RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Archie was exactly like my father. Their views and their speech were very similar......ChiefEm

Pioneering in its attempt to make television entertainment that mattered and feature fully formed characters with real motivations. It hit all of the hot buttons of the era, besides issues of inter-generational conflict and race relations it dealt with pretty much every other social-political question of the period. Unfortunately, the fact that it was so current in its day has meant that it doesn't stand up as well as the slapstick comedies that preceeded it, except as a period curiosity, 35 years later. Like a lot of programs of its era, it ran until the wheels fell off and the last couple of seasons don't serve the series' legacy well.

All In The Family exposed the annoying self-satisfaction of liberal youth and the asinine prejudices of conservatives, all while giving us a laugh.

Would that current shows were as relevent.

It is, All in the Family, I feel which is to blame for the end of the golden era of the live-action situation comedy with very few exceptions after 1971 (Frasier being the gold nugget in a sea of mud). Before 1971, situation comedies had wonderfully imaginative concepts--genies, talking pigs, martians, stupid nazis losing every week, and so much more. They could be in the past, the future, or a fantasy world! They were innocent, fun, and comfortable while not being afraid to embrace and stick to a single concept. Then, as a mid-summer replacement, All in the Family came along with things that have plagued most sitcoms to this day: social relevance, hackneyed angst in the name of "realism," unappealing protagonists, boring and uncreative set and costume design, and the slaughter of the "concept" comedy. It also pretty much ended the fun verbal wit and slapstick (again, Frasier being the exception, as well as a couple of persistant shows like Here's Lucy) that sitcoms had embraced before. With its mean-spirited and unimaginative scripts somehow finding huge audiences--it led to numerous spinoffs that were equally tepid and uncreative. And, to this day, you will struggle to find a situation comedy without a) a louse male lead tolerated by his loving wife b) special episodes with very little laughs c) ordinary families with no talking animals/supernatual additions d) real-life present-day settings. e) "shocking" twists like deaths, abortions, etc. Just as I feel Law & Order turned mystery shows from Matlock to CSI, Millionaire shattered and splintered gameshows, and Survivor crushed creativity in general on the air, All in the Family is to blame for the death of the great concept situation comedy on TV. Here's hoping a new golden age of clean, imaginative, fun-loving, formula-embracing sitcoms will come soon!

I really never understood the importance of this show, I know it was "risque" for its time period, but they used the same lines over and over again and the show became the most predictable one there ever was on television. Boring!

The only problem had had with the show was that Archie and Edith were a little too poorly-spoken to be authentic. Many people of the post-war era held their views dear. And many of those people were well spoken and quite itelligent. They just happened to be bigots. Most of the beliefs Archie parroted on the show were widely held to be truths at the time. I know plenty of people who didn't see the comedic value of many of Archie's utterences as he was just speaking the truth as they had learned it growing up. Anyway it was a ground-breaking show and one which put most of the budget into writing and acting, not in the sets.

One of the original liberal offerings of biased, left-wing tv.

We all have met Archie and Edith somewhere. Deja vu?

The social commentary that was written for this show is unmatched in anything that we have seen since. We kringe at some of the things that Archie Bunker said and we Kringed because sometimes we agrred with him. Not to leave behind the point this show was hysterically funny.

This was one of the best sitcoms from the 70s handsdown. Gene Stapleton was one of the best and so was Carol O'Connor. I love classic TV so much that I created a page at myspace.com/classicTVshows

Please stop by for a fun visit.

thie show rates up there with the best, o'conner was great.

An outstanding show with powerful content.

No other TV show has made me laugh more over the years than All in the Family. Even now, 30 years later, the shows are still wonderful and hilarious, even if a little dated. I loved most of all the episodes where Meathead broke Archie's chair and Edith unknowingly invited the swinging couple over. They just don't make shows like this any more!

Another highly respected show that I could never get in to, "All In The Family" was admittedly groundbreaking for its day. Most likely the social issues tackled by the series (e.g. "racism" and "rape") were too serious for my younger age, but Jean Stapleton's voice irritated me, Sally Struthers was just too whiney, and the colors on the film stock always looked washed out to me. Ultimately, it was Carroll O'Connor and Rob Reiner who made the show work, and the latter would go on to greater things. It is my understanding that "All In The Family" spawned more spin-offs than any other show in television history, including "Maude" and "The Jeffersons".

Very funny stuff. 4 and a half stars

Still watch it on Tvland

There's a certain self-consciousness in all these ground-breaking shows from the 70s, including the original SNL, that make them a little hard to watch now. They all seem to be saying "look at us, we're breaking all these taboos". 'All in the Family' was certainly the best of the lot, though.

Archie is the mirror that so many of the working class fear.

A lot of people didn't get the intent of this show: it wasn't PROMOTING bigotry and racism, but LAMPOONING it, in the form of a character who was essentially a laughable and unbelievably ignorant dinosaur. Creator Norman Lear made Americans take a good hard look at what so many were trying to ignore or deny: that we were still a very racist society and had a long, LONG way to go. Still do today in 2006...

