Episodes Disc Two – “Archie Gives Blood,” “Gloria’s Pregnancy,” “Mike’s Hippie Friends Come To Visit,” “Lionel Moves Into The Neighborhood”
Episode
Disc Three – “Edith Has Jury Duty,” “Archie Is Worried About His Job,”
“Gloria Discovers Women’s Lib,” “Success Story,” “The First And Last
Supper”
Stars:
Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, and Sally Struthers
Gust
Stars: Mike Evans, Vincent Gardenia, Isabel Sanford, Burt Mustin, William
Windom, and Mel Stewart
Writers:
Norman Lear, Stanley Ralph Ross, Burt Styler, Jerry Mayer, Philip Mishkin, Rob
Reiner, Don Nicholl, Bryan Joseph, Susan Harris, William Blickley, Jr., Sandy
Stern
Developed
And Produced By: Norman Lear
Based
On “Till Death Us Do Part”
Created
By: Johnny Speight
Director:
John Rich
Approximate
Episode Length: 26 minutes/Total: 286 minutes
Languages:
English Monaural
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Gate Fold
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 1971/DVD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
TV
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
It
is almost hard to believe that “All In The Family” is over 30 years old.
When these first episodes aired on television I was 2 years old and the world
was a very different place. In fact there were things going on in the world
during the first season of “All In The Family” that I took for granted had
already past because many of the episodes on this DVD set have not aired in
their entirety for years and some I do not recall seeing in syndicated reruns at
all. Nixon is still President and Watergate has not yet occurred, the Vietnam
War was still going on, and one episode even mentions the Manson Trial as
something that was going on for some time.
“All
In The Family” premiered on American television on January 12, 1971. Like many
American situation comedies, “All In The Family” was inspired and adapted
from the British sitcom “Till Death Us Do Part,” which has also been
released on DVD-Video in America from another distributor. “All In The
Family” aired on CBS television from 1971 to 1979 and then continued under the
title “Archie Bunker’s Place” until 1983. The show had three spin-offs.
“Maude” was the first show to develop out of “All In The Family” in 1972
and lasted through 1978. “Maude” even had a very successful spin-off of
it’s own entitled “Good Times,” which premiered in January of 1974.
Perhaps the most popular spin-off from “All In The Family” is “The
Jeffersons,” which aired on American television from 1975 to 1985. An
unsuccessful spin-off entitled “Gloria” with Sally Struthers aired in 1982.
It
is no secret that “All In The Family” is one of the landmarks of American
situation comedies because it tackled issues directly and often bluntly that
while the issues may appear dated in the early 21st Century, they are
still problems that exist today, but have been somewhat swept under the rug for
more reasons than I can imagine. The landmark television series was the first to
portray a bigot so openly on American television and with humor, but while
“Archie Bunker” as portrayed by Carroll O’Connor is quite an ignorant man
with very closed-minded attitudes, there are a few good things one can credit
him with. Despite the constant bickering with his son-in-law Mike, as portrayed
by Rob Reiner, he is a good provider in that he is able to keep a house of the
heads of his wife and daughter and his son-in-law’s head while working full
time. There are a lot of things one can say about the character that are
despicable and one would be right to say he is a real asshole, but he is not a
villain anymore than Mike is a hero. From watching these episodes I found
Reiner’s character at times to be just as closed-minded as Archie, but he
shrouds it with being a liberal. Personally I would describe myself as being
both conservative and liberal if labels truly matter at all, but there are times
in the show that I think most people will agree that Mike causes trouble simply
because he rarely keeps his mouth shut when he should know better by now that
Archie is not likely to change anymore than he is.
Other
things I found interesting about the first season was that Jean Stapleton’s
character of “Edith Bunker,” seems to gradually grow dumber as the show
progresses through its first season. She
has a heart of gold from the beginning, but she displays more of the behavior
for which earns her the nickname “Ding Bat” by her husband after the first
few episodes. Sally Struthers has a perm throughout the first season and the
character of Lionel Jefferson (Mike Evans) is present from the very first
episode and from my observations of the character I think he is probably the
smartest character in the first season. He knows how to get along with Archie
and even throw a few jabs at Archie’s bigoted ways without ever engaging him
directly in an argument. His character has some of best lines as a result too
and in a way he even reveals Michael’s own self riotous attitudes to be at
times just as bigoted as Archie’s, but in a different way.
