Reacting to Archie Bunker and George Jefferson at a mixed engagement party!! The "N" word unbleeped!
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2023
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Anytime Archie and George were onscreen together was pure gold
I think it showed how they were very different, but also alike. They had respect for each other and a weird kind of friendship that the audience got the feeling that they could count on each other in a pinch.
Off screen both actors were polar opposites of their characters.
@@eBikingAround the we’re two sides of the same coin.
@@eBikingAround
I agree. I think that both of them retained their distrust of the other's race, but thought (in the terms of that time) that the other was "one of the good ones".
@@christineshotton824 the Sammy Davis episode described Archie aptly
Lionel: he’s not a bad person Mr. Davis, he wouldn’t burn a cross on your front lawn
Sammy: yeah but if he saw one burning he’s liable to toast a marshmallow on it.
I was born in 1971. My father (black) and mom (white), both loved both of these shows. I dealt with racists growing up in the 70's and 80's. My parents were married long before Loving was the law of the land. We as a family would watch these shows and laugh. We weren't offended by what was said, or by which side was saying it. We laughed because we knew ignorant people come in all colors.
Well said.
Perfectly said. I am white, born 1966, I thank God I grew up when I did because we learned so much. I have bi-racial cousins, and at age 11 (1977) I learned my cousin was a lesbian, she was one of my favorite of the 40 of us. I was just told she dated girls not guys. End of story. So, fast forward to 1984, my graduation. My cousin was the life of a house party me & my best girlfriends went to. The next day, at the pool they noticed my cousin didn't shave and asked if it was a 'country' thing. I said "I think it may be a lesbian thing, idk?" Well, they freaked. I said "you thought she was the best, funniest person last night at the party, did she hit on you, try to kiss you anything?" They responded "no" I said "then what's the problem, she's the same person she was yesterday".
We all loved both of those shows.
My stepfather in the 70s was black.
This was a very rare thing in Salt Lake City in the 70s, and we took a fair amount of hatred because of it.
We used to watch this show together all the time.
I remember the word they used to call us in school because of who my mother was married to. It was a very ugly word. "N-lover" both pissed me off and confused me as a young boy.
What was wrong with loving a man who was my parent....
He was a good, kind, generous man who was a large part of my childhood.
I learned so many different things from him as a child ..some of my ways still remind me of him.
I never understood how that could be a bad thing...and why people would be so cruel to a man I cared about.
It formed my opinions on the ridiculousness of people very young.
Everyone would have been very luckily to have such a good man in their lives.
I watched this show as a young girl with my parents in the 70's. We all knew about bigots like Archie Bunker & the purpose of the show was to laugh at their ignorance. It's synonymous to how Jordan Klepper engages with Trump MAGA supporters today. Laugh at the blatant bigoted stupidity and hypocrisy.
People weren’t busy getting offended by every damn little thing! They were enjoying the comedy. But yes, it did help with discussion.
We weren't getting offended, because the racism was the butt of the joke. Racists, homophobes, etc. were depicted as ignorant and ridiculous. Racism, homophobia, etc., and the related plots written for this show were not and are not "little things", by the way. Our being able to laugh at this show then and now is not because we aren't offended by bigotry, We can laugh because of the cleverness of the comedic writing and performances.
@@danasmooth5818 you got that wrong, the butt of the joke in this show was Archie and his outrageous ignorance. That is why people laughed.
@@aimaradiaz1840 That's what I typed. Should I have placed a comma between "offended" and "because" in my first sentence to clarify? Proper punctuation has always been a challenge for me.
@@aimaradiaz1840 Ok, I added a comma. Hopefully, that helps to clarify my side of the discussion.
@@danasmooth5818 👍
I am 60 years old and I watched this show growing up and it was hilarious. We live in an overly sensitive world now. Great comedy is dead. The purpose of All in the Family was to showcase Archie's ignorance.
It's interesting that these guys were shocked about All in the Family & The Jeffersons being prime time tv, so was M*A*S*H and of course Little House on the Prairie. All espicting different life stories. Pretty much everybody watched all the same stuff on TV and people seemed to have some cohesion in minds.
True but it also showcased the ignorance of others as well. George Jefferson and Mike Stivic as well. Mike for all his liberal, open minded views (which I totally agreed with) was actually closed minded when it came to Archie and his generation.
Thank u, I'm 60, too, and I loved the show!
Hear hear.
same as blazing saddles
For us that were teenagers in the 70's, Archie Bunker taught us what to NOT say...and did it with humor. Same with Jefferson's.
Such a groundbreaking show!!
I was 22 yrs.old at that time and this was a liberal show.
“I ain’t used that word in three years” is one of my favorite lines in the entire series. He’s so proud of himself, three years.
Black people still haven't stopped saying it.
Agreed! That's the part I replay the most in this clip.
