truths by blowing a raspberry. Former child actor Mickey Rooney was Lear's first choice to play Archie, but Rooney declined the offer because of the strong potential for controversy and, in Rooney's opinion, its poor chance of success.

Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker, née Baines: Edith is Archie's ditzy but kind-hearted wife. Archie often tells her to "stifle" herself and calls her a "dingbat", and although Edith generally defers to her husband's authority and endures his insults, on the rare occasions when Edith takes a stand, she proves to exhibit simple but profound wisdom, although except for the one day she appears to be in menopause and makes even Archie 'stifle' himself. Despite their different personalities, they love each other deeply. Stapleton developed Edith's distinctive voice. Stapleton remained with the show through the original series run but decided to leave at that time. During the first season of Archie Bunker's Place, Edith is seen in five of the first fourteen episodes in guest appearances. After being set forth largely as an invisible character, Edith got written out as having suffered a stroke and died off-screen in the following season, leaving Archie to deal with the death of his beloved "dingbat". Stapleton appeared in all but four episodes of All in the Family. In the series' first episode, Edith is portrayed as being less of a dingbat and even sarcastically refers to her husband as "Mr. Religion here..." after they come home from church—something her character would not be expected to say later.

Sally Struthers as Gloria Stivic, née Bunker: The Bunkers' college-age daughter is married to Michael Stivic. She has the generally kind nature of her mother but also the stubbornness of her father, which early in the series manifests as childishness and later as a more mature feminism. Gloria frequently attempts to mediate between her father and her husband, generally siding with the latter. The roles of the Bunkers' daughter and son-in-law (then named "Dickie") initially went to Candice Azzara and Chip Oliver. After seeing the show's pilot, ABC requested a second pilot after expressing dissatisfaction with both actors. Lear later recast the roles of Gloria and Dickie with Struthers and Reiner. Penny Marshall, Reiner's wife, whom he married in April 1971 shortly after the program began, was considered for the role of Gloria. During early seasons of the show, Struthers was known to feel discontented with how static her part was, and in 1974, she sued to get out of her contract, but the character became more developed, thereby satisfying her. Struthers appeared in 157 of the 202 episodes during the first eight seasons—from January 12, 1971, to March 19, 1978. She later reprised the role in the spin-off series Gloria, which lasted one season in 1982–1983.

Supporting characters

Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson, Isabel Sanford as his wife, Louise, and Mike Evans as their son, Lionel, Archie's Black neighbors: George is Archie's combative Black counterpart; Louise is a smarter, more assertive version of Edith. Lionel first appeared in the series' premiere episode "Meet the Bunkers"; Louise appeared later in the first season. Although George had been mentioned many times, he was not seen until 1973. Hemsley, who was Norman Lear's first choice to play George, was performing in the Broadway musical Purlie and did not want to break his commitment to that show. Lear kept the role waiting for him until he finished with the musical. Plots frequently found Archie and George at odds with each other while Edith and Louise attempted to join forces to bring about resolutions. George and Louise later moved to an apartment in Manhattan in their own show, The Jeffersons. Lionel appeared in All in the Family as a college student and aspiring electrical engineer who early on did odd jobs around the neighborhood, including television and radio repair.

Mel Stewart as George's brother Henry Jefferson: The two appeared together only once, in a 1973 episode in which the Bunkers host Henry's going-away party, marking Stewart's final episode and Hemsley's first. After the Jeffersons were spun off into their own show in 1975, Stewart's character was rarely referred to again and was never seen. In the closing credits of "The First and Last Supper" episode, Mel Stewart is incorrectly credited as playing George Jefferson. Stewart was actually playing George's brother Henry Jefferson, who was pretending to be George for most of the episode. (seasons 1–4, 8 episodes)

Bea Arthur as Edith's cousin Maude: Maude, white-collared and ultraliberal, serves as the perfect foil to Archie and one of his main antagonists. She appears in two episodes: "Cousin Maude's Visit", in which she takes care of the Bunker household when all four are sick, and "Maude" from the show's second season, which served as a backdoor pilot. Her spinoff series, Maude, began in fall 1972. (season 2, 2 episodes)

