I don't mean menopause, but the most original episodes of All In The Family had Edith as less of a dingbat than she was in subsequent episodes. In the first dozen or so episodes, Edith did not have such an extremely ditzy personality but it seems that the writers went on to make the character so cartoonishly ridiculous because it was funnier than having her be more like a real person would be.

But then it was as if the earliest and most original depictions of Edith were to be forgotten and her outlandishly ding-batty persona was supposed to be the way she always was , but then after a few seasons, Edith even became more of a "modern woman" (of those times) and it seemed that Edith's new self-assured-ness was in light of what was happening in greater American society with the Women's Liberation Movement, and in fact, Edith's transformation was quite a few years after the WLM of the early 70s but the writers hit on a comedy goldmine by having her proclaim her sexual side and having her talk back to her demanding husband Archie.

Was this what kept AITF from Jumping The Shark sooner ? Or, did it only make AITF Jump The Shark since Edith changed from the very funny loveable scatterbrained character she was for so many seasons?

Interesting observation.