Back when people were allowed to laugh and not have to take things so serious. A less stressful time. I really miss those days 😔💔
This episode raised lots of protest. Everyone was NOT relaxed about it.
It was stressful in other ways.
I'm 58 yr old Black woman and I remember this show being one of the best shows on TV (and still is with our generation). It hit on all the conversations surrounding that time. It opened up what people were actually talking and thinking back then. It wasn't a shock to any of us because we saw people like that all the time Black and White. They just happened to be very good actors and actresses back then. Carroll O'Connor who played Archie Bunker said he copied Archie from people he knew from his old neighborhood growing up. But he was actually involved in civil rights. And people were smart enough back in the day to know the difference. It was an entertaining show to make you think about what was going on at the time. And it was hilarious at the same time😂
What do you think about Good Times and would you recommend them to watch it?
I loved Good Times also and I definitely recommend them to watch it!
Yes, I'm 59 yr wm. This was exactly what what started al lot of talk then. This generation is too sensitive 😮❤
100%. Carroll was the opposite of the character he played. I'm glad we had these shows back then and I'm thankful for them.
They showed what was hiding in America, but they were able to do it with humor?! It was, to me, GENIUS!
People forget, the writers for this show was amazing, they made us confront our stupidity
And made us think, nowadays....touchy, touchy
This show was a hit because people could seperate comedy from reality. And the ones that did get offended, the rest of the peop;e did not tolerate their crying. Back then the solution was simple, don't like, turn it off or watch it and shut up. We need more of that now.
Indeed. A lot of people today would never have made it through the honesty and freedom of the 70's.
It wasn’t as easy for those opposed to share their voice if they were the minority. Things took time, which is sadly lost on people now. Nowadays, likeminded people can band together in seconds. Back then, it wasn’t so much that they were ignored, but they actually had to think about whether something was worth the work and effort to group people together and make a public outcry.
Don’t get me mistaken though, I miss it. Things would be much better if people would talk less, listen more, and think always.
I'm 60 years old, and watched All in the Family and The Jefferson's all the the time when they aired.
They likely had their share of controversy (though I never heard it) but go away with what they got away with for a couple of reasons:
The biggest one, was that the viewers knew that Archie (and George) were wrong.
In the mid 70's, the vast majority of the viewing audience recognized that.
Also, Archie's prejudice, and bigotry (those were the terms used back then, rather than "racist.") didn't come from hatred.
It came from ignorance, and Archie being a product of his time and environment.
The audience recognized that.
The population in general was more willing to listen back then, and more willing to understand context.
And yes, Archie did become more understanding over time.
Wait to you see the episode of Archie Bunker's Place (the show that followed All in the Family after Mike and Gloria moved out) titled "The Incident."
I disagree and the reality is that getting the full picture would mean asking the African American actors as I am sure it can be researched on how they felt about Norman Lear privately then and later... Just like the strike that is currently happening... Norman Lear was a gatekeeper and is given too much credit at times for these break through shows... If Norman Lear was really being ahead of his time, Maude, another one of his shows would have been about a Jewish feminist tackling anti semitism which was something that Lear had a first hand relationship with presumably... How many black writers wrote for Sanford and Son and the Jeffersons... We Americans are so easily impressed by the narrative by the comfortable masses. Archie was a racist... Not all, and it is not even close that racists are ignorant with little formal education even today. That is a troupe. Archie often spoke in terms that still indicated empathy for some groups over others based on a place of superiority racially... And he spoke about it as nature or not sure and gave ignorant non sense that made no sense... Superiority is Hallmark of individual racism as well as systemic racism.
@@redthunderbird8117 You epitomize the angle of today's thinking focusing its lens towards a time decades ago.
@@redthunderbird8117 Sure, Norman Lear could have taken 10 steps forward in the fight against racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc. rather than, say, 3 or 5. I wonder, however, if such a huge leap would have caused backlash to the Stepin Fetchit era, for instance. Folks are trying to erase history altogether right now in 2023! Don't get me wrong, I am not a Lear apologist (Some major elements of Good Times still infuriate me), but I can appreciate advancements toward a more equitable and diverse Hollywood while still gnashing my teeth about how long it's taking.
Agreed, retroactively projecting
@@redthunderbird8117 well today's false narrative is pur country is systemically racist. That couldn't be any wronger. Just look at 2008 and 2012 elections. Iowa was 95% white and Obama beat McCain and Romney in that state. The Jeffersons and Bill Cosby were highest rated shows more than half viewers were white. Racists are truly the minority in America. The ones that you see kneeling on necks or framing OJ.
This show was so groundbreaking that Archie's chair is in the Smithsonian Institute. I'm a Gen X-er and it always befuddled me that TV censors back in the day had more issues with toilet flushes, hip shaking, and parents sleeping in the same bed than some of the language used to describe groups of people / religions etc. - especially pejoratives. The main difference here, as you and many have pointed out, is ignorance versus hate. This show was intended to bring light to these issues. Seeing your reactions, I think it worked! Great job guys.
