All in the Family SE01 EP06 - "Gloria's Pregnancy"

Episode Name: Gloria's Pregnancy (also known as Gloria Has a Belly Full)
Original Airdate: February 16, 1971

Gloria and Edith come back from the doctor's with good news - Gloria's pregnant. At first, Michael panics, as he has no job, he's currently going to school, and they don't have their own apartment. When Archie accuses Michael of being irresponsible for getting his daughter pregnant under these circumstances, Michael decides to quit school, get a job, and move out of the Bunkers' house.

Edith tells Archie that he should be happier about the fact he'll be a grandfather, but Archie can't get over how irresponsible he sees the whole thing. After a day in thought, Archie decides to embrace the fact he'll have a grandchild, but then learns that Gloria had a miscarriage.

Heartbroken, he talks to his daughter, resting in bed, and reaffirms his love for her.

Archie receiving the news

Gloria and Archie talking

This was a rather emotional episode, which is to be expected when dealing with pregnancies and miscarriages. That said, the vocal point was far more on Archie's reaction to the news as opposed to Gloria and Michael's plans to move out of the Bunkers' house.

We did see some humanity from Archie, which I don't know if we've seen before. Once he quiets down and listens to the news of the miscarriage, he truly does appear heartbroken. Though he's not an emotive person, he does do what he can to express how he feels to Gloria. That said, it doesn't excuse the dismissive way he consistently treats Edith or his son-in-law, as far as I'm concerned.

Michael shows here that he is willing to put his education on the backburner to make a good life for children he and Gloria may have. That said, I think things would be better should they wait until Michael graduates.

It was a pretty decent episode, though I did prefer the previous one's topic matter more. Still, this was well-done.

Quote of the episode:

Archie: "In my day, nobody went around calling themselves 'Chicanos,' 'Mexican-Americans,' 'Afro-Americans.' We was all Americans. After that, if a guy was a jig or a spic it was his own business."

Rating: Above Average

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All in the Family SE01 EP05 - "Judging Books by Covers"

Episode Name: Judging Books by Covers

Original Airdate: February 9, 1971

Michael and Gloria's friend Roger comes over to the house, which bothers Archie as he's positive that Roger is homosexual (only using such colorful language as "fag" and "fairy"). Disgusted with Roger and his flamboyance, he leaves and hangs out with a bunch of friends at a bar, including a former football player Steve, who he admires for his physique.

Michael discovers that Steve's gay, unbeknownst to Archie. Archie grates on Michael, though, and keeps making snide remarks about Roger, and Michael tells him. At first, Archie doesn't believe him, and meets up with Steve later to confirm that he's straight. With a wide smile, Steve let's Archie know that he is indeed gay, to Archie's shock.

Michael and Gloria welcoming Roger (center)

Archie speaking to Steve

Steve informs Archie that he is indeed gay

This was a rather decent episode. There was a bit thrown in that wasn't as interesting, about the ability of different sexes to pick up a chair whilst their head's on a wall (and leads to an amusing ending where Archie meets a woman who he believes to be a man), but the focus of the episode was pretty solid, in which Archie's convinced that Roger's gay, but it's actually a friend of his, a straight-laced, "manly man," who turns out to be gay.

Archie's intolerance, and language, is rather jarring. Just days after a horrific night club shooting in Orlando, which shocked the LGBT community and allies alike, going back and watching an intolerant individual like Archie refer to gay people as "fag," "fairies," and other derogatory language really shows you how far we've come as a society, but more importantly, as there are still plenty of anti-gay individuals out there, how far we still need to go.

I don't know if Steve or Roger will appear again, or Jerri (the individual at the end who Archie at first thought was a man), but all three were pretty good characters. Steve in particular was a fantastic character, and a good way to juxtapose the stereotypes of gay individuals with actual gay individuals. Philip Carey, the actor playing Steve, was great in this episode, and overall, this is certainly a fine piece of television.

Quote of the episode:

Michael: "You know something, Archie? Just because a guy is sensitive, and he's an intellectual, and he wears glasses, you make him out a queer."

Archie: "I never said a guy who wears glasses is a queer. A guy who wears glasses is a four-eyes, a guy who's a fag is a queer."

