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class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn iHBnEl llout--has-top-borr set-embedd-le" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="“All the Fay” saturated Amerin culture. It was a time when people found TV so dangero they put warng signs..." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">“All the Fay” saturated Amerin culture. It was a time when people found TV so dangero they put warng signs on .</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Illtratn by Joanna Neborsky / Photographs om Everett</span></div></figure></div><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">“The program you are about to see is ‘All the Fay.’ It seeks to throw a humoro spotlight on our ailti, prejudic and ncerns. By makg them a source of lghter, we hope to show— a mature fashn—jt how absurd they are.”</p><p class="paywall">This nervo disclaimer, which was likely as powerful as a “Do not remove unr penalty of law” tag on a mattrs, ran over the openg creds of Norman Lear’s new s. It was 1971, ep to the Vietnam War and an era of polil art and outrage, but televisn was domated by pist fare like “Bewched” and “Bonanza.” “All the Fay” was signed to explo the medium’s taboos, g an cendiary vice named Archie Bunker. A Republin loadg-dock worker livg Queens, Bunker railed om his easy chair agast “ons” and “heb,” “spics” and “fags.” He yelled at his wife and he screamed at his son--law, and even when he was quiet he was fumg about “the good old days.” He was also, as played by the remarkable Carroll O’Connor, very funny, a spray of malapropisms and sly illogic.</p><p class="paywall">CBS arranged for extra operators to take plats om offend viewers, but few me —and by Season 2 “All the Fay” was TV’s biggt h. It held the No. 1 spot for five years. At the show’s peak, sixty per cent of the viewg public were watchg the seri, more than fifty ln viewers natnwi, every Saturday night. Lear beme the origal pugnac shownner, long before that term existed. He produced spoff after spoff (“oki om my okie cutter,” he scribed them to <em>Playboy,</em> 1976), cludg “M” and “The Jeffersons,” which had their own mouthy curmudgeons. At the Emmys, Johnny Carson joked that Lear had optned his own acceptance speech. A proud liberal, Lear had clear iologil aims for his creatns: he wanted his shows to be funny, and he certaly wanted them to be hs, but he also wanted to purge prejudice by exposg . By givg bigotry a human face, Lear believed, his show uld help liberate Amerin TV viewers. He hoped that dienc would embrace Archie but reject his beliefs.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Yet, as Sl Aterlz explas his smart new book, “S: A History 24 Episos om ‘I Love Lucy’ to ‘Communy,’ ” Lear’s most succsful character managed to fy his creator, wh a “Frankenste”-like dacy. “A funny thg happened on the way to TV immortaly: dienc liked Archie,” Aterlz wr. “Not an ironic way, not a so-racist-he’s-funny way; Archie was TV royalty bee fans saw him as one of their own.”</p><p class="paywall">This sort of dience divi, not between those who love a show and those who hate but between those who love very different ways, has bee a faiar schism the past fifteen years, durg the rise of—oh, God, that phrase aga—Goln Age televisn. This is particularly te of the much ld stream of ble “dark dramas,” whose protagonists shimmer between the repulsive and the magic. As anyone who has ever read the ments on a rep n tell you, there has always been a ls ambivalent way of regardg an antihero: as a hero. Some of the most passnate fans of “The Sopranos” fast-forward through Carmela and Dr. Melfi to eeze-ame Tony stranglg a snch wh electril wire. (David Chase satirized their bloodlt wh a plot about “Cleaver,” a mob horror movie wh all of the whackgs, none of the Frd.) More recently, a subset of viewers cheered for Walter Whe on “Breakg Bad,” growlg threats at anyone who nagged him to stop sellg meth. In a blog post about that brilliant seri, I labelled the viewers “bad fans,” and the rpons I got ma me feel as if I’d poured a bucket of oil onto a flame war om the parapets of my snobby cril stle. Tthfully, my haters had a pot: who wants to hear that they’re watchg somethg <em>wrong</em>?