All in the Family

This article is about the American sitcom. For other uses, see All in the Family (disambiguation).

All in the Family
GenreSitcom
Based onTill Death Us Do Part
by Johnny Speight
Developed byNorman Lear
Directed by
Starring
Theme music composerLee Adams (lyrics),
Charles Strouse (music), Roger Kellaway (ending theme)
Opening theme"Those Were the Days"
Performed by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton
Ending theme"Remembering You"
by Roger Kellaway, (music) and Carroll O'Connor (additional lyrics added in 1971; instrumental version)
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons9
No. of episodes205 (list of episodes)
Production
Production locationsCBS Television City
Hollywood, California (1971–75)
Metromedia Square
Hollywood, California (1975–79)
Running time25–26 minutes
Production companyTandem Productions
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseJanuary 12, 1971 (1971-01-12) –
April 8, 1979 (1979-04-08)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

All in the Family is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as Archie Bunker's Place, a continuation series, which picked up where All in the Family ended and ran for four seasons through April 4, 1983.

Based on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part,[1][2] All in the Family was produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. It starred Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, and Rob Reiner. The show revolves around the life of a working-class man and his family. It broke ground by introducing challenging and complex issues into mainstream network television comedy: racism, antisemitism, infidelity, homosexuality,[3] women's liberation, rape, religion, miscarriages, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. The series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with more dramatic moments and realistic, topical conflicts.[4][note 1]

All in the Family has been ranked as one of the best American television series.[7] The show became the most watched show in the United States during the summer reruns of the first season,[8] and topped the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976,[9] the first television series to have held the position for five consecutive years. The episode "Sammy's Visit" was ranked number 13 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[10] TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as number four. Bravo also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time.[11] In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked All in the Family the fourth-best written TV series[12] In 2023, Variety ranked All in the Family #16 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows.[13]

  1. ^ Brooks, Tim; Earle Marsh (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present: Ninth Edition. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4. pp. 34-36
  2. ^ "6 American Sitcoms Based on British Originals". BBC America. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  3. ^ "Richard Nixon Tapes: Archie Bunker & Homosexuality". December 24, 2008. Archived from the original on March 6, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ "All in the Family TV Show – Videos, Actors, Photos and Episodes from the Classic Television Show". Archived from the original on November 10, 2014.
  5. ^ Campbell, Sean (December 24, 2014). The Sitcoms of Norman Lear. McFarland. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-1-4766-0255-4.
  6. ^ Reiner, Rob (October 25, 2016). Norman Lear – All in The Family Disclaimer (Video clip). American Masters. PBS. Norman Lear's controversial work led to a disclaimer from CBS.
  7. ^ "All-Time 100 TV Shows". Time. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  8. ^ Cowan, Geoffrey (March 28, 1980). See No Evil. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0671254117 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Leonard, David J.; Guerrero, Lisa (April 23, 2013). African Americans on Television: Race-ing for Ratings. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0275995157. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2020 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ "Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide. No. June 28 – July 4. 1997.
  11. ^ "The 100 Greatest TV Characters at Bravo.com". Archived from the original on January 10, 2009.
  12. ^ "101 Best Written TV Series List". Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  13. ^ "The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time". Variety. December 20, 2023.


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).