Rating: Above Average


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All in the Family SE01 EP04 - "Archie Gives Blood"

Episode Name: Archie Gives Blood
Original Airdate: February 2, 1971

Archie, Edith, Michael and Gloria are playing a game of Monopoly, and aside from Archie's rude comments to his wife every now and again (calling the woman he loves a "dingbat" appears to be a hobby of his), all seems to be going well. But then the idea of going to donate blood heats Archie up - he doesn't want his blood to go to any "radicals." Unless he knows who would get his blood, he simply won't do it.

And from here, Archie and Michael argue about donating blood. Michael, with the help of Gloria, try to explain to Archie that "blood is blood." Doesn't matter if a person's black, Chinese, whatever, blood's blood, and as long as the types match, nothing else matters. As you can imagine, Archie takes a different stand. He claims that the idea blood is as interchangeable as it is, regardless of race, is "Commie propaganda." The argument becomes quite heated, but is calmed down as Edith tells them a story about how a blood transfusion she had in the past involving Katharine Hepburn.

Talked into donating blood, Archie goes with Michael to the clinic the next day, surprised to see an Asian man (or "Chink"/"oriental" according to Archie) at a "white man's clinic." When told that people of all races come here, Archie again becomes upset. But before long, Lionel, an African-American friend, pops up, and begins egging Archie on, claiming that he agrees blacks' blood differs from the blood of whites. Archie also ridiculously disagrees with heart transplants. Come the time of the donation, it goes over pretty well, though Archie did pass out at the end of the procedure.

Archie blames this on the doctors, as they "took too much blood" out of his arm. And this is further explained by Edith by the fact that Archie doesn't like doctors. In Archie's eyes, doctors look at people as nothing more than spare parts, and not for the people they are. More so, when they try to prolong life, it goes against God's will, which Michael of course (being the atheist he is) takes issue with. After another, shorter, argument, the episode ends with them all playing another game of Monopoly. 

Lionel, Michael, and Archie

This episode was a decent one. Like most we've had so far, it's was pretty singularly focused, the title explaining the plot - Archie decides to give blood. While it's a positive thing that Archie did this, he is still unable, it seems, to comprehend the science behind blood. And truth be told, Michael's probably never going to get Archie to admit that he's wrong (and Lionel's egging Archie on only worsens the situation). So Archie's bigotry doesn't go on unchecked, but it will remain unaffected.

Michael's trying the best he can, it seems, but his situation is not an easy one. Talking to someone like Archie about something like the concept that no matter the race, blood is blood, is likely to amount to nothing. Still, he tries, as does Gloria. Maybe sometime in the future, they'll be successful.

The now-dated references to Marcus Welby, M,D, and Mannix (both shows I plan on reviewing) were amusing, but I noticed that no quote or line in this episode really stood out as they had in past episode. Because of that, I can't really provide you with a quote of the episode. Still, this was another pretty solid episode, though I would like to see the introduction of more characters in the future to spice things up a bit.

Rating: Above Average

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All in the Family SE01 EP03 - "Oh, My Aching Back"

Episode Name: Oh, My Aching Back (also known as Archie's Aching Back)

Original Airdate: January 26, 1971

Archie comes home later after being in a minor car accident (Archie claimed was caused by a Jewish woman), which he claims was rather serious, but Lionel, who comes in afterwards, states the car just has a small ding in it.

Archie then learns that Lionel's father bought a dry cleaning business from the money he got from a settlement from an accident. Upon hearing Lionel's father received this money, Archie then pretends that his back is injured. Instead of getting a doctor first, though, he wants a lawyer - specifically, a Jewish lawyer, believing they can get more money out of it for him.

After choosing the firm Rabinowitz, Rabinowitz, and Rabinowitz, Archie awaits the lawyer. Surprising Archie, one Whitney Fitzroy IV comes, stating that as the neighborhood was mostly white, the Rabinowitz's thought a white lawyer would be more appreciated. This infuriates Archie, and sends Fitzroy back, claiming he wants a Jew.

Rabinowitz arrives, along with the attorney for the other party in the accident. Rabinowitz does his best to defend Archie, but when it's revealed that not only were there witnesses that claimed Archie was at fault, but more so, those witnesses were nuns, Rabinowitz decides he can do no more. Archie then loses the lawsuit.

Archie pleading to Rabinowitz

This episode was pretty decent, one reason being that Archie managed to refrain from saying too many foolish things. Though his ploy was obvious, at least Archie tried to come up with a plan. I am glad, though, he lost the lawsuit against him.

