Fifty years ago, on Jan. 12, 1971, “All in the Family” premiered. Its warts-and-all look at real-life issues was a shock to controversy-averse television that sent reverberations through American culture.
The setting of the CBS series (available on getTV, iTunes), which ran from 1971 to 1979, was hardly revolutionary, the modest Queens home of the working-class Bunkers.
But TV legend Norman Lear, who served as executive producer with Bud Yorkin, broke the timid rules of television by injecting timely and controversial social issues, such as racial prejudice, sexism and Vietnam. (He also introduced a toilet flush – or “turlet,” as Archie pronounced it – to the TV sitcom.)
The series, which earned 22 Emmys and was TV’s top-rated show for five seasons, featured a memorable theme, “Those Were the Days,” whose lyrics channeled Archie’s longing – one still dreamed of by many today – for an imagined idyllic past.
A brilliant cast brought to life a vivid TV family: Archie (Carroll O’Connor), a bigoted man fearful of change but not without the possibility of redemption; Edith (Jean Stapleton), his seemingly simple but ultimately very wise wife; and Archie’s liberal foils, daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and son-in-law Mike (Rob Reiner), aka Meathead.