Great point. I am also a Gen-Xer and I have discussions with people in my age group about these shows of the past. But I notice, with the new generation of network sitcoms, the humor tends to be more in the Toilet than ever. These same shows won't use the "n" word because it is offensive, but they will say (and do) everything else under the sun that was unheard of on television back in the day. Has anyone else noticed that?
LOL, Yes! I had forgotten that the toilet flush was the first aired on network television. It was a running gag for a short while. Yes, the broke so many rules for this show and for the right reasons.
you are correct...omg...do we sound like our parents??? (it's inevitable I guess)@@ThePumpin1
@geoffreyfreebern9037 That censorship you listed was prior to the mid-1960s. By the time Gen Xers were born (1965) those things weren't censored. However, you may have still seen it from watching the older shows and movies, reruns.
I came to say almost exactly the same thing! To add some reference for you guys Brady Bunch couldn’t show a toilet in the kids bathroom & Lucy/Desi from I love Lucy had separate beds because they couldn’t show them in same bed on TV. Archie was purposely written that way to show us how messed up the thinking was. As many others have said it created conversation where before there wasn’t any. Good Times, Sanford & Son were must watch TV in our home as well as this one. Oh, and What’s Happening
Glad to see young folks enjoying our favorite show!
the guy on the left is truly enjoying it, the guy on the right is too uptight to let himself enjoy the humor
Dude on the right is exactly what the def of uptight and probably offended by everything in life
I'm a 60 year old white woman. My parents encouraged me to watch Archie Bunker and they talked to me about these kinds of situations. I didn't have black friends (Southern Indiana was pretty segregated - still is in many ways) but they talked to me about Martin Luther King Jr. and his I Have A Dream speech. I was born 2 years before the Civil Rights bill was signed and was among the first to attend an integrated school.
My grandpa used the "n" word, but my parents would tell him not to say it around us.
This was a time when some families evolved and others didn't. When I heard racist comments as a teenager, I would recognize it as racist but never had the courage to speak against it.
As I aged, I gained that courage. When something is said that I find offensive, I let them know it is offensive.
"Silence is violence" is a fantastic statement. That fight back in the 1960s was hard. The entertainment industry helped with movies, music, and TV shows that challenged racism. We need more of that now - more openly shaming racists and bigots. More talk about the fact that we're all human and deserve to be treated equally.
We've made progress. But I've watched it erode over the past few years and that breaks my heart.
You got it! you echo my words and we have gone down hill after the eighty.
The reason why you guys can hardly believe that this was on tv in the 70's is due to "political correctness" so that people's reactions to these subjects, the dialogue and the "forbidden" words are really extreme. In the old days, people took it in their stride not clutching pearls and ready to call the police lol I watched it as a child. It was a comedic treatment of a sentitive subject, we all understood that, It was not THAT shock. REally.
I don't think kids watching it today realize how oppressive society has become. Social media has become a cancer.
@@jethro1963 American society has always been oppressive for black people...60s and 70s were just as bad as times are now. It's wasn't something new( Archie Bunker attitudes ) when this show premiered, after all it had been les that 10 years since the voting rights act had been signed, so it's not like the 70s were some decade of enlightenment.
@@jethro1963 political correctness came way before social media. Like when they took God and the flag out of schools and now they have put what was considered private matters back then in elementary classes.
I think we were just more desensitized to hearing prejudiced comments and slurs - people were saying that stuff all the time around kids and other adults. This show helped our country recognize that the ugliness was hurting people and that it was ignorant. I'm glad not to hear racist and sexist things sprinkled through a general conversation as if it was perfectly normal and acceptable. It shouldn't be normal. All in the Family had to meet people where they were at that point in time - so it's going to be raw and unlike what most younger people have grown up watching. That said, it is a fantastic show and a great time capsule of our country.
@@timeforchange3786 I taught for over 30 years. God was never in public schools, as it should be. Not everyone in the country is Christian. People here worship many Gods, or no God. God belongs in church and at home. The flag is in every classroom.
It put Archie’s racism right into the face of the racists to show them how ridiculous it looks.
“All In The Family was created to make people laugh. That’s about it and I think we were all damn successful.” -Carrol O’Connor
The majority of us that watched these shows back in the 70's didnt see these shows as offensive. We all knew people like them, so for us, in many ways, it was normal. Every family, no matter the race, color, or ethnicity had family members like this. These tv shows helped us all laugh at ourselves, and in many ways , brought us together as a society. The sad thing is that after all that progress made by shows like these in that era it feels like we're further apart now than we were then.
💯🎯
This show aimed at bringing bigots to light, why do you all get it wrong.
