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All in the Family: Season 02
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All in the Family [TV Series]
"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." With this carefully worded disclaimer, the CBS television network ushered in a new era of television comedy on January 12, 1971, with the premiere of All in the Family. Inspired by the British sitcom Till Death Do Us Part, the series was proposed by producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin in early 1968, and a pilot episode titled "Those Were the Days" was commissioned by ABC. From the beginning, Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton were "set" as leading characters Archie and Edith Bunker (original last name: Justice), though two unknowns were cast as the couple's daughter, Gloria, and son-in-law, Mike Stivic. Also from the beginning, it had been decided to retain the controversial nature of the original British series, with bigoted hard-hat Archie forever at odds with his flaming liberal son-in-law. Alas, ABC had just been burned by the hostile reception afforded another hot-potato project, Turn-On, and had lost its taste for controversy, even when Lear and Yorkin toned down the venom in a second pilot. But in 1970, CBS, in desperate need of a hit for its sagging Tuesday-night lineup, decided to take a chance on "Those Were the Days," which by now had been christened All in the Family, and had added Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner to the cast as Gloria and Mike. Worried that audiences might be unkindly disposed to Archie Bunker's incessant harangues against "hebes," "spics," and "coloreds," CBS prefaced the first episode with the aforementioned disclaimer. Though the opener ended up an anemic 54th in the ratings (due primarily to the decision by several affiliates not to air the program, or to reschedule it to a "fringe" time slot), the first All in the Family was the topic of conversation in virtually every household and place of business in America before the week was out. By the time the series began in its second season in the fall of 1971, All in the Family was CBS' top-rated program, a status it enjoyed for the next five years. Archie Burnker, a loading-dock supervisor who resided at 704 Houser Street in Queens, NY, was a firm and immovable believer in America, right or wrong (but mostly far, far right). Offsetting Archie's racial slurs, antediluvian political beliefs, and incessant malapropisms was his somewhat foolish but fundamentally good-hearted wife, Edith (or "Dingbat," as Archie designated her); his budding-feminist daughter, Gloria; and Gloria's long-haired, radical husband, Michael Stivic (aka "Meathead" and "Polack"), who while attending graduate school lived with Archie and Edith, and all but ate them out of house and home. In virtually every episode, an Issue (with a capital "I") was brought to the forefront -- gun control, the sexual revolution, homosexuality, religion, integration, rape -- with Archie taking the diehard conservative viewpoint, Mike assuming the liberal stance, Gloria siding with Mike, and Edith sitting on the sidelines making inane (but sometimes surprisingly sensible) comments. Usually, Archie would be hoisted by his own bigoted petard, but sometimes Mike would be trapped in the morass of his good intentions. Whatever the case, All in the Family tackled subject matter that only a few years earlier would have been rejected out of hand on network television, using language that likewise had seldom if ever been heard on the small screen. In this respect, All in the Family can be regarded as the single most influential situation comedy in television history. Over the years, Archie's character mellowed a bit, but fundamentally he remained the same opinionated jerk he'd been in the first episode. Through it all, however, one never doubted that the members of the Bunker family all loved one another dearly and intensely. In addition to the "core" regulars, several other recurring characters paraded past Archie's beloved easy chair: Lionel Jefferson (Mike Evans), a black friend of Mike and Gloria's who, much to Archie's dismay, became their across-the-street neighbor (Lionel's upscale black family would later be spun-off into their own series, The Jeffersons); Irene and Frank Lorenzo (Betty Garrett and Vincent Gardenia), who were every bit as broad-minded as Archie was not; Bert Munson (Billy Halop), an employee at the cab company where Archie moonlighted; Archie's co-worker and lodge buddy Barney Hefner (Allan Melvin); and Tommy Kelsey (Brendan Dillon, and later Bob Hastings), owner of Kelsey's Bar, Archie's