*If you are new here, thanks for joining us! Wednesdays, we post a teaser for each episode, and Thursday is the big day around here with the episode release and this Show Notes post, plus the activation of a video playlist devoted to the episode.
*All in the Family, one of the biggest sitcoms of all time, is an appropriate way to kick things off. We have discussed several other Norman Lear shows, but not the Grandaddy of Them All until this week.
*Among the sources that proved useful for this episode: The TV Guide I mention at the beginning (September 3, 1983), Dynamite #7 from 1974, LIFE Magazine's All in the Family special, and Donna McCrohan's book Archie & Edith & Mike & Gloria.
*AITF ran on CBS for 9 seasons and 205 episodes (plus several pilots). We are counting follow-up Archie Bunker's Place (4 seasons, 97 episodes) as a distinct program although some might treat it as an extension of the original.
*It was number one on prime time broadcast TV for 5 straight seasons. 57 Emmy nominations and 21 wins, and it was the first show to have its 4 leads each win one of the major acting awards.
*Hoibert Hoover, AKA Herbert, was the 31st U.S. President and is name-checked by Edith Bunker in the series' opening theme, "Those Were the Days." The song is written by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse.
*Skipping ahead, closing theme "Remembering You" is written by star Carroll O'Connor along with Roger Kellaway.
*The Story of Us, directed by Rob Reiner, is a 1999 Castle Rock dramedy starring Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer.
*Senator Sam Ervin from North Carolina was famous for leading the Senate Watergate Committee.
*Till Death Us Do Part, the British show that inspired AITF, stars Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett, patriarch of a working-class family in London's East End. It had over 50 episodes (many missing) from 1965 to 1975 and got a reboot and a spin-off.
*Archie's chair is still on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
*The episode we discuss, "Archie and the Bowling Team" premiered December 16, 1972 as the 13th of the show's third season. I mention the rest of the night's TV lineup on the pod, but I did find that Bridge Over Troubled Water is a 1970 short focusing on a Jewish philanthropy's efforts to fight poverty in New Yorck City.
*Barney is a recurring character on AITF and ABP and is played by Allan Melvin, known as Sam the Butcher on The Brady Bunch, Henshaw on Sgt. Bilko, and Magilla Gorilla on The Magilla Gorilla Show.
*Moose is played by Brad Logan, who was a recurring player on Red Skelton's show and who popped up in other shows later, like Remington Steele and Punky Brewster.
*The Bowling Theory I mention on the podcast started back in 1995 with Harvard's Robert Putman, who wrote Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of Community in America. I should mention not everyone went along with Putnam's stats and findings.
*The complete series is on DVD, and as of now the series is available on Freevee (all 9 seasons) and Pluto (2 seasons at a time).
Other specific episodes we mention on the podcast:
*Mike breaks Archie's chair: "Archie's Chair" S7 E17
*Mike breaks Archie's chair: "Archie's Chair" S7 E17
*Maude's first appearance: "Cousin Maude's Visit" S2 E12
*Archie is arrested during a U.N. protest: "Archie in the Lock-Up" S2 E3
*The one where Mike brings home a board game called "Group Therapy": "The Games Bunkers Play" S4 E8
*And here is this week's video playlist! Click below for promos, award wins, commercials, music, and more!
*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!
No comments:
Post a Comment