@@user-df6mf9mb2l I'm sure everyone but you is wrong in your world.
absolutely, it was comedy...we were able to get over our selves and just laugh.
I saw a clip where Carrol O'Connor said Norman Lear wanted this show to be set in Texas but O'Connor gave push back and wanted to have this show set in New York because he wanted to show that bigotry is not limited to the American South
This show was meant to shine a light on the ridiculous and to get the conversation started. The show also opened up conversations about things like abortion, death, and many other topics that needed a light shined on it.
The show was also meant to be funny and it was very funny!
I know exactly. I don't know how old you are but these poor young people are so scared of being cancelled that they almost don't dare to laugh at anything.
I grew up watching this show during its original run. It was a perfect snapshot of the early '70s, with major clashes & chaos socially, politically, & economically. Like George said at end of scene, "what is this world coming to?" The '70s was a decade a massive change and created our modern society. Just the battles between Archie & Meathead alone were a microcosm of that era.
I think they would like Good Times with the sister being a social justice warrior.
As it is now and worse!
This took place when people were able to laugh at our differences.
All In The Family was the first TV show allowed by the censors to have the sound of a toilet flushing heard. That was more shocking than the language back then
There's a development of the characters that takes place long before this episode that makes it funnier than it probably is without knowing the dynamic. This show was edgy for the times, but I've said it before, it was an important show that tackled stereotypes head on, unapologetically and I believe it is exactly what our society needed at the time.
Laughter brings people together...I'm 46 so I seen these as reruns as a kid I loved both these shows...I think making fun of each other and laughing together is a good thing when ppl got sensitive and said we can't do that no more is when everything turned to crap
We knew it was controversial at the time, but most people were nowhere near as sensitive as today. Most people didn't talk like that, but there are still racists out there (on all sides). That will never change. People had tougher skin & knew to let it go. People used to have a sense of humor & not be triggered at every little thing like today. Things are funny until that one subject hits home & then offends them.
The younger generation wasn't as sensitive because they were far removed from the Civil War.
Their parents were not.
Lionel and Mike (aka Meatball) parents' parents, (Grandfathers} fought in that war and stories of the Civil War were repeated and handed down to Lionel and Mike's parents. (George and Archie)
It was shocking to the younger generation's parents (George and Archie) though many of the more well-to-do families had black nannies raising their children for them.
Thusly, the younger generation (Lionel and Mike) basically thought their parents were wildly overreacting, since they couldn't possibly comprehend what the big deal was thusly completely ignoring their parents.
By this time the Vietnam War happened and both races fought and died closely together. The average age of a soldier was only 19. Commanders were 25. Lots died unnecessarily yet again.
As Bob Dylan so eloquently put it in a song: "The Times They Are A-Changin' "
@@angelelubin3690 I know you're referring to race relations with the Civil War. With regards to wars, both characters were veterans.
George Jefferson served in the Korean War as a cook. Archie Bunker served in WW2.
Are you dreaming wake up all this nonsense is still going on, just look at trump and the mega bunch.
These shows were generally played after 9 at night. That was the cut off point when kids were supposed to be in bed and adults got their programs.
Remember that Al Jolsen sang Mammie in blackface.
They're so young ...do they even know who Al Jolson is?! LOL
This was on CBS which was known as The Tiffany network, meaning it was prestigious. The show won many Emmy’s and spawned a ton of shows. I grew up with these shows and these shows really quelled the race relations unlike today where there’s so much anger and no one is talking. Anyway this show spawned The Jeffersons and Maude; The Jeffersons spawned Florence; Maude spawned Good Times. All these shows are worth a look.
You write Florence like it was its own TV show, which it wasn't.
This was an episode of "All in the Family" and a backdoor pilot for "The Jeffersons." When "The Jeffersons" became a show the next season the move out of their house Queens and into a Highrise apartment in Manhattan. They also recast the parts of Lionel's Bride to be Jenny and her parents the Willis.
to a "de-luxe apartment in the sky!" 🎶
I was around then and loved these shows. Because they had both sides shown, it was just plain comedy. Ignorance, logic and unity all in one show. 😂😂
I'm glad you guys saw more of the scene, but it's still an edited version. There's more to it (in between the "3 years" comment and the final toast Archie and George make to each other.)
The last time the end part was cut off, this time the beginning is cut off.
