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58-573: Maude Findlay first appeared on All in the Family in December 1971, in the second-season episode, "Cousin Maude's Visit", as the cousin of Edith Bunker . According to Norman Lear, the creation of Maude stemmed from the idea to bring on someone who could hold their own with Archie Bunker verbally. The debut episode, and character's name, were loosely based upon a 1968 episode of Till Death Us Do Part ,

116-612: 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. Most other series at the time, such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show , were using the standard fictitious 555 telephone exchange at

174-567: A fortune with his dry cleaning business. The Jeffersons then rented their home to Gloria and Mike. The show came about when Norman Lear read an article in Variety magazine on Till Death Us Do Part and its success in the United Kingdom. He immediately knew it portrayed a relationship just like the one between his father and himself. Lear bought the rights to the show and incorporated his own family experiences with his father into

232-444: A live studio audience. In the 1960s, most sitcoms had been filmed in the single-camera format without audiences, with a laugh track simulating an audience response, with videotape at that time mainly reserved for news programming and variety shows. Lear employed the multiple-camera format of shooting in front of an audience, but used tape, whereas previous multiple-camera shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show had used film. Due to

290-537: A neighborhood tavern that Archie spends a good deal of time in 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 left the area for the higher end Upper East side of Manhattan after George (the husband) made

348-779: 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.) 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

406-534: A prominent feature on the Manhattan skyline. This did not happen until the end of 1971. Despite this change in the Manhattan skyline, the original, somewhat grainy 1968 footage continued to be used for the series opening until the series transitioned into Archie Bunker's Place in 1979. At that time, a new opening with current shots of the Manhattan skyline were used with the Trade Center towers being seen in

464-492: A romance were never heard in the actual series. In July 1986, vocalist Helen Merrill 's contrastingly jazz-flavored rendition, accompanied by a Kellaway-led trio and introduced by O'Connor, was featured on The Merv Griffin Show . Except for some brief instances in the first season, scenes contained no background or transitional music. Lear and his writers set the series in the Queens neighborhood of Astoria . The location of

522-572: 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

580-407: A spin-off of their own: 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

638-660: A still shot of a lower middle-class semidetached home, presumably 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. A notable difference exists, between the Cooper Avenue house and the All in the Family set: the Cooper Avenue house has no porch, while

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696-465: A time when the Bell System was trying to discontinue them. 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

754-488: A total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as Archie Bunker's Place , a continuation series, which picked up where All in the Family ended and ran for four seasons through April 4, 1983. Based on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , All in the Family was produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin . It starred Carroll O'Connor , Jean Stapleton , Sally Struthers , and Rob Reiner . The show revolves around

812-435: 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, 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

870-594: 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. As of 2009 , All in the Family has the most spin-offs for a US prime-time television series, directly spawning five other shows, three of which were very successful, as well as two of those spin-offs each having

928-621: 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

986-557: 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 them to irritate each other. 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 Kelsey's Bar,

1044-498: The British sitcom on which All in the Family was based, in which Maud, the sister of Else Garnett (the analog to the American Edith Bunker), visits Alf Garnett (Archie's progenitor) while Alf is ill. The character was also loosely based on Lear's then-wife Frances . Maude cared for Edith, but disliked her husband, Archie Bunker . Archie and Maude were known for getting on each other's nerves, especially since she

1102-478: The Bunkers' home featured a front porch. Since the footage used for the opening had been shot back in 1968 for the series' first pilot, the establishing shot of the Manhattan skyline was completely devoid of the World Trade Center towers, which had not yet been built. When the series aired two years later, the Trade Center towers, although under construction, had still not yet risen high enough to become

1160-497: 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

1218-638: The Family #16 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows. 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 his ideas of how people should be. Archie's wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) is sweet and understanding, which can make her appear naïve and uneducated. Her husband often treats her dismissively and uses disparaging language, calling her "dingbat." Their one child, Gloria (Sally Struthers),

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1276-469: 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 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

1334-471: The audience was gathered for a taping of One Day at a Time , and got to see All In the Family as a bonus.). Throughout its run, Norman Lear took pride in the fact that canned laughter was never used (mentioning this on many occasions); the laughter heard in the episodes was genuine. The series' opening theme song "Those Were the Days", was written by Lee Adams ( lyrics ) and Charles Strouse (music). It

1392-411: The closing credits. This opening format – showing actual footage of the cities and neighborhoods in which the show was set – became the standard for most of Norman Lear's sitcoms, including others in the All in the Family franchise – Maude , Good Times , and The Jeffersons . At the end of the opening, the camera then returns to a last few seconds of O'Connor and Stapleton, as they finish the song. At

1450-401: The conclusion. In the first three versions of the opening, Archie is seen wearing his classic trademark white shirt. In the final version of the opening for the series' ninth season, Archie is seen wearing a gray sweater-jacket over his white shirt. In all versions of the opening, the song's conclusion is accompanied by applause from the studio audience. In interviews, Norman Lear explained that

1508-443: The editors of TV Guide , consist of regularly scheduled series spanning more than half a century of television. TV movies, miniseries and specials were not eligible. The special aired at 10:00 pm and was viewed by 8.9 million people, giving it a 6 rating and a 10 share. Considering the cover story for this special issue of TV Guide , it was the only one of the six to be presented on television. The earliest aired show appearing on

1566-416: The end of the original version, Edith smiles at Archie and Archie smiles off at a slight distance. In the longest running version (from season 2 to season 5), Edith smiles blissfully at Archie, and Archie puts a cigar in his mouth and returns a rather cynical, sheepish look to Edith. From season six through eight, Edith smiles and rests her chin on Archie's shoulder. In the final season, Edith hugs Archie at

1624-424: The first five seasons. As one of US 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