Edt 4, Robbo 59, and some of the others here summed up the importance and strengths of the show wonderfully. I never really saw it in it's heyday, I was just an infant when it came out, and, except for re-runs I missed it's prime years in the early to mid 70's. Astonishing one of a kind show, revolutionary and influential. Lots of great episodes and memories for me... his battles with George Jefferson, the time Dennis Patrick ( who played the character who sometimes had a brogue on "Dark Shadows" sometimes not! and the wealthy Compton in the sleeper "Joe") tried to screw him out of aluminum siding, the guy who played Sgt. Kowalski and Archie's friend as well as Sam the Butcher on The Brady Bunch, Lionel, and many, many other characters were memorable in addition to the 4 main characters. Great stuff!

A truly classic, groundbreaking TV-series. Absolutely hilarious in its earliest years, and nearly revolutionary in terms of the unflattering mirror it held up to "Nixon's Silent Majority" regarding its own ugliness and bigotry. Like "MASH", it stayed around far longer than it should have (the kinder, gentler Archie Bunker just wasn't very credible), but it's unlikely we'll ever see its likes again. Interesting note- they were originally considering Jackie Gleason for the part of Archie Bunker. The deal fell through allegedly because Gleason wasn't happy with the part. I'm a great Gleason fan, but I can't imagine anyone except Carroll O'Connor playing the character. Jean Stapleton and Rob Reiner were excellent in their supporting roles. Sally Struthers wasn't a great actress, but she handled her part well enough. If only Hollywood were still capable of putting out TV shows like this one...

Until the arrival of The Simpsons, this was the best show in the history of television. Somehow, it's comedic satire is lost on some that are still in the "concrete operations" stage, but to higher order thinkers each utterance out of the mouth of Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker is pure gold. This show typified the verbal (and all too often, in reality, physical) confrontations that took place between "baby boomers" and WWII generation members and was a preview of the world that the boomers would soon inherit. As the boomers become more like their elders and their kids look disdainfully upon the utopian vision that never became realized, All in the Family stands as a document that accurately depicts the ongoing generation gap that has always been apparent to us as a species. The performances in the first five years of this series are truly priceless and O'Connor's Archie picks up both verbally and physically, were Gleason's Ralph Kramden left off. A Ten out of Ten!!!

Cutting Edge and Timeless. Norman Lear and Caroll O'Connor did more for bringing issues to the forefront 30 years ago than anyone is willing to do today. We're all have our opinions, just speak up already! Archie = The Man.

Classic exchanges between meathead and archie,worth watching the tedium that surrounds the rest of the thinly vailed plots. Edith annoying but a comidic genius with talentless gloria.Typical Norman Lear Politically Correct dogma has meathead turn gay.Liberal soapbox for lear and his mindless agenda.

Did ANYONE besides me HATE the part of EDITH BUNKER?? I found her nauseating.. I guess because SO many women at home had had a very hard time prior to the seventies, and we were "TRYING" to break out of the very image that she portrayed..sorry.. I guess no one will agree.. She is a fine actress, but I hated THAT part.

All in the Family is a true classic, always a pleasure to watch. I am a sentimental and the sad shows are always deppressing for me to watch, but they give good meaning to the story. All in the Family will always be a true classic, Carroll O Connor will be greatly missed and the show will continue to go on for a long long time. 5 stars*****

carroll o'connor was a wonderful actor and he made archie bunker come alive. he was perfectly paired with jean stapleton who was hilarious as edith bunker.

When I was a kid i didn't like the show. I thought the writers were sayin' that blacks were bad. Now tht I'm older I understand and have watched the show. It's really good. I also like the way Edith has changed. At first she was a real dunderhead but her personality and lines increased and she ended the show being a strong woman. I didn't really like their daughter or her husband. I never liked the idea of people getting married and living with their parents. I guess a lot of people did that back in the day; heck my parents did the same thing.

set the bar for sit comedy ... is the standard for true ones .... a comedy with a underlining message always ... amazing show

Loved the show All in the Family. All the actors were great.Carrol O'Connor was terrific as Archie Bunker, the ignorant bigot.All In the FAmily crossed a lot of lines with their show. they brought up a lot of taboo subjects. they put bigotry right on the line .through Archie we got to see how foolish bigotry is.Jean Stapleton was wonderful as the ever patient Edith.who could be a bit nieve. I still like to watch this show. Carrol O'Connor was a wonderful actor. he will be missed.

I think that for originality and content, definitely a 5. However, the fact that the liberal characters were always portrayed as the intelligent, thinking, well mannered person, while the conservative characters were always portrayed as the lame-brained, uneducated bigot annoys me. I realize that there was a definite political undercurrent to the show, but they could have tried a little harder not to push one while condemning the other.

Funny as hell. . .true politically incorrect humor decades before it was trendy. Great characters.

Like it, love it or hate it it is a great comedy of all time. it crossed all boundries from racial to conventional wisdoms. The characters were extreme but then again so where the times.

