Happy 50th, "All in the Family"

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Bob Jersey

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Jan 12, 2021, 7:56:33 PM1/12/21
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Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin toiled for most of five years to bring their adaptation of BBC1's "Till Death Do Us Part" to the States, twice whiffing at ABC before CBS picked it up... it debuted this night in 1971...


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Marti Lawrence

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Jan 16, 2021, 4:05:42 PM1/16/21
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A truly groundbreaking program, and so subtle in exposing ingrained attitudes about racism, sexism, and xenophobia.  
I remember how "good ol' boys" thought it was hysterical without realizing it was poking fun at them.   I don't think you could make a show like that today.

~Marti

Tom Wolper

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Jan 17, 2021, 1:25:27 AM1/17/21
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On Sat, Jan 16, 2021 at 4:05 PM Marti Lawrence <martil...@gmail.com> wrote:
A truly groundbreaking program, and so subtle in exposing ingrained attitudes about racism, sexism, and xenophobia.  
I remember how "good ol' boys" thought it was hysterical without realizing it was poking fun at them.   I don't think you could make a show like that today.

I believe if you did a poll the week before All in the Family or Blazing Saddles was released people would say you couldn't make a show or movie like that. In a sense you couldn't make a show like that today because the show crossed lines and managed to do it in a way that was entertaining rather than alienating. The lines aren't drawn today where they were in 1971 and there would be no thrill in crossing those lines.

PGage

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Jan 17, 2021, 11:57:54 AM1/17/21
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Exactly.  I was going to write that a week, or even a year, *after* it premiered people were saying you could not make a show like that. I remember lots of conversations and arguments at my house among my parents friends about this. We watched it every week, but my mother fretted about the kind of people who did take it as a glorification of bigotry.

But the real reason you could not make a show like that today is not for fear of offending politically correct liberals. Such a show would inevitably be about a Middle Aged Trump supporter and his AOC voting daughter, and perhaps her trans woman lesbian wife, (if I remember my geography correctly from when my daughter lived in Astoria, a few miles from Archie’s house). The show could not be done both because of the howls of protest from Trumpists, and because, unlike Nixon, Trump very predictably has ended in very unfunny violence and sedition.

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Kevin M.

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Jan 18, 2021, 3:06:43 PM1/18/21
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This thread reminded me of this story from Harlan Ellison’s “The Glass Teat” a collection of his TV column from the LA Freep. Ellison was there for the taping of the pilot episode... as usual, he had something to say about it.*

*I tried sending these images directly to the group, but apparently the files were too large, so I posted them to my podcast Facebook page. 


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Kevin M. (RPCV)

PGage

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Jan 18, 2021, 11:15:17 PM1/18/21
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As someone who grew up in Pacoima, I appreciated the mention in Ellison’s piece.

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