favorite hangout. At the beginning of the 1975-1976 season, Gloria and Mike moved next door to Archie and Edith, and in December of 1975, Gloria gave birth to her first child, a boy named Joey. During the 1976-1977 season, Archie met yet another sociological opponent in the form of Puerto Rican boarder Teresa Betancourt (Liz Torres). And as the 1977-1978 season began, Archie made the momentous decision to quit his job and purchase Kelsey's bar, which he renamed Archie Bunker's Place. This season ended with Mike, Gloria, and Joey bidding farewell to Archie and Edith when Mike landed a teaching job in California. The Stivics' former sleeping quarters were taken over in 1978 by Stephanie Mills (Danielle Brisebois), Edith's niece, who had been abandoned by her ne'er-do-well father. All in the Family per se came to an end with the final episode of the 1979-1980 season; thereafter the multi-award-winning series was known as Archie Bunker's Place. In addition to its prime-time run, All in the Family was seen in rerun form as part of the CBS daytime lineup from December 1975 to December 1979; and in 1991, selected episodes of All in the Family were run in tandem with a newer but much (much) less successful Norman Lear production, Sunday Dinner, which debuted and wrapped within a month. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Includes Seasons:
All in the Family: Season 02
Season two of All in the Family was also the series' first "full" season, offering 24 episodes in contrast with season one's meager manifest of 13. The opener, "The Saga of Cousin Oscar," is the first of the series' episodes to deal with the previously taboo topic of death (but hardly the last!). In the subsequent "Archie and the Lock-Up," Allan Melvin who would later become a semi-regular as Archie's (Carroll O'Connor) pal Barney, is cast as a grumpy Polish-American desk sergeant. "Edith Writes a Song" affords a major opportunity for a hitherto unknown young actor named Demond Wilson, who within the year would be co-starring with Redd Foxx in another Norman Lear sitcom, Sanford and Son. And "Cousin Maude's Visit" introduces Beatrice Arthur in the role that would catapult her to sitcom stardom the following year. The season's most memorable episodes include the Emmy-winning "Edith's Problem," in which Edith (Jean Stapleton) exhibits some very peculiar behavior while undergoing menopause; the self-explanatory "Flashback: Mike Meets Archie"; "Mike's Mysterious Son," wherein Mike (Rob Reiner) is accused of fathering a child out of wedlock; "The Man in the Street," a comedy of errors revolving around Archie's appearance on a TV interview show; and arguably the series' best-known episode, "Sammy's Visit," in which Sammy Davis Jr. bestows a very surprising "gift" upon the wide-eyed Archie Bunker. After a shaky start during its first season, All in the Family closed out season two as the top-rated program on American television -- a status it would maintain for the next four years! ~ All Movie Guide

Includes Episodes:
All in the Family: The Saga of Cousin Oscar
Season two of All in the Family commenced on September 18, 1971 with yet another taboo-banning episode. Scripted by Burt Styler and Norman Lear from a story by Styler, "The Saga of Cousin Oscar" dared to turn a subject as serious as death into a joke. No one in the Bunker family can abide freeloading cousin Oscar, least of all Archie. Thus, when Oscar has the audacity to drop dead in Archie and Edith's upstairs bedroom, poor Arch is stuck with the funeral expenses -- and the eulogy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: Gloria Poses in the Nude
Mike's let-it-all-hang-out liberalism is again put to the test when Gloria agrees to pose in the nude for the Stivics' artist friend Szabo Daborba (a pre-Starsky and Hutch David Soul). Naturally, Archie is outraged that Gloria would be willing to appear in the altogether in front of a stranger, but Mike appears to be taking his wife's artistic expression in stride. Before long, however, those all-important "second thoughts" begin gnawing away at Mike's psyche. Written by Michael Ross, Bernie West, and Norman Lear, "Gloria Poses in the Nude" first aired on September 25, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: Archie and the Lock-Up
Archie predicts disaster when Mike and Lionel participate in an anti-Pentagon demonstration at the U.N. building. It turns out that Archie is right -- but disaster befalls him, when, showing up at the demonstration to take Mike and Lionel home, he ends up in the slammer himself. Allan Melvin appears as Desk Sergeant Pulaski, and it's too bad that Archie doesn't know the good sergeant's last name before he shoots off his mouth in the final scene. Scripted by Paul Wayne, Michael Ross, and Bernie West from a story by Wayne, "Archie In the Lock-Up" originally aired on October 2, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: Edith Writes a Song
