All in the Family: The Complete First Season

On January 12, 1971, America met the Bunkers, and the TV sitcom would never again be the same. The Bunkers were TV's first dysfunctional family: blue-collar bigot Archie (the late Carroll O'Connor in his iconic role); his long-suffering, but loving, wife Edith (Jean Stapleton); "little goil" Gloria (Sally Struthers); and her "meathead" liberal husband Mike (Rob Reiner). Series creator Norman Lear broke nearly every rule and taboo in adapting the British series Till Death Do Us Part for American television. The series pilot, "Meet the Bunkers," remains a bracing shocker, with Archie dispensing racial epithets and ethnic slurs, Mike and Gloria clearly having an active sex life, and Edith (in the pilot at any rate) being more of a "pip" than a "dingbat." In its first season, this groundbreaking series refused to, in Archie's words, "stifle" itself, tackling such hot-button topics as homophobia ("Judging Books by Covers"), racism ("Lionel Moves Into the Neighborhood"), feminism ("Gloria Discovers Women's Lib"), and the generation gap (the touching "Success Story," with William Windom as Archie's former army buddy). Brought to life by a peerless ensemble, All in the Family was a rich human comedy peopled with characters that would not only come to feel like family, but whose foibles produced some of television's biggest laughs (and tears, as witness the heartbreaking "Gloria's Pregnancy"). Look for Isabel Sanford's debut as Louise Jefferson in the season finale "The First and Last Supper." An instant lightning rod for controversy, All in the Family went on to earn the Emmy award for outstanding comedy series in its first year. This three-disc set has no extras (future sets will hopefully contain commentary by Lear or surviving cast members), but each episode is presented complete and uncut, restoring the funny, sometimes touching codas that were cut for syndication. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (K. Lee Benson)