A Televisual Feast

“All in the Family” so far, has an act-based structure (two episodes in, it could very well change). One, two and three (commercial break to commercial break). This episode suffers greatly from it. The first act is fantastic. The second, featuring Archie writing the President (the first act covers Archie flipping out because Mike is writing to complain), gets tedious. It’s just Archie and Edith–and a nun for a moment–and, while their interplay is good, Archie writing the letter by himself is just that… Archie sitting by himself and writing the letter.

The episode brings up some questions about how to best fill a half hour. The episode doesn’t introduce its story–Archie writes the President–until near the end of the first act. All the build up to that point, Archie arguing with Mike and Gloria, with Edith piping in occasionally, is so gradual, the episode could go anywhere… or nowhere at all. The episode meanders.

The end of the second act features Archie’s day dream about Nixon reading his letter on the air (what a thought… a President giving a press conference when he isn’t Constitutionally required to give one) and it’s an abject failure. It’s silly. It’s like one of the day dreams in A Christmas Story–great there, bad here.

The final act is also a misfire, but after the second’s conclusion, there’s really nothing they could have done to fix it.

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