Cable
schedules 'Family' reunion Bunkers come to a new generation
( USA Today ) Jefferson Graham; 10-09-1998
Imagine a network in these politically correct times agreeing to air a sitcom
about a bigot who argues his racist principles with his liberal son-in-law.
It took producer Norman Lear three years to convince TV to gamble on a 1971
midseason replacement called All in the Family, which went on to become one of
the most loved and honored shows of all time.
The CBS show is returning to TV in a big way. A week-long Family marathon (9
p.m.-1 a.m. ET/PT) kicks off Monday on Nick at Nite, leading into the show's
joining cable's TV Land in prime time (weeknights, 10 ET/PT), beginning Oct. 19.
''Is the show still relevant today?'' asks Lear, 76, who handpicked his 40
favorite episodes for the marathon. ''We're going to find out. I can't wait to
see the reaction.
''But I can tell you that what is still relevant is four great performances. You
don't have to know much about Richard Nixon to know you're looking at two
buffoons arguing.''
The series starred Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, Jean Stapleton as his
''Dingbat'' wife Edith, Rob Reiner as son-in-law ''Meathead' ' Mike and Sally
Struthers as Gloria, his ''Little Girl.''
Family was the No. 1 show for five seasons, and spawned the spinoffs Maude, Good
Times, The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker's Place and Gloria.
''It is the reason why I am in television,'' says Peter Tortorici, a former CBS
executive who now runs Telemundo, the Spanish-language network. ''It made me
understand the power of television.''
Family ''is a bit of a period piece,'' says Steven Stark, author of Glued to the
Set: The 60 Television Shows and Events That Made Us Who We Are Today. ''People
can recognize what made it great, but it' s not endearing like M*A*S*H.''
But Family ''changed the definition of the sitcom to include more serious topics
and a shift of focus to less upscale, suburban families. . . . All in the Family
reflected American life in the 1970s,'' introducing to prime time such taboo
subjects as rape, menopause, homosexuality, impotence, women's rights and gun
control.
A younger generation that hasn't seen Family may find it shocking to hear a TV
hero deriding blacks, Jews, Asians and Hispanics in terms unheard of in
contemporary television.
Aware that children watch Nick at Nite, the network will run an advisory about
Archie's language, says general manager Larry Jones. But it' s the
responsibility of parents to explain that Bunker is misguided, Jones says.
''That's a healthy conversation to have.''
Lear shot two Family pilots for ABC before CBS bought his third. The never-seen
second pilot, without Struthers and Reiner and called Those Were the Days, will
air Oct. 17 (10 p.m. ET/7 PT) on TV Land.
Lear isn't sure he's happy that the rarity will finally run. ''We could have
done the show with the original cast, but we had such incredible chemistry with
those four.''
Perhaps showing that TV hasn't changed much since Family's heyday, the current
crop of new shows includes two sitcoms about black families moving to white
neighborhoods -- just as the Jeffersons lived next to the Bunkers.
Lear hasn't seen Fox's Living in Captivity or ABC's The Hughleys, ''but it
surprises me that this idea would be the central one. As an idea, it is utterly
antediluvian.'' |
