Was Archie actually a more sympathetic character than intended

[TMC]

Yes, he had ignorant, wrong-headed views about race and gender roles but to put things into perspective, he was the only one in that household who had a job. Meanwhile, his son-in-law could also be regarded a lazy moocher with a ridiculously naïve worldview. Not only was Mike a moocher, but he was ungrateful that his wife's parents were willing to let them live there while he finished his education.

As bad as Archie was with his treatment of Edith and his political and racist views, an arrogant, preachy know-it-all like Mike wasn't exactly a character worth getting behind either. He also frequently belittled his wife's intelligence (sometimes in front of his intellectual friends) or refused to consider that his father-in-law was a simple man (not that it really excuses the deplorable things that came out of Archie's mouth) from a different time.