A
few other interesting aspects of the series are that the front of the house as
shown in the beginning credits of the series does not match the interior set and
I even saw a boom come into frame accidentally in one episode. Another
observation that shows just how much television has changed since 1971 is the
average episode length of “All In The Family” when compared to contemporary
sitcoms. The approximate running time for each episode of the first season of
“All In The Family” is about 25 to 26-minutes while the sitcoms that air at
the time I am writing this review usually runs between 22 and 24-minutes each.
So we now get somewhere around 8-minutes of commercials for every half hour of
broadcast television instead of four. Odds are unless specified; the reruns of
“All In The Family” that air on television today are probably cut to
accommodate advertising. So here is a chance to see some vintage episodes of
this classic series you may have not seen or not readily remember uncut on DVD.
The
episodes are spread out across three discs with the third DVD containing five
episodes instead of four. Each episode is presented in the (1.33:1) aspect ratio
of their original television broadcast with English Two-Channel Monaural Sound
and English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles encoded on to
each DVD. The menus are standard interactive still frames that are easy to
navigate. The photo on the cover of the packaging appears on the main menu and
none of the episodes offer any scene selections, which might be a bit of a drag
for those wanting to skip through opening credits and whatnot fast. The picture
quality is not crystal clear. Not by a long shot, but it is not because of the
DVD mastering. I think it is simply that available videotaped masters used were
probably the best available, but over 30 years they have developed some grain
and color bleeding as well as the occasional scratch. Another thing to note is
the technology of video has changed so much in the thirty something years since
these episodes premiered that certain problems like ghosting after burn from
certain light sources or a stark white object coming off too hot on camera is
present in these early episodes. So bare in mind that while the episodes do not
look as good as some more recent television programs that are now out on DVD,
the resolution you do get is still better than the analogue broadcast and VHS
tapes. Just don’t expect a crystal clear transfer because it simply is not
there or was not available for these first season episodes. At least with DVD
they might be better preserved and perhaps later seasons will look better on DVD.
The English Monaural Soundtrack is clear throughout with no annoying hissing.
There
are no extra features at all and the set comes in a three disc gatefold, but
with no slipcase to protect it and the insert, which contains a brief synopsis
for each show as well as credits has no pocket to keep it within the set, so it
is easy to lose because there is nothing holding it inside the gatefold except
for the weight of the discs within the packaging themselves.
A
few other items to note that just stuck out for me as a viewer and reviewer
include the first and only appearance of Archie’s hangout “Kelsey’s Bar”
in season one is in episode 4 “Judging Books By Covers,” where Archie
discovers one of his bar buddies is gay. Archie does not give the old
“raspberry” until episode 7 “Mike’s Hippie Friends Come To Visit,”
which was co-written by Rob Reiner. Isabel Sanford makes her first appearance as
“Misses Jefferson” in episode 8 “Lionel Moves Into The Neighborhood.”
She appears again in the first season finale “The First And Last Supper”
with Mel Stewart as her brother-in-law. This is also the second episode and only
other time in the first season where we see Archie give the “raspberry”
along with Mel Stewart who is posing as “George Jefferson.” Sherman Hemsley
did not appear yet in the series. Other guest appearances include Vincent
Gardenia, William Windom, and Bert Mustin.
Sometimes “All In The Family” could be very dark and depressing, but
none of these episodes left me feeling blue.
Television
collector’s can purchase “All In The Family: The Complete First Season”
courtesy of Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment now at retailers on and offline.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Click Here For A DVD Review Of "The Jeffersons: The Complete First Season"
Click Here For A DVD Review Of "Sanford And Son: The First Season"