Also, that one without the other just didn't work well?

Brian, I would have you watch the episode where Archie gets locked in the basement.
Archie Bunker's Place ran for 3 or 4 years

I look at All in the Family as an ensemble show with Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, and Rob Reiner all contributing equally.

First, the stars of a show are the leading actors, not the characters. And I don't know if anyone has ever counted the lines, but it's likely O'Connor and Reiner had the most, though maybe Stapleton was right there with them, due to such excessive storytelling and explanations. But as for the impact their characters contributed, they are #1 and #1A. Story must involve conflict (as we learn in English class), and the Archie-Mike conflicts were most in number, the most hostile, the most animated, and the longest winded. What they may not have been were the most relevant to the family living under that one roof; rather they were more microcosmic of the conflicts of the country at the time-- and as such they usually were not resolved by the conclusion of the episode. This is unlike Archie v. Edith, where Archie hurt her feelings with insults or actions; unlike Mike v. Gloria, which was always a battle about who should make the decision in question; and unlike Edith v. Gloria, which was most often about the more equal roles of wives/women... these were always resolved with a return-to-normalcy, which is a mark of the domestic comedy. But Archie and Mike never resolve their arguments about Vietnam, Nixon, the existence of God, welfare, race relations,... Their battles are longer and never-ending. In that way the actors which played them were more the stars in the size and relevance of their roles.

I look at All in the Family as an ensemble show with Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, and Rob Reiner all contributing equally.
:yeahthat