Betty Garrett and Vincent Gardenia as liberal Roman Catholic next-door neighbors Irene and Frank Lorenzo: Both first appear as a married couple as Irene is trying to use the Bunkers' phone; During an argument earlier in the episode, Archie and Mike had broken the phone wire. Irene being a "handyman" of sorts with her own tools, which she carries in her purse, fixes it. Irene fixes many things at the Bunker house during her time on the show. She also has a sister who is a nun and appears in one episode. "Edith's Christmas Story" reveals that Irene has had a mastectomy. Archie gets her a job as a forklift operator at the warehouse where he works. Irene is a strong-willed woman of Irish heritage, and Frank is a jovial Italian househusband who loves cooking and singing. He is also a salesman, but what he sells is never mentioned. Gardenia, who also appeared as Jim Bowman in episode eight of season one (as the man who sold his house to the Jeffersons) and as Curtis Rempley in episode seven of season three (as a swinger opposite Rue McClanahan), became a semiregular along with Garrett in 1973. Gardenia stayed for only one season as Frank Lorenzo, but Garrett remained until her character was phased out in late 1975. (seasons 4–6)

Recurring characters

James Cromwell as Jerome "Stretch" Cunningham (1973–1976) "The Funniest Man in The World", Archie's friend and co-worker from the loading dock (Archie claims that he is known as the "Bob Hope" of the loading platform): What Archie did not know was that Stretch was Jewish, evident only after Stretch died and Archie went to the funeral. Archie's eulogy (or "urology" as he called it) for his friend is often referred to as a rare occasion when he was capable of showing the humanity he tried so earnestly to hide. In the episode titled "Archie in the Cellar", Billy Sands is referred to as Stretch Cunningham, the voice on the tape recorder telling jokes. Sands also appeared as other characters on the show during its run, in Kelsey's Bar as a patron. (season 5, 3 episodes)

Liz Torres as Theresa Betancourt (1976–1977): A Puerto Rican nursing student who meets Archie when he is admitted to the hospital for surgery. She later rents Mike and Gloria's former room at the Bunker house. She calls Archie "Papi". Torres joined All in the Family in the fall of 1976, but her character was not popular with viewers and the role was phased out before the end of the season. (season 7, 7 episodes)

Billy Halop as Mr. Munson (1971–76), the cab driver who lets Archie drive his cab to make extra money. (seasons 1–3 & 5–6, 10 episodes)

Bob Hastings as Kelcy or Tommy Kelsey, who owns the bar Archie frequents and later buys: Kelcy was also played by Frank Maxwell in the episode "Archie Gets The Business". The name of the establishment is Kelcy's Bar (as seen in the bar window in various episodes). Due to a continuity error, the end credits of episodes involving the bar owner spell the name "Kelcy" for the first two seasons and "Kelsey" thereafter, although the end credits show "Kelcy" in the "Archie Gets the Business" episode.

Jason Wingreen as Harry Snowden, a bartender at Kelcy's Bar who continues to work there after Archie purchases it as his business partner: Harry had tried to buy the bar from Kelcy, but Archie was able to come up with the money first by taking a mortgage out on his house, which the Bunkers owned outright.

Gloria LeRoy as Mildred "Boom-Boom" Turner, a buxom, middle-aged secretary at the plant where Archie works: She first appears when Archie is lost on his way to a convention and Mike and Gloria suspect he and she could be having an affair. Archie gave her that moniker as she was walking by the loading dock. He said when she walked, "Boom-Boom". She is not fond of Archie because he and Stretch leer at her and because of their sexist behavior, but later becomes friendly with him, occasionally working as a barmaid at Archie's Place. Gloria LeRoy also appeared in a third-season episode as "Bobbi Jo" Loomis, the wife of Archie's old war buddy "Duke".

History and production

Lear said the idea for All in the Family came to him after he read an article in Variety magazine on the successful British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part. He said he immediately knew it portrayed a relationship just like the one between his father and himself. However, in a 2025 episode of the podcast Let's Talk About That!, Sally Struthers disputed Lear's account and claimed that idea originated with O'Connor, who had seen Till Death Us Do Part during a visit to the U.K. O'Connor, she said, wanted to produce an American version but couldn't get the necessary backing as an actor alone. Eventually he suggested the idea to Lear who liked it and put it into production without crediting O'Connor. Struthers claimed that she waited until after Lear had died to reveal what she knew.

