January 1980 TV Guide Review of "Archie Bunkers Place" - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TVFactFan · 07-31-2006, 07:10 PM

I was not a fan of All in the Family in it's early days. Yelling, on screen or off, offends my patrician sensibilities. Likewise those righteous messages about race, abortion, gay folks and so forth, full of the postnasal patitudes that drip down from Beverly Hilltops. The heavier the message the lighter the laughs, here at Chez MacKenzie. Later the series eased up on the moralizing and I liked it better. The Bunkers didn't become old friends, exactly; more like old relatives.

Early in his new series, CBS's Archie Bunkers Place, Archie stated the thesis to be tested . "A jew and a gentile don't stand a chinaman's chance, " he groaned, surveying his new business partner (Martin Balsam) across a storeroom table. Archie will be proved wrong, of course. So why does this thickheaded, blustering little man have such a secure place in the national affections? One reason, maybe, is that he changes with the times and tides, like the rest of us. Archie no longer calls a spade a jungle bunny. He says "colored people" and "yer blacks" now, and bless him, he thinks he's a man of tolerance and patience. There's something touching about that.

Archie is the role of Carroll O' Connor's life, and O'Connor knows it. So he stays with it, while his fellow actors get sick of of their roles or get rich enough, and move on. To explore one character, year after year, is not a bad risk for an actor to set himself, and O'Connor works at it. Archie doesn't yell much anymore, as O'Connor is having more fun with under-the-breath asides and rollings of his watery blue eyes. In the present set-up, Archie is a saloon keeper, still married to Edith, though that capital lady shows up only ocassionally. Archie has been fitted out with a new set of associates-a rather loose fit, I'm afraid, and the show at times has an unjelled , unfinished, quality.

Balsam's glum, wry naturalismdoesn't always play well against O'Connor's mugging, and Anne Meara as the ding-a-ling cook is pitched at yet another level of realism. Then there is the gang around Archie's Bar -a vague bunch of semi-warm bodies, including a blind man who does jokes like" Here's looking at You" But the writers, who include craftsmen like Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, keep some kind of balance among all these comedy styles and bring off some wonderfyul moments. Such as Balsam teaching Edith to say-"chutz-pah" Or this superb bit of dialogue:

A lawyer named Levy: "would you marry someone who looked down on you?

Balsam: "I did."

Levy: "you mean you married an anti-Semite?

Balsam: "No, she was Jewish, but she looked down on me anyway."

Archie and his new Partner have a precarious but slowly warming relationshp. In a crisis Balsam's dignity and good sense prevail over his partner's dunderheadedness, but just barely. Of course Archie and his Jewish friend have more in common than they know; they're both survivors.

Robert Mackenzie, Jan 4, 1980 TV Guide

Buffyboy323 · 08-01-2006, 10:26 PM

Thanks for posting that, dude!

TVFactFan · 08-01-2006, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buffyboy323

Thanks for posting that, dude!

No Problem

Scoobiedoo30 · 02-01-2007, 04:17 PM

I just saw it thanks for posting it

07-31-2006, 07:10 PM	#1
TVFactFan Member Forum Junkie Join Date: Aug 17, 2002 Posts: 99,057	January 1980 TV Guide Review of "Archie Bunkers Place" I was not a fan of All in the Family in it's early days. Yelling, on screen or off, offends my patrician sensibilities. Likewise those righteous messages about race, abortion, gay folks and so forth, full of the postnasal patitudes that drip down from Beverly Hilltops. The heavier the message the lighter the laughs, here at Chez MacKenzie. Later the series eased up on the moralizing and I liked it better. The Bunkers didn't become old friends, exactly; more like old relatives. Early in his new series, CBS's Archie Bunkers Place, Archie stated the thesis to be tested . "A jew and a gentile don't stand a chinaman's chance, " he groaned, surveying his new business partner (Martin Balsam) across a storeroom table. Archie will be proved wrong, of course. So why does this thickheaded, blustering little man have such a secure place in the national affections? One reason, maybe, is that he changes with the times and tides, like the rest of us. Archie no longer calls a spade a jungle bunny. He says "colored people" and "yer blacks" now, and bless him, he thinks he's a man of tolerance and patience. There's something touching about that. Archie is the role of Carroll O' Connor's life, and O'Connor knows it. So he stays with it, while his fellow actors get sick of of their roles or get rich enough, and move on. To explore one character, year after year, is not a bad risk for an actor to set himself, and O'Connor works at it. Archie doesn't yell much anymore, as O'Connor is having more fun with under-the-breath asides and rollings of his watery blue eyes. In the present set-up, Archie is a saloon keeper, still married to Edith, though that capital lady shows up only ocassionally. Archie has been fitted out with a new set of associates-a rather loose fit, I'm afraid, and the show at times has an unjelled , unfinished, quality. Balsam's glum, wry naturalismdoesn't always play well against O'Connor's mugging, and Anne Meara as the ding-a-ling cook is pitched at yet another level of realism. Then there is the gang around Archie's Bar -a vague bunch of semi-warm bodies, including a blind man who does jokes like" Here's looking at You" But the writers, who include craftsmen like Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, keep some kind of balance among all these comedy styles and bring off some wonderfyul moments. Such as Balsam teaching Edith to say-"chutz-pah" Or this superb bit of dialogue: A lawyer named Levy: "would you marry someone who looked down on you? Balsam: "I did." Levy: "you mean you married an anti-Semite? Balsam: "No, she was Jewish, but she looked down on me anyway." Archie and his new Partner have a precarious but slowly warming relationshp. In a crisis Balsam's dignity and good sense prevail over his partner's dunderheadedness, but just barely. Of course Archie and his Jewish friend have more in common than they know; they're both survivors. Robert Mackenzie, Jan 4, 1980 TV Guide

02-01-2007, 04:17 PM	#4
Scoobiedoo30 Member Forum Superstar Join Date: Jun 27, 2002 Location: KENNER, LOUISIANA Posts: 27,654	I just saw it thanks for posting it
	__________________ Who Dat

08-01-2006, 10:26 PM	#2
Buffyboy323 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Jun 24, 2005 Posts: 6,104	Thanks for posting that, dude!