A Televisual Feast

“All in the Family” has a variation in episodes in the type of humor. This episode unleashes Archie against a black family moving in (the Jeffersons, we eventually learn) and gives him an endless amount of tirades. The tirades only get better and better, culminating with a great scene with Lionel at the end. Though the almost silent scene with Louise is fantastic too, when he can’t think of anything to do but call for Edith.

It’s strange, with such a funny episode, it opens somewhat slowly, with Mike and Gloria off to the museum and Edith bugging Archie with lines from Fiddler on the Roof. Mike and Gloria actually don’t have much to do here–they have a bit when they bring home a sculpture from the museum and then another small scene with Lionel–because it’s all about Archie. I suppose watching the episodes where Archie appears over the top today, he plays a little different (but probably not much), then he did when the episode aired. Given how socially important “All in the Family” can be and yada yada yada, it’s still nice to see Archie just blow his top.

The episode also allows Mike Evans his best Lionel scenes so far, since he finally gets to let Archie know he’s sticking it to him. Evans has, so far on “All in the Family,” a far greater resonance than Gloria and even Mike. Mike and Gloria are a little absurd at times, but Lionel is the show’s single rational character.

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