Archie's insistence upon purchasing a gun to protect his household backfires when a couple of burglars named Coke and Horace break into the Bunker household. Keeping Archie at bay with his own gun, the two thieves reveal a lot about themselves -- and, in the course of the evening, genially encourage the disingenuous Edith to compose an impromptu ditty about her life. The burglars are played by Tony award-winning actor Cleavon Little and relative newcomer Demond Wilson, who on the strength of this performance was cast as Lamont in the Norman Lear-produced sitcom Sanford and Son. Written by Lee Kalcheim, "Edith Writes a Song" was first telecast on October 9, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: Flashback - Mike Meets Archie
As indicated by the title of this episode (which is "bookended" by the celebration of Mike and Gloria's first anniversary), the viewer is taken back in time to the momentous first meeting between Archie Bunker and Mike Stivic. The fun is generated not only by Archie's outraged reaction at Gloria's hirsute hippie boyfriend (never before or since did Rob Reiner have so much hair), but also by the depiction of the pre-marriage Gloria as a curly headed, squeaky-voiced Junior Dingbat. The script was co-written by series star Rob Reiner and Philip Mishkin. "Flashback: Mike Meets Archie" first aired on October 16, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: The Election Story
Though "The Election Story" originally aired on October 30, 1971, for plot purposes the action takes place during an election year. Predictably, Mike and Gloria throw their support behind a liberal candidate, while Archie takes the side of the conservative opponent. And that's about all that's predictable about this All in the Family-style civics lesson. "The Election Story" was scripted by Michael Ross and Bernie West. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: Edith's Accident
Accidentally denting the fender of a parked car with a can of peaches, Edith leaves a note on the car's windshield. A furious Archie reprimands Edith for her unrepentant act of honesty, but that's hardly the end of the story, which includes such elements as insurance fraud and an "unfrocked" priest. Guest star Barnard Hughes is cast as Father Majeski. Written by Michael Ross and Bernie West, "Edith's Accident" first aired on November 6, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: The Blockbuster
Jack Crowder (later billed as Thalmus Rasulala) guest stars as Chester Byrd, a high-pressure black real estate agent. Offering to give Archie twice what he paid for his house, Byrd adroitly and insidiously utilizes scare tactics, warning the Bunkers that their neighborhood is about to be infested by low-income African-Americans. Though Archie takes Byrd at face value, Lionel recognizes the "blockbuster" for what he is. Scripted by Austin and Irma Kalish, Michael Ross, and Bernie West from a story by the Kalishes, "The Blockbuster" originally aired on November 13, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: Mike's Problem
Mike's nervousness over his upcoming final exams have rendered him temporarily impotent. Not only does this put the damper on his sex life with Gloria, but it adversely -- and hilariously -- affects the rest of the Bunker family as well. The script for this taboo-shattering All in the Family installment (which, according to the producers, generated more network resistance than any other episode during the 1972-1973 season) was written by Alan J. Levitt and Philip Mishkin, from a story by Levitt. "Mike's Problem" first aired on November 20, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
All in the Family: The Insurance Is Cancelled
So often the dispenser of thoughtless discrimination, Archie finds himself forced to take his own medicine. This occurs when the Bunkers' home insurance is canceled thanks to the company's new racial red-lining procedures. Archie's plight at home is contrasted with his on-the-job decision to lay off a Puerto Rican employee. Philip Proctor of Firesign Theater fame appears as Wendell. Written by Lee Kalcheim, Michael Ross, and Bernie West, "The Insurance is Canceled" originally aired on November 27, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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ALL IN THE FAMILY 2ND SEASON(DVD/3 DISC/P&S 1.33/MONO/ENG-SP-SUB) DVD

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