1682-487: The fourth time, to Walter Findlay ( Bill Macy ), the owner and operator of an appliance store called Findlay's Friendly Appliances. They met during the 1968 Democratic National Convention , where she had ardently supported Hubert Humphrey . All in the Family All in the Family is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with

1740-409: The house shown at the show closing is a home located at 89-70 Cooper Avenue, Glendale, Queens , New York, across from St. John Cemetery ( 40°42′45″N 73°51′39″W  /  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

1798-450: The idea for the piano song introduction was a cost-cutting measure. After completion of the pilot episode, the budget would not allow an elaborate scene to serve as the sequence played during the show's opening credits. Lear decided to have a simple scene of Archie and Edith singing at the piano. The closing theme, an instrumental , was "Remembering You", played by its composer Roger Kellaway , with lyrics later added by Carroll O'Connor. It

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1856-492: The life of a working-class man and his family. It broke ground by introducing challenging and complex issues into mainstream network television comedy: racism, antisemitism , infidelity , homosexuality, women's liberation , rape, religion, miscarriages , abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War , menopause , and impotence . The series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected

1914-445: The list is The Ed Sullivan Show , which first aired in 1948. The most recently premiered show is The Sopranos , which first aired in 1999. The show with the shortest run is An American Family , which aired only twelve episodes and two subsequent special episodes. The longest-running show on the list is The Today Show , which has aired since 1952. 41 of the shows are prime time, five are daytime and four are late-night. NBC has

1972-443: 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

2030-529: The original version, the lyric "Those Were The Days" was 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. 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

2088-437: The practice of being taped before a live audience changed to playing the already taped and edited show to an audience and recording their laughter to add to the original sound track, and the voice-over during the end credits were changed from Rob Reiner's voice " All in the Family was recorded on tape before a live audience." to Carroll O'Connor's" All in the Family was played to a studio audience for live responses." (typically,

2146-523: 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,

2204-446: 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

2262-526: 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

2320-411: The set furnished in neutral tones, keeping everything relatively devoid of color. As costume designer Rita Riggs described in her 2001 Archive of American Television interview, Lear's idea was to create the feeling of sepia tones, in an attempt to make viewers feel as if they were looking at an old family album. All in the Family was the first major American series to be videotaped in front of

2378-470: 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 PM ET/7:00 PM CT. All episodes have been airing nightly on the Catchy Comedy (formerly Decades) digital retro TV network. The cast forfeited their residual rights for a cash payout early in the production run. All in the Family

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2436-409: 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

2494-506: The sitcom format with more dramatic moments and realistic, topical conflicts. All in the Family has been ranked as one of the best American television series. The show became the most watched show in the United States during the summer reruns of the first season, and topped the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976, the first television series to have held the position for five consecutive years. The episode "Sammy's Visit"

2552-414: 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, pentatonic melody, that can be played exclusively with black keys on a piano, in which Archie and Edith were nostalgic for the simpler days of the past. A longer version of the song was released as

2610-416: The success of All in the Family , videotaping sitcoms in front of an audience became a common format for the genre during the 1970s, onward, until the advent of digital HD. The use of videotape also gave All in the Family the look and feel of early live television, including the original live broadcasts of The Honeymooners , to which All in the Family is sometimes compared. For the show's final season,

2668-568: The time of the 1972 presidential election . In 1998, All in the Family was honored on a 33-cent stamp by the USPS . TV Guide%27s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time TV Guide ' s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time is TV Guide ' s list of the 50 most entertaining or influential television series in American pop culture. It appeared in the May 4–10, 2002 issue of the magazine, which

2726-643: The two versions of a number she is dialing. "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

2784-427: 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

2842-566: 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

2900-487: Was a liberal and Archie was a conservative. Because she was a liberal, Maude was also an ally of Edith's daughter Gloria ( Sally Struthers ) and her husband Mike ( Rob Reiner ). In her first appearance on All in the Family , it was said that Maude was widowed twice. Her first husband, Fred, died of a brain aneurysm , and her second husband, Bert, died of a heart seizure. (Archie remarked they both had smiles on their faces at their funerals.) When Maude premiered, Fred

2958-512: Was announced in early November 2019 to air on Wednesday December 18, this time pairing the show with Good Times . 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

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3016-520: 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. Lear wanted to shoot in black and white as Till Death Us Do Part had been. While CBS insisted on color, Lear had

3074-460: Was now renamed Barney and Bert became Albert Hilliard, her third husband. A second appearance on All in the Family (the final episode of the second season) depicting Archie and Edith visiting Maude for a family wedding, essentially set up the premise for the forthcoming series. Maude debuted on CBS on September 12, 1972. On her own show, Maude lives in Tuckahoe, New York , and is married, for

3132-409: Was played over footage of the same row of houses in Queens as in the opening, but moving in the opposite direction down the street, and eventually moving back to aerial shots of Manhattan, suggesting the visit to the Bunkers' home has concluded. O'Connor recorded a vocal version of "Remembering You" for a record album, but though he performed it several times on TV appearances, the lyrics about the end of

3190-408: Was presented in a way that was unique for a 1970s series: Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton were seated at a console or spinet piano (played by Stapleton) and sang 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

3248-461: Was ranked number 13 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time . TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as number four. Bravo also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked All in the Family the fourth-best written TV series In 2023, Variety ranked All in

3306-715: 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,

3364-408: Was the second in a series of special issues commemorating TV Guide ' s 50th year (the others were "TV We'll Always Remember", "50 Greatest Covers", " 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time ", "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters" and "50 Sexiest Stars"). The list was also counted down in an ABC television special , TV Guide's 50 Best Shows of All Time , on May 13, 2002. The 50 entries, chosen and ranked by

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