All In The Family had a warning before episodes would air early on until it became a hit
This show brought up issues that we all faced at the time and forced us to talk about it, even if we only watched the discussion as it happened on the show. It forced us to look at ourselves and our world. The language and insults on the show weren't anything that I didn't hear at school. I don't know of anyone at the time that was offended by the show. We're Latino and Catholic and my family would laugh at the Latino and Catholic jokes and the way Mike and Archie would argue about it because they were funny. Yes, they were funny. They were hilarious. It showed us how ridiculous the person who is so narrow minded looks from the outside. We need more of that today. Satire can be a helpful way to address our problems. Today, satire has been taken out of the world and we are worse off for it. Just look around. We are coming apart and aren't even talking to each other anymore, not even through a TV show.
both the bunkers and the jeffersons it was called pushing the boundaries, the two men pushed their opinions and made people speak
Archie was symbolic of his generation, and Michael of the present. Archie was the butt of the joke because he had yet to evolve. Those of us who lived during the time where it was on TV, got the message and joke. No one, black, white (all mentioned nationalities or races,) were offended because "we got it." People understood what Norman Lear was trying to teach the world.
I love flashing back with you guys cuz I'm 60-year-old and used to laugh so hard with Archie and then George Jefferson. M.A.S.H. at the time was SO funny, bold and VERY timely. Alan Alda, The Master.
Oh my gosh! Can you imagine them watching MASH with the guy in the dress?
@@timeforchange3786 wasn't he just a great representative of expression and acceptance and at the same time he was trying to get out of service but the attitude and dress and comments were always perfect. Klinger. Frank Burns and Margaret's relationship showed The comic dysfunction of just regular lusty relationships. I don't remember seeing many MASH reactions here on CZcams, now that I thought of it. I guess I'll look after commenting and find out.
@@RockPowerUSA i don't know much about it because I was about 7 when it came on. I know my dad liked the show and it seemed like they were always giving him a hard time. I think I heard he was trying to get out of service but I never knew what the story was.
The genius of All in the Family was having George Jefferson and Archie Bunker be mirrors of each other. It highlighted the ridiculousness of racism and bigotry.
I'm old enough to have watched this show as a little kid. My grandpa was unironically just like Archie Bunker, and my mother was a hippie so she was able to balance out the things he said and help me understand.
Love the content. Just subscribed. Anyone who watches things like this from back in the day cannot judge by TODAY'S social norms. Even for the time, All In The Family was considered edgy and controversial, but on purpose. Like you said, it got people talking about issues they had previously just swept under the rug, and it really helped contribute to social progress. BTW, digging Felipe's M's gear. ⚾
Edith is underrated
Nah. She was adored. I think the ACTRESS was underrated, because it felt as though she wasn’t acting. As thought Edith was just Edith. Not a performance.
@@jotham777 I thought the same till I’d seen her in an interview. She doesn’t even sound like Edith. You’d be surprised. She was an incredible stage actress apparently. Did some off and on Broadway musicals and plays.
This show premiered in January of1971 and I was a high school senior. It was also the first school year that busing was used for integration on a large scale here in Georgia. The days following the telecasts were always discussion days between the black and white students and we all laughed at the various antics of Archie Bunker and the other cast members.
Hi young fella's, I grew up in the 1970,s and all of these show are among my favs. Now I have a question for you. Can any of you tell me (WITHOUT GOOGLE). How are All in the Family are Good Times connected?
The episode where Archie tries out for a bowling team, the refrigerator repairman and Mike’s friend who dodged the draft are all great
Lionel knew how to play Archie like a fiddle. This show was off the charts, my parents would not allow me too watch. No way this would be allowed today, on broadcast anyway, a revolutionary groundbreaking show. It is interesting to see how Archie evolved as mentioned here. Definitely worth watching more….so many memories.
It show what censorship destroys. If this show was made today it would have never gotten off the ground.
I think the networks have it backward, guns, police without warrants breaking down doors, sex un hinged, doing drugs, shootings, tough guys, but Archie Bunker would never be allowed today. Because of TV our moral and values have gone down the drain.
We also had shows like Three's Company with John Ritter from the show 8 Simple Rules, who play a man living with 2 women, but because the landlord Mr. Roper thought it was improper to have a man living with two woman, the two girls had John's character Jack pretend he was gay in order to live with them. The show was hilarious and had a lot of sexual innuendo, where someone would walk up to a door going into another room and hear the other two in that room talking and what they said made it sound like they were getting freaky, but they were really doing something that was normal and the whole time the one listening was freaking out thinking they were having or about to have sex until they barged in and realized they misheard the conversation. Here's a short 1 minute clip from season 5 that is a perfect example. Hopefully you guys could react to Three's Company in the future. It lasted 8 seasons and was wildly popular. It's only just under 1 minute long and is so funny: czcams.com/video/QdZQd---jL8/video.html
Three’s Company was the best. Everyone was hilarious on that, and John Ritter will always be one of my favorite comedic actors ever.
It was a stupid show!