Lear bought the rights to the program and incorporated his own family experiences with his father into the show. Lear's father would tell Lear's mother to "stifle herself" and she would tell Lear's father "you are the laziest white man I ever saw" (two "Archieisms" that found their way onto the show).

The original pilot was titled Justice for All and was developed for ABC. Tom Bosley, Jack Warden, and Jackie Gleason were all considered for the role of Archie Bunker. In fact, CBS wanted to buy the rights to the original show and retool it specifically for Gleason, who was under contract to them, but producer Lear beat out CBS for the rights and offered the show to ABC. Mickey Rooney was offered the role but turned it down as he felt the character was "un-American".

In the pilot, Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton played Archie and Edith Justice. Kelly Jean Peters played Gloria and Tim McIntire played her husband, Richard. It was taped in October 1968 in New York City. After screening the first pilot, ABC gave the producers more money to shoot a second pilot, titled Those Were the Days, which Lear taped in February 1969 in Hollywood. Candice Azzara played Gloria and Chip Oliver played her husband Dickie. D'Urville Martin played Lionel Jefferson in both pilots.

After stations' and viewers' complaints caused ABC to cancel Turn-On (a sketch comedy series developed by Laugh-In's George Schlatter) after only one episode in February 1969, the network became uneasy about airing a show with a "foul-mouthed, bigoted lead" character, and rejected the series at about the time Richard Dreyfuss sought the role of Michael. Rival network CBS was eager to update its image and was looking to replace much of its then popular "rural" programming (Mayberry R.F.D., The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres) with more "urban", contemporary series and was interested in Lear's project; by this point, Gleason was no longer under contract to CBS (his own show was among those eliminated), allowing Lear to keep Carroll O'Connor on as the lead. CBS bought the rights from ABC and retitled the show All in the Family. The pilot episode CBS developed had the final cast and was the series' first episode.

Theme song

The series' opening theme song, "Those Were the Days", was written by Lee Adams (lyrics) and Charles Strouse (music). It is presented in a way that was unique for a 1970s series: Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton are seated at a console or spinet piano (played by Stapleton) and sing the tune together on-camera at the start of every episode, concluding with applause from a studio audience. The song dates back to the first Justice for All pilot filmed in 1968, although on that occasion, O'Connor and Stapleton performed the song off-camera and at a faster tempo than the series version.

Six different performances were recorded over the run of the series, including one version that includes additional lyrics. The song is a simple, mostly pentatonic melody that can be played almost exclusively with black keys on a piano, with lyrics in which Archie and Edith express nostalgia for the past. A longer version of the song was released as a single on Atlantic Records, reaching number 43 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 30 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in early 1972. The additional lyrics in this longer version lend the song a greater sense of sadness and make poignant reference to social changes taking place in the 1960s and early 1970s.

A few perceptible drifts can be observed when listening to each version chronologically. In the original version, the lyric "Those Were the Days" is sung over the tonic (root chord of the song's key), and the piano strikes a dominant 7th passing chord in transition to the next part, which is absent from subsequent versions.

Jean Stapleton originally struck a slightly sour note (deliberately) on the word "were" in the phrase "and you knew who you were then", which prompted laughter from the live audience; as the seasons progressed, she delivered this note as an increasingly exaggerated shriek. Carroll O'Connor's pronunciation of "welfare state" added more of Archie's trademark whining enunciation, and the closing lyrics (especially "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great") were sung with increasingly deliberate articulation, as viewers had complained that they could not understand the words. Also in the original version, the camera angle was shot slightly from the right side of the talent as opposed to the straight-on angle of the next version. Jean Stapleton performed the theme song without glasses beginning in season 6.

In addition to O'Connor and Stapleton singing, footage is also shown beginning with aerial shots of Manhattan, and continuing to Queens, progressively zooming in, culminating with a still shot of a lower-middle-class semidetached home, representing the Bunkers' house in Astoria, suggesting that the visit to the Bunkers' home has begun. The house shown in the opening credits is actually located at 89–70 Cooper Avenue in the Glendale section of Queens, New York.

