ABC went all in on television nostalgia on the night of May 22, presenting a live broadcast of legendary comedies “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.”
It was a fun evening, starting with Marisa Tomei’s screeching contribution to “Those Were the Days,” the “All in the Family” opening song. A lengthy list of prominent actors paid appropriate tribute to the casts of both shows, led by Jamie Foxx’s dead-on portrayal of George Jefferson, the successful dry cleaner who was movin’ on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Foxx played a role in the show’s most memorable moments. During “All in the Family,” he stumbled over a line and finally said, “We’re live,” as everyone else on camera tried to hide their laughter.
Then on “The Jeffersons,” which was a reprise of the show’s 1975 premiere, Foxx used the n-word. A couple of minutes later, so did Kerry Washington, playing mixed-marriage neighbor Helen Willis.
The surprise was that ABC decided to bleep out the word both times. If it was tolerable for CBS to allow the word on the air 44 years ago, how can it be intolerable today?
After all, both shows, especially “All in the Family,” were groundbreakers for their willingness to tackle difficult social issues. But when it came to a word that is distressingly common today, the modern version of “The Jeffersons” backed down.
For anyone who has watched “All in the Family” or “The Jeffersons,” either back in the 1970s when they were on network TV or more recently on cable reruns, last Wednesday night’s presentation fell short.
There’s really no way that one episode could compare with the body of work those shows produced over several seasons. Each of the two shows had more than 200 episodes, and it’s just not possible, for example, for
Woody Harrelson’s version of Archie Bunker to measure up to the iconic character that Carroll O’Connor created.
However, watching the recent Wednesday night broadcast led to one thought: Television viewers might enjoy a 21st century version of “All in the Family.”
The beauty of the original show is that it used comedy instead of a sledgehammer to help viewers understand the changing American culture. It did this without looking down at anybody: Despite Archie Bunker’s obnoxious personality and backward opinions, he was a decent, lovable family man.
There’s no doubt we have our own divisive issues today, and it would be fun to see an Archie-like character repeating everything he saw on Fox News and debating an educated but unemployed son-in-law who gets all his information from his smartphone.
“All in the Family” first came on the air 49 years ago, and a lot of younger viewers have never seen the show. If any of them tuned in last week, they probably were mystified by all the fuss. It’s time to enlighten the next generation.
— From The (McComb) Enterprise-Journal
