Archie's Sister

[cfr1970]

In "The Saga of Cousin Oscar", Archie's sister Alma is passingly mentioned by Edith. I've watched this episode so many times when i've cycled back to it and this is the first time it registered that he had a sister! I guess every time I watched this episode in the past I never paid attention to it or it never sunk in.

Now i'm wishing we'd have seen Alma pay a visit over the series and i'm wondering what kind of person a sister to Archie Bunker would've been.

[GrtGzu]

Good catch!..Also wonder why his brother Fred never mentioned her either the 2 times he came to visit...

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by GrtGzu

Good catch!..Also wonder why his brother Fred never mentioned her either the 2 times he came to visit...

It seems somewhere between season 2 and Fred's visit, they just dropped Alma and I would've loved to have seen what that character would've been like. It's a shame they never introduced her.

There's also an early episode where Archie's parents are mentioned having visited the house just a year earlier, but later in the series it's mentioned that they both died when he was in his 20's.

I would've loved to have seen Archie's parents too so we can have a better insight into the character by seeing who raised him.

I guess they had their reasons for dropping those other family members, but I think it was a big missed opportunity for some great storytelling.

[GrtGzu]

Yeah, it was the 1st season or so that I heard him mention his parents (Edith did too), like it was just YESTERDAY that his parents came for a visit, but nothing else was said about them after that...But like you said, it was thought to be they died much earlier...In fact, when Archie turned 50 and was so bummed about that stupid longevity test that Gloria "fixed", didn't he say his dad died at that same age?

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by GrtGzu

Yeah, it was the 1st season or so that I heard him mention his parents (Edith did too), like it was just YESTERDAY that his parents came for a visit, but nothing else was said about them after that...But like you said, it was thought to be they died much earlier...In fact, when Archie turned 50 and was so bummed about that stupid longevity test that Gloria "fixed", didn't he say his dad died at that same age?

Yes Archie's dad died when Archie was 27 and his dad was 50. I did the math on that in my head because we know Archie turned 50 in 1974 when he had the birthday, so in 1978 when Fred visited Archie was 54 and said he hadn't seen Fred since the dad's funeral 27 years ago.

So that puts Archie at age 27 when his dad died and his mom actually died earlier because he mentions in the episode where Edith gets fired at the Sunshine Home to the daughter of the woman who died that his own mother died when he came back from WW2 "the Big One" as he always says.

It's sad that I know all this stuff from watching the show every night. So Archie's mom died when he was early 20's and then dad died when he was 27.

I'd still had preferred to have seen his parents be alive and visit, and Edith's too. I think both her parents were dead too?

[kentrout0]

Wonder why she never made an appearance despite the shows lengthy run. Guess she was never needed in a storyline.

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by kentrout0

Wonder why she never made an appearance despite the shows lengthy run. Guess she was never needed in a storyline.

For some reason his family members (with the exception of Fred) were dropped or made deceased as the show progressed which is a shame because these characters could've been interesting.

Looking at the character of Archie Bunker's Wikipedia page it lists his family members as:

David Bunker (father)
Sarah Bunker (née Longstreet) (mother)
Philip Bunker (brother)
Alfred Bunker (brother)
Alma Bunker (sister)

I have no recollection of a brother Philip mentioned! So Archie was apparently one of 4 children!

I'll have to watch closely for that Philip brother being mentioned.

Here's his Wikipedia page where it lists the family members--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Bunker

[TV Guy]

Don’t forget Archie’s sister Isabelle!

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

Don’t forget Archie’s sister Isabelle!

Is that the episode where Archie sarcastically says to Edith "No, my sister Isabel!" and Edith goes on about how nice it would be if he really did have a sister and her name was Isabel.

I think I recently watched that one but for the life of me I can't remember which episode it was. Funny scene though.

[TV Guy]

LOL, yes. I thought it was one of the ones with Fred. Archie says something about Fred, and Edith says, “Your brother Fred?” And Archie says, “No, my sister Isabelle.” Edith’s comments about a possible sister just crack me up.

But maybe it’s just an episode where Archie mentions Fred. Definitely a later episode, though.

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

LOL, yes. I thought it was one of the ones with Fred. Archie says something about Fred, and Edith says, “Your brother Fred?” And Archie says, “No, my sister Isabelle.” Edith’s comments about a possible sister just crack me up.

But maybe it’s just an episode where Archie mentions Fred. Definitely a later episode, though.

Yes that's what caused the joke when Archie mentions Fred, so it has to be in the 9th season which I just recently went through before starting back to the beginning again. It was a funny scene where Edith imagines what Isabelle would be like lol. What a dingbat.

[MIKEPR]

I've seen the 2's a Crowed episode twice but don't remember anything about Archie being abused by his dad.

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by MIKEPR

I've seen the 2's a Crowed episode twice but don't remember anything about Archie being abused by his dad.

Archie has made references to it throughout the series. Off the top of my head I remember him saying "He hit me with a shovel" when Archie asked him something as a kid. I forget what he had asked, but to be hit with a shovel for asking your father a question is abuse imo.

From what i've heard, parents and especially fathers were really strict with their children back in those days.

[MIKEPR]

I'm sure most parents didn't do what Archie's dad did.


Spanking or whipping but that was out of line.

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by MIKEPR

I'm sure most parents didn't do what Archie's dad did.


Spanking or whipping but that was out of line.

There's also an episode where Archie tells Fred how he overheard their Dad talking to their Mom about which son to send to college and they chose Fred. Archie's Dad said it's because "If you put Archie's brain in a bird's head it would fly backwards."

While that's not physical abuse, his Dad sounds like a nasty man who showed no love towards him from what Archie's said about him over the series. It's sad.