Setting and location

Lear and his writers set the series in the Queens neighborhood of Astoria. The location of the Bunkers' house at 704 Hauser Street is fictitious. No Hauser Street exists in Queens. The address is not presented the way addresses are given in Queens: most address numbers are hyphenated, identifying the number of the nearest cross street. Nevertheless, many episodes reveal that the Bunkers live near the major thoroughfare Northern Boulevard, which was the location of Kelsey's Bar and later Archie Bunker's Place.

The exterior of the house shown in the opening credits is a home located at 89-70 Cooper Avenue, Glendale, Queens, New York, across from St. John Cemetery (40.712492°N 73.860784°W / 40.712492; -73.860784).

Many real Queens institutions are mentioned throughout the series. Carroll O'Connor, a Queens native from Forest Hills, said in an interview with the Archive of American Television that he suggested to the writers many of the locations to give the series authenticity. For example, Archie is said to have attended Flushing High School, a real school in Flushing, Queens, although in the "Man of the Year" episode of Archie Bunker's Place, Archie attended Bryant High School in nearby Long Island City. As another example, the 1976 episode "The Baby Contest" deals with Archie entering baby Joey in a cutest-baby contest sponsored by the Long Island Daily Press, a then-operating local newspaper in Queens and Long Island.

The writers of All in the Family continued throughout the series to have the Bunkers and other characters use telephone exchange names when giving a telephone number, even though the Bell System was trying then to discontinue the exchange names. (Most other series at the time, such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, used the standard fictitious 555 telephone number). At different times throughout the series, the exchanges Ravenswood and Bayside—both valid in the area—were used for the Bunkers' telephone number. Actual residents of the Bunkers' age continued using exchange names into the early 1980s, which is referred to in the 1979 episode "The Appendectomy", in which Edith gets confused between the two versions of a number she is dialing.

Episodes

"Sammy's Visit", first broadcast in February 1972, is a particularly notable episode, whose famous episode-ending scene produced the longest sustained audience laughter in the history of the show. Guest star Sammy Davis Jr. plays himself. Archie is moonlighting as a cab driver and Davis visits the Bunker home to retrieve a briefcase he left in Archie's cab earlier that day. After hearing Archie's bigoted remarks, Davis asks for a photograph with him. At the moment the picture is taken, Davis suddenly kisses a stunned Archie on the cheek. The ensuing laughter went on for so long that it had to be severely edited for network broadcast, as Carroll O'Connor still had one line ("Well, what the hell—he said it was in his contract!") to deliver after the kiss. (The line is usually cut in syndication.)

Syndication

During the show's sixth season, starting on December 1, 1975, CBS began airing reruns on weekdays at 3 p.m. (EST), replacing long-running soap opera The Edge of Night, which moved to ABC. The show would later move to 3:30 p.m. and in September 1978, 10 a.m. This lasted until September 1979, when Viacom distributed the reruns to the off-network market where many stations picked up the show. In 1991, Columbia Pictures Television began syndicating the show, and Columbia's successor companies have continued to do so.

Since the late 1980s, All in the Family has been rerun on various cable and satellite networks including TBS (although it held the rights locally in Atlanta, as well), TV Land, Nick at Nite, and Sundance TV. From January 3, 2011, to December 31, 2017, the show aired on Antenna TV. As of January 1, 2018, the show began to air on GetTV. Since February 5, 2023, MeTV aired episodes of the show on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. CT. All episodes have been airing nightly on the Catchy Comedy (formerly Decades) digital retro TV network, airing weeknights at 8:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. CT.

The cast forfeited their residual rights for a cash payout early in the production run.

Ratings

All in the Family is one of three television shows (The Cosby Show and the reality music competition American Idol being the others) that have been number one in the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive TV seasons. The show remained in the top 10 for seven of its nine seasons.

The series finale was seen by 40.2 million viewers.

Spin-offs

As of 2009, All in the Family has many spin-offs, directly spawning five other shows, three of which were very successful, as well as two of those spin-offs each having a spin-off of their own:

The first spin-off was Maude, which debuted in September 1972. It features Edith's acerbic cousin Maude Findlay (Bea Arthur), who first appeared on All in the Family in the December 1971 episode "Cousin Maude's Visit", visiting to take care of the influenza-suffering Bunkers. In March 1972, at the end of the series' second season, the character was again featured in the episode "Maude". In this episode, a "backdoor pilot" for a new series, Archie and Edith visit her home in Westchester County to attend the wedding of her daughter Carol. Bill Macy played Maude's husband Walter and Marcia Rodd played Carol; Rodd was replaced by Adrienne Barbeau for the series. The show lasted for six seasons and 141 episodes, airing its final episode in April 1978.

