Silly Question, But, Wasn't Mike Stivic Funnier With Long Hair on 'All in the Family?

[Brian Damage]

It could be just me, but once Mike cut his hair and put on a suit, he was less likable. Does anyone agree? disagree?

[Vince53]

I never liked him anyway.

[MOWERDAN]

I agree with you. I thought he was funnier with long hair. The main reason was that after '75, the show took a different turn and became more bland and less funny IMO. It was during this time that Meathead's hair shrunk and the writing quaility of the show started going downhill. There are alot of threads over the years about pre and post '75 era of AITF.

[biffbronson]

You know I hadn't thought about the Meathead's shorter style in many years. I did always remember how Gloria's became much longer.

[Retro4Life]

Well, as he entered the work world it kind of made sense that Mike would cut his hair. The shaggy look of the first few years just wouldn't be as appropriate on college professor (though obviously some do retain that look).

I don't think Mike was less funny at this time, but I do think that the dynamic between he and Archie changed a lot, simply because now he was living in his own place and supporting his family, totally independent of Archie. That was a big part of the show in the first five years; taking that away inevitably changed things.

Archie never really had anything on Mike from this point on, unless you count Mike's pledge to pay Archie back for every cent, but what was Archie going to do even if he didn't, put him in jail? You did have the fact that Joey was Archie's grandson tying them together, but honestly at this point Mike was pretty much free of Archie, and his move to California really soldified that.

I think the move next door was really something that HAD to happen. You just couldn't have Mike and Gloria living with Archie and Edith forever, it would have stretched credulity way too much. But I also think that the show was slowly winding down to what SHOULD have been it's natural conclusion when the "kids" moved out, because the number of available plots started decreasing a lot at this point.