7. All in the Family (CBS, 1971-1979)
From it's title, you would never think All in the Family is an offensive show. Well, All in the Family featured one of the most ignorant and bigoted characters in television history - Archie Bunker. His conservative outlook on the world and prejudice views made him one of the most hated and lovable characters ever. The show dealt with topics unsuitable for network TV at the time like homosexuality, rape, and miscarriage. It also included language rarely heard on TV like racial slurs directed at Hispanics, Blacks, and Chinese people. Most of the words coming from Archie himself.


http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2010/03/16/top_ten_most_offensive_tv_shows_ever

The greatest sitcom of all time is what it was. No network has the guts to air anything like it anymore. Everything is so PC anymore.

Anyone who finds AITF offensive has missed the entire point of the show.

The greatest sitcom of all time is what it was. No network has the guts to air anything like it anymore. Everything is so PC anymore.

You said it.

And anyone who comes away from watching the show "hating" Archie isn't able to dig very deep into a character, either. Archie (and honestly, the whole ensemble) is a very rich and complex character, unlike the wafer thin caricatures that pervade today's airwaves.

Who writes these horrible, glib articles, anyway? And how can I get a job critiquing them? :lol:

Anyone who finds AITF offensive has missed the entire point of the show.thats for sure

I was thinking the same thing: Point of the series missed entirely. And the writer of that has not even mastered "its" vs. "it's!"

In a way I could almost see something like this coming. The PC group seems to be like a dog chasing its own tail. The only difference is that usually the actual dog is not blind!!!

January 12, 1971: All In The Family makes its debut on CBS. Over the course of the next few seasons, America still has its own ability to laugh at itself.

March 17, 2010: America's sense of humor is gone, dead, lost.

AITF is the "family" sitcom if there ever was one. And if no one had an Archie or a Mike in their family, they certain know one. To me, the entire point of the series was satire on American life in the 1970s. A point that is lost on most people today.

I agree on all points! America has lost their sense of humor for sure. "They", whoever "they" are.... are bothered by a 1970's show that touched on all types of subjects, controversial or not, but just plain hilarious and yet they show mostly "crap-ola", as Archie would say on today's tube? I think their REAL problem is that these liberals (I believe to be the ones slinging this crap) need to pull their heads out of their butts and have the guts to admit that the truth is that AITF had the guts to be what they like to call "POLITICALLY INCORRECT!" The biggest problem with the people in this country is they forgot to have a little fun and not to worry about offending someone by their beliefs or views....IT'S STILL OUR AMERICAN RIGHT!! I don't know about the rest of you, but I intend to call it as I see it and I don't care who I offend until the day I die!! Though I didn't always agree with Archie, I loved him because he didn't care who liked it or not he told them like it was and he had the most hilarious and non-elequent way of telling them!

"They" want to talk about bigotry? Well look at the Jeffersons....I must add I like this show too! But, George Jefferson is alot like Archie only maybe not in the same degree. He said the word honkey and zebra in most of the episodes and I would laugh my butt off everytime....so how is it that they weren't put under the same microscope with these whiners? Look at the crap Rosanne has on her show? She's a man hater and their are alot of episodes (most) that are written in her view! Where are the complaints there? Don't get me wrong, I like her show as well, but I prefer AITF.

I didn't mean to make this so long, but I'm infuriated with this and completely fed up with "their" we can have our opinions, but you can't have yours because you offend me B.S!"

There was never a show like it before it came along and there will never be another one. AITF is awesome! :D

If this show was so offensive, it would not have lasted.


There is no way you could possibly take someone like Archie Bunker seriously. Thats what made it such a great show, and people from all walks of life enjoyed it.

Then again TV has gotten so PC you cant say anything anymore.

Then again TV has gotten so PC you cant say anything anymore.
I really hate it. Everyone is so concerned about saying the right thing all the time. God forbid someone should be offended by what someone else says. Screw that; I say exactly what I want. :p The last I heard, we still had Freedom of Speech.

I think a credit should go to Norman Lear too. He created all kinds of families for our living rooms. With the Jeffersons which had a mixed couple, Maude having more dead husbands than you could shake a stick at, A single parent in Florida Evans who was a minority and had trouble making ends meet, Sanford & Son, that let us see just what happens when a father and son try to get through life together...

Many things have changed since those days. What ever happened to the theory of if you don't like what's on your television screen, just turn it off and do something else? In today's world with the internet and all the other stuff one can do, there's less of an excuse.

I agree with all the COMPLIMENTARY things others have said. I just adore the show; it was so progressive and outside-the-box and, at least to me, is the best show ever, right after I Love Lucy.

However, different strokes for different folks. One thing about AITF for sure, it was definitely very in-your-face. So if one didn't take to the show I could understand their viewpoint (doesn't mean that I agree with it though, as I THINK THE SHOW IS MAGNIFICENT and I could was poetic about it - which I probably have just done in this post probably)