While fairly one-dimensional, I will give a shout out to the actor who played Whitney Fitzroy IV, being George Furth. His character was greatly amusing for his short screen time, and most of the chuckles this episode got from me were because of him.

Archie did insult Michael's Polish ancestry once again, which Michael jumped on him for. I would expect that eventually, Michael refuses to take it, but it's not clear when or if that time will come. Lastly, the fact that Archie can't see how bigoted he is astounds me. At least admit it. But like a coward, Archie refuses to do such, which is how it is with many bigots (be them homophobes, racists, what have you).

Not a bad episode at all, and at the very least, more entertaining than the previous one.

Quote of the episode:

Rabinowitz: "There's an old, old rule of law, Mr. Bunker. They say it dates back to before the turn of the century. In a court of law, you can't beat a station wagon filled with nuns."

Rating: Above Average

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All in the Family SE01 EP02 - "Writing the President"

Episode Name: Writing the President
Original Airdate: January 19, 1971

Michael writes a letter to President Nixon about the ills of current American society, including pollution, race relations, and the ongoing Vietnam War. When Archie gets wind of this, he snatches the letter away, not wanting an anti-Nixon letter sent from the house. A compromise occurs, though - Michael can have his letter sent if Archie sends one also.

And thus, Archie, with the help of Edith, craft a letter, which is honestly about all that takes place in the episode.

Honestly, while the description above is short, it's entirely accurate. Sure, a few arguments are had between Archie and Michael, mainly revolving around pollution and John Wayne (whom Archie is a huge fan of, as you can imagine, I'm sure), but the main focal point of the episode is the crafting of Archie's letter.

Though lacking content, it's still an okay episode. I am hoping that future episodes have less sole focus than did this episode. The pilot did well because while it was purely an episode-long discussion over ideologically differences, they covered many bases. This episode, not much was really said, and aside from Archie's racism early on, even he is able to stay clear of foolish comments. Overall, it's a poorly average episode.


Quote of the episode:

Michael: "I want us to watch Jack Lemmon and a group of famous scientists discuss pollution and ecology on Channel 13."

Archie: "Good. And I want to watch football highlights on Channel 2. Now guess what's going to happen."


Rating: Average


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All in the Family SE01 EP01 - "Meet the Bunkers"

This series is another one that I've known about for some time but never bothered watching. As is, I wasn't intending to review many sitcoms for this blog, but All in the Family is just one of those which is rather well-known and more so, well-respected.

My knowledge of this show is limited, but I do believe one of the characters in the show is a bigoted conservative, and another one a liberal. This is of particular interest to me, because I have a very deep interest in politics. While I have no intention of spending a large portion of my time reviewing this episode talking about politics, I do have a feeling that it will come up. And me being on the far left of the political spectrum, I sense it could get interesting really quickly.

Episode Name: Meet the Bunkers

Original Airdate: January 12, 1971

Gloria and Michael Stivic, who live with Gloria's parents, Archie and Edith Bunker, prepare an anniversary brunch for Archie and Edith, who have been married now for 22 years. After they send their friend Lionel out to buy some flowers for Edith, Michael shows a deep interest in having alone time with his wife, which they rarely have, but as Archie and Edith are in church, it just so happens this is one of those rare occasions.

Unfortunately for Michael, Archie and Edith leave the sermon early, and walk in on them making out in the living room, disgusting Archie, which turns into a conversation over Archie's traditional and conservative viewpoints versus Michael's logical, progressive ones. It doesn't take long for the conversation to move onto why Archie decided to leave the sermon early, which Archie describes as "socialist propaganda, pure and simple." The preacher in question stated that the parishioners were partly to blame for the breakdown of law and order throughout the country, a statement which Michael happens to agree with, as he feels those who ignore the true causes, like poverty and racial inequality, are culpable. Archie, however, sees the cause of the problem as bleeding hearts, which makes no sense whatsoever, if I may add.

Archie then says, and I quote, "If your spics and your spades want their rightful share of the American dream, let them get out there and hustle for it just like I done." Which, while utterly abhorrent, also goes against the fact Edith then makes, being that Archie didn't hustle for anything - his uncle gave him his job. It's also in this portion that Archie states blacks have it easier than whites, which is something I've heard myself many times, and it's no less an ignorant statement here.

