Was Edith's Death Necessary Or Downright Insulting?

[Brian Damage]

I know Jean Stapleton had enough and wanted to leave the show, but with that said, what are your own personal thoughts on killing her off???

[ThomasE]

Well, there really was no other logical choice. I think to Carroll and the producers that it was unreal to have a major character appear infrequently. If it were me, I would have had her appear maybe eight eps per season. However, I think they came to the conclusion that it would not have worked out. She was a key element in the world of Archie Bunker and so either she stay full time or be laid to rest to make room for Archie to move on to other things and not be stifled.

[gopyle]

Not sure how else they could have handled it. Recasting would have been a poor option.
The whole Archie Bunker's Place idea was really not worth pursuing in my opinion, especially without Edith. There were a few decent episodes, but nothing that memorable.

[Retro4Life]

They wouldn't have had to kill her off if they had done the honorable and logical thing of discontinuing the series once they knew she wanted off. The only reason to continue a four character show without three of the characters was, and is, greed.

[Vince53]

Brian, I had seriously wondered if it wouldn't have been better to have them announce that they had been divorced, but that would have hurt the ATF re-runs. There was just no other way to continue without her.

[Johnny be good!]

Nothing we could have done.

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by ThomasE

Well, there really was no other logical choice. I think to Carroll and the producers that it was unreal to have a major character appear infrequently. If it were me, I would have had her appear maybe eight eps per season. However, I think they came to the conclusion that it would not have worked out. She was a key element in the world of Archie Bunker and so either she stay full time or be laid to rest to make room for Archie to move on to other things and not be stifled.

You're mostly correct. But the decision was made because Jean Stapleton decided to leave the show. Had she elected to stay, I'm sure they would have done like the first season and had her appear in a handful of episodes.

And for the record, Stapleton supported the move. When asked how she felt about Edith "dying," she replied, "You can't kill an idea, can you?"

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by Dr. Thong

You're mostly correct. But the decision was made because Jean Stapleton decided to leave the show. Had she elected to stay, I'm sure they would have done like the first season and had her appear in a handful of episodes.

And for the record, Stapleton supported the move. When asked how she felt about Edith "dying," she replied, "You can't kill an idea, can you?"

According to Carroll from the True Hollywood story, it wasn't going to work having to film around Edith and something had to give which is why they went the route that they did. I also read somewhere that Jean had agreed to appear in a handful of eps but it was the producers that decided to kill off the character.

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by Retro4Life

They wouldn't have had to kill her off if they had done the honorable and logical thing of discontinuing the series once they knew she wanted off. The only reason to continue a four character show without three of the characters was, and is, greed.

I don't see the continuation of a successful series like this one as greed at all, when you consider that the livelihoods of the actors, writers, crew, etc. all were at stake. Killing off her character was about the only viable option. If you had a partner in your own commercial venture who decided to leave, would you be greedy in maintaining your livelihood without him/her? Your family's income at stake?

It's easy to say that the plug should have been pulled, but the show was not "Edith Bunker's Place." I watched this series from its beginning back then, and to be honest I didn't even remember that Jean Stapleton was ever on it...!

[Schmoopie]

I don't think there was any other choice other than to have her die b/c they never really had any marital problems that were bad enough to warrant them divorcing.

[TVFactFan]

I think Divorce would have been better than Death, JMO

[JR1]

not a major player once it turned into Archie Bunker's Place, so the show did try the route of her being on recurring status.

[peabodynaugie]

I believe Jean Stapleton asked for her character to be killed off.

[Retro4Life]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I don't see the continuation of a successful series like this one as greed at all, when you consider that the livelihoods of the actors, writers, crew, etc. all were at stake. Killing off her character was about the only viable option. If you had a partner in your own commercial venture who decided to leave, would you be greedy in maintaining your livelihood without him/her? Your family's income at stake?

It's easy to say that the plug should have been pulled, but the show was not "Edith Bunker's Place." I watched this series from its beginning back then, and to be honest I didn't even remember that Jean Stapleton was ever on it...!

If you see the show only in terms of being a 'commercial venture', of course you don't see it as greed. I see it as both a business and a work of art, actually, and on that basis I do feel confident in saying that once a show has lived it's natural life, it's time to move on. If your goal is simply employing people for as long as possible, you throw all artistic considerations out the window. Why not have Billie parade around in a bikini, or give Barney Hefner a sex change? Both of those things would have garnered viewers, but they wouldn't have been in the spirit of the show that Norman Lear originally conceived of a decade or more ago.

No, it' wasn't called "Edith Bunker's Place" but it WAS a direct continuation of "All in the Family". With Mike, Gloria and Edith gone, there wasn't much "family" left, I'd say.

[9symphony9]

I rather they just have something else written for her.