</p><p class="paywall">But televisn’s origal bad-fan crisis did not, as happens, ncern a crimal bad boy, or even take place on a drama. It volved Norman Lear’s right-wg in, Archie Bunker, the loudmouthed buffoon who beme one of TV’s most ronant and beloved televisn characters. Archie was the first mascule powerhoe to simultaneoly charm and alienate viewers, and, much like the men who me after him, he longed for an era when “guys like , we had ma.” O’Connor’s noisy, tenr, and sometim ighteng performance ma the character unfettable, but om the begng he was a source of huge anxiety, triggerg as many thk piec as Lena Dunham. Archie reprented the danger and the potential of televisn self, s abily to fluence viewers rather than merely help them kill time. Ironilly, for a character so sperate to return to the past, he end up steerg the medium toward the future.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">“All the Fay” began as a Brish show lled “Till Death Do Us Part,” a h edy about Alf Gart, a Cockney xenophobe who had a sharptongued wife, a hip dghter, and a socialist son--law. The show, which first aired 1965, was a ratgs h, spawng tchphras (“You silly moo”) and mass Brish intifitn wh Gart—a rponse that troubled the show’s creator, Johnny Speight, even as he ma the se for s pungent zgers. “To make him tthful, he’s got to say those thgs, and they are nasty thgs,” Speight argued.</p><p class="paywall">By 1967, Norman Lear, a Send World War veteran who never fished llege, had spent years cuttg a path through show biz. As reunted “Archie & Edh, Mike & Gloria,” by Donna McCrohan, he began by llectg gossip tips, ghostwrote syndited lumns, and then jumped to edy, havg smmed his way to the office of the edy bigwig Danny Thomas by pretendg to be a reporter. After a succsful stretch workg on neteen-fifti shows, cludg “The Martha Raye Show,” he teamed up wh the producer Bud York. The two beme dtry <em>machers</em>, packagg TV specials and makg movi, such as “Divorce Amerin Style.” When Lear read about “Till Death” <em>Variety</em>, he felt a stab of intifitn. His father, Herman Lear, a Jewish salman om Connecticut, was a “rasl,” Norman’s words, who went to prison when Norman was ne, nvicted of shady algs; like Alf Gart, he was at once lovg and bigoted. Lear bought the rights to Speight’s show, whout ever havg seen , and hammered out a treatment. He gave Archie one of his own father’s favore sults for him—“you meathead, ad om the neck up”—and Archie, like Herman Lear, lled his wife a “dgbat” and mand that she “stifle.” It’s the orig story of nearly every breakthrough s, as reunted Aterlz’s book: memoir med for a ronant, replible pattern— this se, the clash between the Greatt Generatn and the emergg Baby Boomers, embodied by Archie Bunker and Michael (Meathead) Stivic, his son--law.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">ABC was terted, but the work was ncerned about the show’s raw language. For the next two years, the executiv and Lear went through an elaborate productn procs, tapg two pilots—the first September, 1968, tled “Jtice for All” (Archie’s last name was origally Jtice), the send Febary of the followg year, lled “Those Were the Days.” Lear wanted to st Mickey Rooney as the lead, but the actor thought was too risky. (Rooney did offer to make a different show: “Listen to this—Vietnam vet. Short. Bld. Private eye. Large dog!”) So Lear offered the part to O’Connor, an Irish-Amerin actor whose rare mixture of “bombast and sweetns” he scribed to reporters as beg ial for the role. Lear st Jean Stapleton as Edh, who transformed the Brish show’s battle-axe—she rembled the tart-tongued Alice, of “The Honeymooners”—to a figure of genue pathos, a quavery-voiced hoewife whose tenrns cut through the show’s anger, and who gradually beme s voice of reason.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="29q1u"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="p5v0z"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">In those two clunky early pilots, Archie’s son--law is Irish, not Polish. In one versn, he sports a hilar pa-shell necklace; the other, he’s a clean-cut jock. The chemistry is all wrong, a ttament to how much of edy is stg: when Archie and the lser Meatheads spar over the sult “the lazit whe man I ever seen” (another Herman Lear origal), there’s none of the electril fury that the show gaed once the hulkg, manic Rob Reer took the role. ABC killed the project, and Lear went back to makg