The death of legendary actor and director Rob Reiner will put the show that first made him a household name, All in the Family, back in the spotlight.

When the Norman Lear-produced show debuted in January 1971, it broke all of the rules of prime time. All in the Family eschewed lighthearted escapism in favor of humor that touched on real-life issues like birth control, residential segregation, and the Vietnam War, while also pushing boundaries of propriety. Within a year, it was both the most controversial and most popular show on television, making Reiner and costars Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, and Sally Struthers into household names.

That combination of edginess and popularity attracted the attention of various political interests eager to banish All in the Family from the airwaves. Conservative columnists labeled it “liberal hogwash” and propaganda. Activists organized letter-writing campaigns to “stop immorality on TV.” All of these efforts failed, however, because the show’s massive ratings made it untouchable. That has blazed a path for decades of shows to tackle the most sensitive of political topics and do boundary pushing political satire — if they’re successful enough. 

When All in the Family hit the airwaves, it marked a departure from the sitcoms with which Americans were familiar. During the 1960s, the genre had specialized in escapism — featuring everything from talking horses to flying nuns to shipwrecks on deserted islands.

All in the Family, by contrast, brought real life to the situation comedy. Lear wanted to challenge the status quo of television, and use the medium to engage with issues of social and political importance. 

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At the center of the show was O’Connor’s character, Archie Bunker, a working stiff, a bigot, and a fool living with his dewy-eyed wife and their progressive daughter and son-in-law. While Mike, the son-in-law played by Reiner, wanted to change the world, starting with his father-in-law, Bunker dismissed him as a "meathead." That led to regular arguments around politics, race, gender, and sexuality. “The kinds of topics Archie Bunker and his family argued about… were certainly being talked about in homes and........

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