All in the Family: The Show that Changed Television

The face of television was changed forever in 1971 with the premiere of All in the Family. The working-class Bunker family of Queens, New York—lovable bigot Archie (Carroll O’Connor), his long-suffering “dingbat” wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), their liberal daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), and son-in-law Mike “Meathead” Stivic (Rob Reiner)—instantly became, and half a century later still are, four of the most iconic characters in television.
In All in the Family: The Show that Changed Television, Norman Lear shares his take on fifty essential episodes that exemplify why the show remains as funny and relevant as ever. Its boundary-pushing approach to hot-button topics is examined with commentary from co-stars O’ Connor, Stapleton, Reiner, and Struthers, as well as writers, directors, and guest stars from the show.
With previously unseen notes from Lear, script pages, production designs, and a foreword by super-fan Jimmy Kimmel, this book is the ultimate companion to the seminal series and a must for fans of Lear’s shows and television comedy.
“Norman Lear,” said New Yorker critic Michael Arlen, “has a feel for what people want to see before they know they want to see it.” All in the Family, like all of the Lear shows that followed, was a turning point in television’s handling of taboo subjects such as race relations, feminism, homosexuality, war, religion, gun control, social inequity, and other controversial subjects, all of which remain in the news today.

About The Author

Producer, philanthropist, and activist Norman Lear has the distinction of being among the first seven television pioneers inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He won his first two Emmy® Awards in 1971 (for All in the Family’s premiere season) and his most recent one in 2020, for Live in Front of a Studio Audience: ”All In The Family” and ”Good Times.” His memoir, Even This I Get to Experience, was published in 2014.
Jimmy Kimmel is the host and executive producer of the Emmy® Award–nominated Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC’s longest-running late-night talk show. Also a comedian and writer, he has hosted some of the biggest events in pop culture, including the Academy Awards, the Emmys, the American Music Awards, and the ESPY Awards, as well as executive-produced and hosted the Emmy Award–winning Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” and “The Jeffersons” and Live in Front of a Studio Audience: “All In The Family” and “Good Times.”
Veteran television historian Jim Colucci covers television and other entertainment media on his blog Must Hear TV. He is the author of the authorized companion book Will & Grace: Fabulously Uncensored (2004), The Q Guide to the Golden Girls (2006), and the New York Times best-seller Golden Girls Forever (2016).