The conversation then turns to religion, where Michael and Gloria both seem to fall into the atheist category, or at the very least, agnostic. Archie, in dismay, states "I knew we had a couple of pinkos in this house, but I didn't know we had atheists." Archie then insults his wife again, calling her a dingbat, when she insists that they actually eat the lunch Michael and Gloria made for them. He then burns his hand, which is fine with me, as just before hand he was shouting at his wife. Rightly so, the wife is more concerned with eating than she is his minor injury.

Archie then insults Michael's sociology degree (as a sociology minor, I feel it's fair to take offense to this) and then insists he's both stupid and lacking ambition, which causes Gloria to stand up and state she no longer wants to live in the house while her father insults her husband. Edith stands up for her daughter, though, and insists she and Michael remain living there until Michael is able to make a living and properly provide for her.

The conversation than turns to race, in which, unexpectedly, Archie attacks the whole of the African-American community. Just in time, Lionel returns, who happens to be black. He plays along with Archie, and insists that Archie is in no way prejudiced. The two of them, Michael and Lionel, then lightly poke at Archie for using a Yiddish word, insisting that he is Jewish, all the while Archie claiming he's not a "Yid."

The last portion of the episode revolves around Edith reading the anniversary card she "received" from Archie (actually, it was from Michael and Gloria). Archie even appears a little touched by it, but when asked by Michael, simply insults him.

All in the Family seems, based off this first episode, a show of pretty decent quality. I do deeply respect sitcoms that touch on political issues, as this and Family Ties, often did, and I wish more sitcoms like this existed. Also important is to have two opposing views, which this show does well, and I am guessing will continue to do well.

How people can like Archie, though, I don't understand at this point. Insulting his son-in-law and wife doesn't make him adorable in any way, and I don't see bigotry as something "cute." Then again, I am about the exact opposite of Archie's character in every single way, which, for the sake of full disclosure, I have no problem admitting.

I may, however, alter the way I review episodes of this series. Instead of delving into the foolish things Archie says in the summary overview, I'm likely to, at the end of each episode's review, list the things Archie says, or any character, for that matter, that I find objectionable. Michael made good points this episode, but I have my doubts he'll always continue to do so.

Speaking of the characters, though, I felt, as this episode did a good job of showcasing each of the four members of the family, to make a few notes on each one.

Archie is pretty much a dick in my eyes. While I'm sure at times he's quite loving, not an ounce of that was shown in this episode, even when his wife was kissing him on the cheek. Now, I completely understand that some people have difficulty displaying emotions, but Archie can definitely show his angry side - he have immense work when it comes to showing his loving side. As aforementioned, his politics are completely and utterly foolish, but that comes down to personal taste. Archie strikes me as unbearable, but as the show progresses, I am hoping that changes.

Edith is rather slow on the uptake in many cases, but also is quite a sweet lady. She is protective both of her daughter and her husband, even when logic doesn't dictate she should be. We didn't see much out of her in this episode, but I hope her views on political issues come around at some point in the future.

Michael and Gloria are an okay couple, obviously loving, though I do wonder how much Michael actually respects Gloria. He seems an intelligent individual, but I get the feeling that he's the type of person the not necessarily care for the opinions of someone he considers less intelligent, especially his wife. While there was no evidence of that here, mainly perhaps because Gloria has a difficult time standing up to her father, I do suspect it might be an issue later on if Michael and Gloria remain married.

Gloria doesn't seem to have the best grasp on many of the issues. Obviously she feels her father is bigoted, but says so in such a weak way that it makes sense Archie doesn't take her concerns seriously. Gloria seems more the type to follow her husband's political beliefs than really think for herself, which is troublesome. She may have the right viewpoints, but it's for the wrong reasons.

"Meet the Bunkers" is a perfectly fine opening to this series, and isn't overly complex. Just introducing the main characters, and showing the innate conflicts between said characters. Basically, this episode did everything it had to, and it did it pretty well. I just wish Archie was a more likable character.


Quotes of the episode [tie between three]:

Edith: "It's nicer than when he called them coons."
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Archie: "David and Sarah. Two names right out of the Bible, which has got nothing to do with the Jews."
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Edith: "I didn't know you was Jewish."


Rating: Above Average


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