Watching All in the Family lately

Archie Image

I’ve been watching All in the Family lately. It has its funny and poignant moments.

An earlier article spoke about Archie. I watched reruns of this as a kid and I don’t remember any of the episodes. I was too young I guess. However, what I do remember from childhood is that Archie was illogical and cruel and I couldn’t understand why he was this way.

Archie Image
Archie image

What is most funny about rewatching it now is the timelessness of the message and language. He says things exactly how some politicians are saying them now. His thinking reflects some people’s current thinking, and in many ways, the show could be shown today and resonate with today’s audience. Not every episode is as good as the other, but on the whole, they all have thoughtful ideas and exploration of a topic.

In some episodes, they are very funny. What I especially love is how the writers use others as a foil for Archie, and when Archie has the rare self-insight to realize what is happening. Archie as ignorant as he is, does have small moments where he grows as a person. I can’t help but be proud when he realizes his own mistakes in thinking. Yes, he is still a terrible human being, but he is growing and his family is the reason why.

Why am I watching this old series? I like to finish what I start and when I started this as a kid I never finished it. I have been finishing series that I watched as a kid if I can stand rewatching them again. I tried starting to watch the Dukes of Hazzard but it’s just too silly for me. I loved it as a kid, however. When I tried to rewatch it I must admit that Bo/Luke do seem like they need the law to watch them. They cause damage and don’t take responsibility. They use TNT arrows which is a terroristic level threat. They act impulsively and break the law, trespass, and do all kinds of other illegal things. As a kid, I didn’t know all of this, but as an adult, they look less like role models and more like criminals.

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However rewatching this series I see a sad man, who has an unexamined life. And as we all know from that famous quote “an unexamined life isn’t worth living.” Archie surely proves that.