I was watching an interview with Carol Burnett the other day and she said that they were filming a skit about a nudist colony, for her TV show, in the late 60s. As part of the skit, they said that one of the activities that they liked to do was dance. When asked how do nudists dance, they said 'Very Carefully'. Well the network said there is no way they can say that and forced them to change the line. So, they changed the line and the network approved it. They changed it to say that nudists 'dance cheek to cheek' which the cast and crew liked even better but they didn't think it would get approved because it was a lot more risque. But the network didn't get the joke and approved it.
pretty surecthe network got the joke, it wasn't exactly nuanced
Thank God for NORMAN LEAR for creating these classic shows.He's alive and well at 101,God bless him
I was born in 1958 my parents (white) divorced, My father married a black women with 4 black children and together had 3 more. My mother was shamed and shunnd from the community, her church and could not get a job etc. I was bullied all thru school and my siblings being called a "N-lover," imagine my childhood. Life was way different back then and people just accepted it as normal. I am happy we have moved slowly forward. Bottom line, I love my blended family and that is all that matters.
THIS is one of TV's greatest episodes!! Yes, network show but it was on late at 9 or 10:00 pm. Both characters just had so much negative perceptions of other race/culture growing up. But, they actually grown in the years to have respect for each other. LOVE it!!
All in the family started at 8PM.
Happy 100 years, Norman Lear. You were and are a visionary.
Back then people weren't so weak minded when it came to language. We didn't have social media which just requires people to be publicly outraged over every little thing or else be ridiculed by those who are. No one knew who anyone voted for and we didn't care. We didn't have 24 hour news channels provoking outrage all day and night for more ratings. No social media "algorithms" and their click-bait headlines designed to anger 50% of the people and placate to the other half. You sat down and watched tv. If you liked a show, you watched the next episode the following week. If you didn't like it, you simply watched something else. You didn't feel the need to tell your neighbors not to watch it or threaten them if they did.
It wasn't normal to hear this language on TV, but this show was very important socially to advise us in ways to better ourselves by tackling the most pressing issues of the day.
There's an episode of The Jeffersons where Tom Willis says the "N" word to George.
these comedy shows was to show the ricdiculus... mike also showed some predudice a different shows... archie grew up that way and everone around him grew up that way, it was when he started living his own life and mingled with all types , he grew into a lovable character
In the early seventies I was in my teens and Dad loved this show. Most of the family watched it and laughed out loud. It brought the family together and lightened our spirits. The turbulence of the sixties was finally over and although the recession was troubling this show gave us a chance to laugh. Looking back on it now, it's obvious the humor is not pc, too bad. Since, as you noted, it made the topic of racism something to talk about. Something we all need today.
I don't know what world you were in but the turbulence was on going. Vietnam war, and the soldiers coming home and being shunned no the turbulence never stopped it just became worse.
They were trying to show that bigotry and racism didn't belong.
You HAVE to see the episode when Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Archie Bunker.... CLASSIC
If you haven't seen Archie Bunker meeting 'god,' many feel it is the most iconic scene in the entire series.
One of the single greatest episodes.
Absolutely. Especially when you consider almost the entire episode was shot in one location, with Archie the only character for most of it, essentially talking to himself. It was hilarious, heartwarming, and brilliant.
In reality, the hypersensitivity to offense is a relatively new phenomenon. Tropic Thunder was 2008 and RDJ was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. I mean even 30-year-olds today were teenagers when this type of comedy was still not a problem. At that time, context still mattered. That's not so much the case today. The culture shifted *very* rapidly. Some will argue not for the better.
In the 70s and 80s, not only did comedians not care about offending people, they often went out of their way to offend. Like Carlin's Seven Dirty Words or almost anything spoken by Andrew Dice Clay. Back then, comedians were railing against conservatives for being too sensitive and puritanical. It was self-identified liberals who promoted open conversations and freedom of expression even (or especially) at the expense of offending people. Things have changed.
The 70s was the first decade after the Civil Rights movement, so a national conversation was at play. Entertainment helped to facilitate that conversation. It would be more of a lecture than entertainment if they were worried about not saying anything to offend anyone. So they just had honest conversations in an entertaining and often comedic manner. They got people to laugh together and at themselves. That helped shape many hearts and minds.
Great post.
As a guy born in '63, who has lived through all of this - it's troubling to see how much more repressive today's society is.
We haven't made progress, we have regressed.
People use to speak there minds in those days you don’t understand how different it was
Yay...Friday Funnies. You guys are doing great❤
I was a child watching All in the Family with my parents, they raised us to judge only character and we were all in. The series held a mirror to racists and did more for changing people's hearts than almost any artform. The people who didn't like it were the hardcore racists of the time.
A lot of people are posting as if it wasn't a ground breaking show, that it was normal in those times, but it did rock the boat. Fortunately it was the high quality of the show that soon won people over. Prior to the seventies, TV was pretty plain vanilla (in more ways than one) and reticent about anything controversial in prime time family entertainment and it was Norman Lear (he's still alive at 101!) comedies that broke the ice on race and other touchy issues.
