"All in the Family" Retrospective

A 90 minute retrospective hosted by Norman Lear. Interestingly, this was done after Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers had left the show. Most of the clips are from seasons 6-8. None from season 9. Some good moments recalled, but much more that were left out. Most notably, the very first episode, Meet the Bunkers, is not referenced at all. Lear thought people would rather watch Archie changing little Joey's diaper, than any of the great moments from the series' first episode. Not in my opinion. I would have happily sacrificed the footage of the audience members, in favor of more clips of better episodes. Trivia note: Narrated by Dick Tufeld, who was the voice of the Robot on Lost in Space. He should have opened with "Danger, Archie Bunker!"

Lear introduces clips of prior episodes of the show.

This retrospective is done before a live audience of All In The Family fans who won tickets in a contest to be part of the show. There is a lot of talk from Lear about the effect the show had on TV and the country. The last "best of" show hosted by Henry Fonda was better since it had clips from the best years of the show. This one relies mostly on the weaker seasons from #6 to #8. There is some interesting shots of the audience, one long haired young man is seen applauding and whistling when Edith is shown fighting back at her would be rapist and another woman is shown wiping away a tear when the scene of Mike and Gloria leaving the Bunker home at the end of the 8th season. The best part is cast reunion when all four take their bows on stage.