This was based on Till Death do us Part, Alf made Archie look like a choir boy. All in the Family was funny but it was some what predictable and went down hill as it was slowly abandoned by its cast.

The BEST sitcom of all time. Carroll O' Connor was a genius. What I think I like most about this show is that, for better or worse, Archie and Edith remind me a lot of my late grandma and grandpa. I still watch the reruns, and am starting to collect the DVD's. Sad, but this show could never even be considered these days, because we're too dang politically correct and overly sensitive, and cannot separate fiction from reality. Bottom line is this was the greatest sitcom of all time. RIP Carroll.

Love it or hate it, it was a trailblazer of a whole new TV era. For that alone it deserves 5 stars. I just wish Archie would pop Meathead just once, god what an ingrate!

The show was good but I think that the meat head show of never had a baby.

So dated now but in the context of its time, it was a masterpiece

I hated this show the man was a close minded racist, why would anyone want to watch a show like this when all they had to do was go to grandpa's house and listen to all his idiotic crap he bestowed upon their grandma.

This show was brilliant, and probably one of the best things on TV in the early 70s. My family didn't watch much TV but this one was reliable.

For a few seasons it was very good. My memory says that it declined sharply after the first three or so seasons.

My feelings towards All in the Family are more like a 3.5. When I was younger, I loved All in the Family and found it hysterical...which, to some extent, I still do. But as time went by and I became better capable of understanding the content being discussed, I became somewhat disgusted with the ideology that was being promoted. Yeah, I know- it's only a sitcom but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Though I must concede, it was funny during much of it's run; afterwards it just became dull.

Edith Bunker was hysterical but that's about it. All they did was yell their fool heads off on this show and it gets on my nerves. I don't watch the reruns.

Archie should've been unanimously elected director of all organizations claiming to represent various groups of races,ethnicities,etc...The US would be much saner...People from different backgrounds would feel freer to talk/argue with each other directly-rather than through these organizations.

One of the first shows to push the envelope, if you will.

Why isn't this show #1? I mean, this show covered all of the topics that were considered risque back then!!!

Very funny but also iconoclastic,this show went where no show went before.Todays risque and politically incorrect programs all owe their existance to All in The Familys constant battles with the censors.

'All In the Family' is one of the best tv shows ever, hands down. It offers comedy and so much more. It is a microcosmic reflection of life: people (all in a family, hence the name) of very different worldviews trying to get along (or not) while living in close proximity. The show is brilliant in that it shows realistic characters with very believable and human flaws. Even the ones you agree with are flawed, and the show does a great job subtly revealing the inner life of each character. There are no one-dimensional characters.

So un-Policticly Incorrect, it's a classic. The cast members were all great actors. Classic storylines. Writing was stupendous. Still funny all these years later.

Quite possiably the most offensive show on TV yet I CANT NOT WATCH IT!!!

probably the greatest show in television history. the show is still entertaining today and each of the four main characters was well crafted and much deeper than they appeared on the surface.

I am biased, I love Carroll O'Connor!

What I love about this show is that after all these years its still funny,even with all the topical humor,in the end it still holds up

It was actually two shows: (1) a rib-tickling comedy where Archie and Edith knew how to make us laugh; (2) a poorly-disguised attack by Norman Lear on any traditional or Christian values. If Mr. Lear and others like him were on the correct side of the issues, they would not need to use misrepresentations to push their causes. Archie Bunker is not a true example of a Christian, a Republican, a World War 2 vet, or anything else the left-wingers dislike. The Norman Lears of this nation are the real bigots.

The first season was exelent but then it jus got boring season 1 100% s 2 78% s 3 64 % s 4 45 % s 5 34 % the rest is 0 %. This is because it got too racist vand origanal for example the meathhead joke got way too boring afterthe first season. The racist jokes were funny in the first season but then after awhile it got way too annoying and boring and kind of mean.

The theme song to this show merits a one star alone...but I will be fair by rating the show itself. It was horrible...not funny in anyway...and as others have said before me...Archie was extremely negative and it got so tiring after awhile...if I want to hear whining negativity....I wouldn't watch tv, instead I would visit people I know that are like that...

You either liked this show or hated it. Many people couldn't handle Archie's biggot attitude and hated this show. I believe this show really open American's eyes to just how ignorant biggots are and made people look at their own prejudices. Great show!

The first seansons were cool, and I liked them. Then...well...do I have to explain it, too?

the best sitcom of the 70's and the show shat started off the 70's the show is top three in my book along with married with children and seinfeld

This show was great for a few years, because it covered relevant topics like Vietnam, Watergate, and racism. Over the years the quality declined;it became like a joke that was funny the first time you heard it and then was run into the ground.

This was the only show that Hollywood ever took America and laid it in your lap. No BS about just harmony and love, it was raw, powerful, and real.

greatest television show of all time hands down no contest

Was Carrol O'Conner a great actor or what? Meathead!! (not you, I just like saying it)