Shows like this are eye opening for younger people. There were issues in society and people addressed them in TV shows (oftentimes with humor). Today, people wake up with the thought of who is going to offend me today and walk around butt hurt and sheltered
I was a young kid when "All In the Family" came out. I still remember me and my dad watching it for the first time. Very groundbreaking and controversial.
You’re too young to realize that it’s been the last 15 years that the ‘offensive’ words were being purged and stigmatized. Before that people either didn’t care or didn’t say anything. Keep in mind how much your current day sensibility is coloring how you think things were presented/received in the past.
Each younger generation becomes more and more sensitive to the n-word. It never used to be censored on TV. Even as recently as the 90’s I can remember curse words being censored, but the n-word wasn’t. Each younger generation has given the word more and more power. It’s always been an offensive word, but it’s been elevated way beyond other offensive words with these newer generations to the point where even hearing it on tv is shocking and unbelievable.
I was born in the 60s. Hearing the n-word wasn’t just offensive, it was traumatizing. I was a little girl. I didn’t understand why people were being so hateful to me. Shows like this were acceptable because characters like Archie and George were ridiculed. They weren’t idolized the way irreverent comedians are today. The people around them said the things we wished we could have or would have said. It’s not that we weren’t offended by racism then. The difference is that now, due to social media, you hear our complaints.
@@mwjacobs I'm not saying it wasn't an offensive word. I'm saying on TV it was not a word that was censored as there are a lot of offensive words that aren't curse words that aren't censored. I'm saying people have become even more sensitive to even hearing the word regardless of context.
People knew how to laugh at each other back then, and themselves.
I'm 62 and loved this show. The first time I heard a toilet flush on TV was on this show and we died laughing because we never heard of such a thing.
Regarding the age range of the audience of "All in the Family" and what their current ages are today -- true, the show originally aired from 1971 to 1979, but it was in heavy syndication reruns for another decade (most people didn't have cable TV until the late 80s). So a lot of younger people discovered it when they were teens in the 1980s (which make them in their 50s today. That's why people like Jimmy Kimmel are such fans of Norman Lear and all these shows).
Exactly right!
No it wasn't weird it was the times then. All in the family, the Jeffersons, Sandford and Son, good times they all, talked like this to an extent. This was normal network TV for the times. Our was NOT controversial. If you hadn't see what the show was doing, that's the problem. Archie was an idiot. But only does Archie evolve, they ALL DO. George does, Fred does, the Evans does... etc.
Born in 1963, and I can't tell you how huge All in the Family was. Family time around the TV. I loved it, my parents loved it. My grandparents loved it. The 70's were an interesting time to grow up. As far as the "N" word---it really didn't become the "N" word until the OJ trial and Mark Furman. Prior to that it wasn't taboo for whites to use it in a certain context. John Lennon had a song in the early 70's called Woman is the "N" word of the World. But of course it was the word in the title and the lyrics. Richard Pryor had an album called That "N" word is Crazy. Won a Grammy for best comedy album. White people could discuss it by name, it could be talked about on TV. Not today. Enjoying your reactions. Thanks for sharing.
I was born mid 70’s and grew up watching this with mom and my father figure. It wasn’t strange to me. I didn’t get many of the jokes. I was young and my mother had a close friend who is black with her children. Those kids were also my friends. It’s interesting looking back now I’m older and understand so much more… it’s wild. And I guess you could guess who I identify with, lol. Thanks for this video! Subscribed.
This show came out right after the civil rights movement. Segregation had ended. People were learning to come together as one. This show helped to show them how. As you can see, most people were willing, but there was definitely a learning curve. My parents were born in the early part of the century when there was a strict caste system in the US. They had always respected other races but they had also been taught to respect the social classes, including their own. It was the social caste system that was being broken down and done away with. It took some getting used to but even the most diehard were trying. Archie and George were obviously the diehards. Lol
That system never changed the bigots are still around and thriving.
Sitcoms in the years before this show avoided these controversial topics, so it was a much needed show for the times because it shined a spotlight on things that needed to be seen and heard. Some people now think that people are too sensitive about these topics, but I think society has just matured and moved past the predjudicial attitudes and speech.
Not really. People forget what free speech used to be like.
I’m so happy that I came across your channel. I’m 54 and I remember these shows and my ex father in law is still like Archie 🤦♀️ Norman Lear’s shows were all like this. I seen a documentary about Norman Lear. He was an awesome person.
This also happened in an episode of Sanford and Son where Lamont goes to traffic court. The episode is Legal Eagle.
I was born in 1952 and this show was one of the best show to educate folks on the silliness and ridiculousness of being prejudice and/or racist. None of my friends (both black and white) found this show offensive, nor were they sensitive to any language used ( don't forget the P word for Archie's son-in-law, etc.). 🤔 I wonder if the only folks who probably didn't like this show were those with true hatred in their hearts and THEY may have been offended because the show was showing how wrong they were.
