In my ever-so-humble opinion, “All in the Family” is the greatest TV comedy of all time. Never mind the under-appreciated acting achievements of Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton in creating the indelible characters of Archie and Edith Bunker who were each, in their own way, so unlike the actors themselves; the show was just flat-out brilliantly funny, topical and trenchant, and holds up to repeat viewings incredibly well. Indeed, watch the first two or three seasons and you’ll be amazed at how little the conversation has changed in the last five decades.
ABC has now twice rebooted “All in the Family” this year with a “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” special, first along with “The Jeffersons” and then “Good Times,” each a direct or indirect spinoff of Normal Lear’s original. Each special re-enacted a select half-hour episode of each classic sitcom with new cast members, including Woody Harrelson as Archie Bunker, Marisa Tomei as Edith, and Jamie Foxx as George Jefferson (in the first special, original “Jeffersons” cast member Marla Gibbs made an appearance as her character, Florence Johnston).
Although I couldn’t (and still can’t) really accept Harrelson as Archie, and it’s a little difficult to watch the new cast as a whole re-enact an old episode because the original performances and line-readings are so indelibly etched in my memory, I did enjoy the first live special which aired on May 22. For that, they chose the fourth-season episode “Henry’s Farewell” (1973), which marked Sherman Hemsley’s first appearance as George Jefferson. The titular “Henry” is George’s brother, played by Mel Stewart in the original and Anthony Anderson in the remake; Louise (Isabel Sanford/Wanda Sykes) is throwing him a farewell party, George doesn’t want the Bunkers in his house, so at Edith’s inadvertent suggestion they have the party at the Bunkers’ and George, reluctantly, makes a late appearance. It’s a funny episode with some poignant moments.
“All in the Family” has so many great episodes to choose from that one can’t really be surprised, and there can’t really be much controversy, over which one gets chosen for the next live reenactment, if and as long as there’s to be one. But I have to say, I was a little surprised — and I mean that in a positive way — by the one they chose for last night: The 1976 Christmas episode, “The Draft Dodger.”
The plot, for those who’ve never seen it, is simple enough: An old friend of Mike’s, David Brewster (Renny Temple in the original, a very well-cast Jesse Eisenberg in the remake) shows up at the Bunkers’ on Christmas Eve looking for Mike; we understand that he’s “living in Canada” which had a very particular and controversial meaning in the mid-’70s. Edith invites him to stay for dinner, to which Archie has invited his prankster friend, recurring character Pinky Peterson (Eugene Roche/Kevin Bacon(!)), whose son Steve was killed in Vietnam. Archie, as is his wont, begins to pry into David’s reasons for living in Canada despite being “from Chicago” and David, ultimately, comes out and says bluntly, “I’m a draft dodger.”
What follows is maybe the most intense scene of the entire series as Archie, with a fury and rage that viewers had never seen before and never would again, if you’ll pardon the expression, completely loses his sh**:
I don’t mean to malign Harrelson’s performance by including the original scene here, but nothing can match what O’Connor did — unprecedented, unnerving, yet completely in-character — in this episode. The whole scene is intense, right up to the point where “Gold Star father” Pinky stands up and tells David that in his view, David did what he thought was right, and that that’s OK by him. Archie, of course, has a harder time dealing with this than anyone else in the room. The episode ends with Archie at the front door gently telling-off some unseen carolers, then closing the door to reveal a wreath with a red ribbon inscribed, simply, “PEACE.”
There’s no doubt that this episode is a television classic. Indeed, in searching for the video above I found this segment (posted in 2008; not sure when it actually aired) ranking it 6th among TV Land's Top 10 Holiday Moments:
Nevertheless, I was surprised — again, in a good way — that ABC would choose this episode for its second Live in Front of a Studio Audience reenactment, as opposed to one of its lighter, more purely-comedic classics (although who, really, could play Sammy Davis, Jr.?). But I can see why they wanted to do a Christmas episode, and in reviewing the series as a whole, it’s notable that its other Christmas episodes also had intense, dramatic, and controversial themes: breast cancer (“Edith’s Christmas Story,” 1973), the hate-crime murder of a drag queen (“Edith’s Crisis of Faith,” 1977), and divorce (“California, Here We Are,” 1978). The series’ first Christmas episode, 1971’s “Christmas Day at the Bunkers” in which Archie loses his bonus due to a mistake at work, was positively tame by comparison.
“The Draft Dodger” may not be the most topical episode to re-enact — after all, draft dodging really isn’t a thing anymore — although there are certainly parallels between Vietnam and Afghanistan that are relevant today. The actors in the TV Land segment all talk about how “divided” the country was in 1976, along many of the same lines as it is now. And, I think, the plight of Vietnam draft dodgers before President Carter pardoned them all on his first full day in office in 1977, within a month after this episode aired, is largely lost to history, and got a much-needed refresher last night.
I probably saw this episode for the first time in re-runs in the early 1980s, and every time I see it I get a little uneasy, anticipating Archie’s blowup and the overall emotional intensity of the episode’s climax and dénouement. I won’t critique the performances in last night’s re-enactment beyond what I’ve already written, except to praise Marisa Tomei for hers in Edith’s interactions with Archie toward the end of the show. I must confess I had the same feeling last night when I realized that this was the episode they were re-enacting, but in the end, I appreciate and am glad that they made that choice.