Good Times is considered by some to be a spin-off of Maude, as the show's focus was Florida Evans, a character first appearing on Maude during its initial seasons as the Findlays' black maid. But the character's history and situation were changed for the new show. According to producer Allan Manings, "It wasn't really a spin-off." The show features no reference to Maude, changes the name of Florida's husband from Henry to James, and sets the show in a Chicago housing project. It ran for six seasons from February 1974 to August 1979.

The second and longest-lasting spin-off of All in the Family was The Jeffersons. Debuting on CBS in January 1975, The Jeffersons lasted 11 seasons and 253 episodes (more than All in the Family's nine seasons and 208 episodes). The main characters were the Bunkers' black former next-door neighbors George and Louise Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford). George was the owner of seven successful dry-cleaning stores, and the series featured their life after moving from the Bunkers' working-class neighborhood to a luxury high-rise apartment building in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Checking In was spun off from The Jeffersons, focusing on the Jeffersons' maid Florence Johnston, working as an executive housekeeper at the St. Frederick Hotel in Manhattan. It only lasted four weeks in April 1981, and the character returned to her old job as the Jeffersons' maid.

Specials

At the height of the show's popularity, Henry Fonda hosted a special one-hour retrospective of All in the Family and its impact on American television. It included clips from the show's most memorable episodes up to that time. It was titled The Best of "All in the Family" and aired on December 21, 1974.

On February 16, 1991, CBS aired a 90-minute retrospective, All in the Family 20th Anniversary Special, hosted by Norman Lear to commemorate the show's 20th anniversary. It featured a compilation of clips from the show's best moments, and interviews with the four main cast members. The special was so well received by the viewing audience that CBS aired reruns of All in the Family during its summer schedule in 1991, garnering higher ratings than the new series scheduled next to it, Norman Lear's sitcom Sunday Dinner. The latter was Lear's return to TV series producing after a seven-year absence, and was canceled after the six-week tryout run due to being poorly received by audiences.

On May 22, 2019, ABC broadcast Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons, produced by Lear and Jimmy Kimmel and starring Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, Kerry Washington and Ellie Kemper.

A second Live in Front of A Studio Audience special was announced in early November 2019 to air on Wednesday December 18, this time pairing the show with Good Times.

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) released the first six seasons of All in the Family on DVD in Region 1 between 2002 and 2007. No further seasons were released, because the sales figures did not match Sony's expectations.

In June 2010, Shout! Factory announced that it had acquired the rights to the series and has since released the remaining three seasons.

In October 2012, Shout! Factory released All in the Family – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. The 28-disc boxed set features all 208 episodes of the series, as well as bonus features.

In February 2018, Sony released All in the Family – Seasons 1–5 on DVD in Region 1. The 15-disc set features all episodes from the first five seasons.

Cultural impact

As one of American television's most acclaimed and groundbreaking programs, All in the Family has been referenced or parodied in countless other forms of media. References on other sitcoms include That '70s Show, The Simpsons, and Family Guy.

Popular T-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers showing O'Connor's image and farcically promoting "Archie Bunker for President" appeared around the time of the 1972 presidential election. In 1998, All in the Family was honored on a 33-cent stamp by the USPS.

Archie and Edith Bunker's chairs are on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The originals had been purchased by the show's set designer for a few dollars at a local Goodwill thrift store and were given to the Smithsonian (for an exhibit on American television history) in 1978. It cost producers thousands of dollars to create replicas to replace the originals.

Then-US President Richard Nixon can be heard discussing the show (specifically the 1971 episodes "Writing the President" and "Judging Books by Covers") on one of the infamous Watergate tapes.

Rapper Redman has made references to Archie Bunker in a few of his songs, specifically his smoking of large cigars.

Mad parodied the series in its 1973 special issue No. 11 entitled "Gall in the Family Fare", which also included a free flexi-disc record so the reader could listen to the parody as they read it.

Accolades