I'm not an expert here but I don't understand the conversation. Rap music uses the "n" word all of the time, why isn't that wrong these days? I grew up in the 60's and 70's, race relations were hundred times better back then than it is now. Everything nowadays is about race, it wasn't like that in the 70's.
Isn’t that the truth? In the last 10 years race relations reverted back to the 1950’s minus segregation of course.
Exactly, but only people our age would know that by experience and understand it.@@sobmaz
It's important to understand that when All in the Family started it was shocking to people. Comedies were very tame in the 1960s, and they rarely dealt with topics like bigotry. The first time Archie said "damn" it caused a gasp from the audience. But the makers of the show were courageous in a way that few are willing to be today.
Well said
Lenny Bruce to name one, his mouth was so dirty, not on tv, but they were in the night clubs. I have great memories of the '70's and also earth shattering ones. But the bunkers was never shocking it was refreshing to see the bigotry that laid dormant in this country. We had the Watts situation in Cal. the young men who were drafted into the Viet Nam War, the National guard shooting college students, through the 60's and 70's it was a sad time we needed change. A young Kennedy and his brother and Martin Luther King all assassinated they were our hope to reforming a troubled nation. What is shocking to see a nation torn apart just like today.
Was the funniest show ever! Classics for sure! I'm still laughing hard!!!!
This was one of the absolute BEST shows ever to air. Bar none!! I still watch it today. People weren't so over-sensitive and eager to scream racism back them. People weren't offended by harmless words.
The guy on the left in the blue shirt (what’s his name?) seems to crack up at all the spots I either laughed at when this was aired, or today 😂😂😂
It’s really so much fun to “Watch with you” ❤
I grew up watching this show in the 70's. One of my dad's favorite shows!
I grew up in the '70s, and I was very young when I watched All in the Family. It's where I learned to love satire.
Thanks for putting this up guys. I’m from Gen X and like others have commented, the use of racial slurs was not common but also not uncommon either. In High School the word ‘fag’ was current but the n word has been a serious slur for a long time. But unlike today the people then were just used to it because if you were white the chances that someone in your family, it could’ve been your grandfather or a friend’s relative used it. Growing up I knew it was wrong but no one made you reflect on it more than simply telling you not to use that word. The groundbreaking effectiveness of All in the Family was to place two diametrically opposed characters in a comedy rather than a drama and show people just what ignorance and hypocrisy looks like. And because it was comedy the lesson went down easier, no one felt like they were being lectured to. Think about how many good comedians make you reflect. This show was genius and it’s spin-offs though never quite as popular were equally effective about making people look into the mirror of what society was and still is unfortunately. We need more shows like this today to at least open that conversation. Thanks again.
The thing is the humor breaks the ice and people start a dialog about it. I love your reactions to these, I grew up in the 70s and this is just neat !!!!!
Archie Bunker and George Jefferson together were pure gold . There's a recent tv show , The Neighborhood, that was quite interesting too .
Like I previously commented, there’s another 70s show that dealt with bigotry, but with Hispanics; “Chico and the Man”. Jack Albertson played the craggy old white man, and the late Freddie Prinze (Jr’s dad) played Chico.
Please do that one at some point. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, too!
Guys, it brought us together. Showed how ignorant and evil racism is and we needed to see it out in the open. These shows helped changed our culture so much and you guys are living proof. Three young men from different cultures and your love for each other shows. I’m 70 years old and I know racism still exists but I really think every single day we are becoming a society that will eventually be color blind.
I was born in the sixties and my parents rolled their eyes and burst into laughter over here in Canada.
Better days when opinions could be aired, and mocked.
I am in my 40s only have seen some of these episodes in reruns and I am still in shock at what was said back then on TV.. There were only like what 3 stations...
This was hilarious. Note. Another show you may want to explore is called “Soap”. It launched Billy Crystal’s career. They definitely wouldn’t make it today. Hilarious
All in the Family also made waves for being the first show to include the sound of a toilet flushing.
Great reaction! The purpose for those shows was to point out how ridiculous and silly those mind sets really were or are and still get a laugh about it😅
There were so many of these comedy sit-coms on t.v. back then. I hope we get to see more of them. Like "That's My Mama" and others. Remember J.J
Walker ?
I was born in 1969 and I love this episode. Here's a fun fact. The black woman that played as Tom Willis's wife had also played on some episodes on Sanford and Son! 👍🏻
Please keep the reaction vids coming ... love y'all.
This AITF episode ("Lionel's Engagement") served as a perfect backdoor pilot for THE JEFFERSONS, which would debut less than a year later. Mike Evans, the actor who portrayed Lionel, would also co-create GOOD TIMES, which was loosely based on his own childhood growing up in Chicago. The youngest child on GOOD TIMES was named Michael Evans as a homage to Mike Evans.