Those Were the Days : CBS Bunkers Down 20 Years Later With “All in the Family” Special

Beginning Saturday, CBS will present a weekend tribute to three of its classic series: “All in the Family,” “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

All in the Family 20th Anniversary Special kicks off the salutes with a 90-minute retrospective featuring clips from producer Norman Lear’s landmark sitcom and interviews with the four regulars: Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers. Lear is the host.

(The Ed Sullivan and Mary Tyler Moore specials air next Sunday and Monday, respectively. More about them in next week’s TV Times.)

It was 20 years ago when America was introduced to the Bunker family of Queens, New York: Archie, the ultimate bigot with a hard to reach soft spot; his sweet but addled wife Edith (called Dingbat by Archie); their perky, miniskirted daughter Gloria, and her liberal, unemployed husband Mike Stivic (Meathead to Archie).

“All in the Family,” which premiered Jan. 12, 1971, was developed by Lear from the British series “Till Death Do Us Part.”

The mid-season replacement was so outrageous for its day it took until that summer for viewers and critics to warm up to show. But it became the No. 1 series during the 1971-72 season and stayed there for five seasons. “All in the Family” racked up 20 Emmys, including outstanding comedy series (four times), actor (four), actress (three) and supporting actress (two) and supporting actor (two).

Several series also were spun off from “All in the Family,” including “Maude,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times” (actually a spinoff of “Maude”) and “Gloria.” And when “All in the Family” ended, O’Connor kept his character alive on “Archie Bunker’s Place” (1979-83).

The show is considered such a bit of Americana that Archie’s chair is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

At a recent press conference in Los Angeles, Rob Reiner and Norman Lear reflected upon the revolutionary series.

“I looked at the clips yesterday,” Reiner said. “I hadn’t seen it in years and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was really moved. You don’t get moved by television any more. You don’t laugh out loud by yourself. This was great stuff. It was in another stratosphere. I cried and thought, ‘Gee, I was a part of this.’ ”

Reiner, now a successful film director, said he never wants to distance himself from the series. “I did my work on that show and I am doing my work now,” he said. “The show had such tremendous impact. It’s a great show. I always made that joke that no matter what I do I always will be thought of as Meathead. If I win the Nobel Prize, the headlines will say ‘Meathead wins the Nobel.’ ”

“Working on this special I am stunned by it,” Lear said. “I read comparisons of the show with ‘Married with Children...,’ ‘Roseanne,’ gritty family shows. None of those shows do what these four players did. It is bigger than chemistry. Rob and Carroll invented so much of what you saw on the show--the pieces, the words and ideas.”

“When you start with something that good and innovative, you want to rise to the occasion,” Reiner said. “We wanted to do our best. In 200 shows, Jean Stapleton did not blow a line.”

“All in the Family” is rarely seen these days in syndication (it was last seen in the Los Angeles area about five years ago). The series’ syndicator Viacom has slowly been taking it off the market because the rights revert back to Columbia Pictures Television next year. Lear said. Columbia will syndicate it in markets across the country or “a network might even put it on during prime-time.”

“All in the Family 20th Anniversary Special” airs Saturday at 8 p.m. on CBS.

Reruns of “Archie Bunker’s Place” air Sundays at 3:30 a.m. on WGN.

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“All in the Family” was based on the British series, “Till Death Us Do Part,” (the correct name) not on a series called “Till Death Do Us Part.”

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