movi. The experiment seemed to be ad until the CBS print, Robert Wood, stepped , 1970. Wood, who had jt taken the job, was seekg a hip property that uld replace the shows that skewed to olr dienc—ss like “Green Acr” and tentpol like “Lassie”—which he planned to ncel, what would bee known as “the ral purge.” He pulled Lear’s project om the scrap pile, and a third pilot was thrown together, wh the script sentially unchanged, at Lear’s sistence (although the work balked at his requt to film black-and-whe). O’Connor was so sure that would be another dud that he bargaed aggrsively for a clse guaranteeg his fay plane fare back to Europe, where they were livg at the time.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">There were a few more last-mute skirmish, sce Lear was termed to set a precent for work non-öperatn: an dtry that liked to sand down the poty, he wanted to provoke viewers. He refed to elimate what the censor lled “explic sex” (nuendo that would seem pdish the days), and he threatened to qu rather than n the r send episo, about Richard Nixon, as the show’s début. CBS ved. In the pilot that ran, ’s Archie and Edh’s weddg anniversary. They return om church early, tchg Michael and a miskirted Gloria on their way to the bedroom. There’s a loud belch—Lear’s shows pneered TV toilet humor—and Archie and Michael fight about atheism and Black Power. “I didn’t have no ln people out there marchg and prottg to get me <em>my</em> job,” Archie sneers. “No, his uncle got for him,” Edh repli. Some jok stick, others fizzle, but ’s Archie’s volnic charisma that lgers—at moments, ’s easy to image him htg Edh, though the s rhythms reassure that he won’t.</p><p class="paywall">Right away, crics were spl. <em>Variety</em> raved that “All the Fay” was “the bt TV edy sce the origal ‘The Honeymooners.’ ” Its sister publitn, <em>Daily Variety</em>, lled “nothg ls than an sult to any unbigoted televiewer.” In <em>Life</em>, John Leonard wrote a vilent pan, which he sound a theme that beme a chos on op-ed pag: that a show like this mand a moral rponse. “Why review a wretched program?” he wrote. “Well, why vacuum the livg room or fix the septic tank? Every once a while the reviewer mt assume the role of a bottle of Johnson’s No-Roach wh the spray applitor: let’s clean up this culture.” The <em>Tim</em> flood the zone wh piec, om “Can Bigotry Be Lghed Away? It’s Worth a Try” to “The Msage Sounds Like ‘Hate Thy Neighbor.’ ” One si felt that the show satirized bigotry; the other argued that <em>was</em> bigotry, and that all those vvillian ys and awws were merely mouflage for Archie’s ugly words.</p><p class="paywall">As the show’s ratgs rose, began to saturate Amerin culture, high and low. In 1971, the <em>Saturday Review</em> reported that teachers were requtg study guis, to e the show to teach their stunts lsons about bigotry. The lerary theorist Pl Man quoted Archie and Edh’s dialogue to dramatize a pot, appropriately enough, about the slippers of meang: the ia that the tent of words was endlsly terpretable. A paperback lled “The W and Wisdom of Archie Bunker” beme a bt-seller (“Move Over Chairman Mao—Here Com Archie Bunker!”), wh quips like “I never said a man that wears glass is a queer. A man that wears glass is a four-ey. A man that’s a fag is a queer!” In 1973, a poll found that Archie Bunker’s was the most regnized face Ameri, and for a while there was a craze for bumper stickers readg “Archie Bunker for Print.” At the 1972 Democratic Conventn, Miami, the character got a vote for Vice-Print.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The weightit cricism me another <em>Tim</em> say, by Lra Z. Hobson, the elrly thor of “Gentleman’s Agreement,” the source for Elia Kazan’s earnt Osr-wng 1947 film about anti-Semism. In September, 1971, she published a five-thoand-word crique lled “As I Listened to Archie Say ‘Hebe’ . . .” Hobson argued that Lear had attempted to “odorize” bigotry, to make safe and cute: among other thgs, Archie ed words like “on” and “yid,” but he didn’t say “nigger” or “kike.” Rather than puncturg hatred, she argued, Lear had ma Archie to a flatterg mirror for bigots. “I don’t thk you n be a black-baer and lovable, or an anti-Seme and lovable,” she wrote. “And I don’t thk the lns who watch this show should be nned to thkg you n be.”</p><p class="paywall">Lear rpond wh his own <em>Tim</em> say, “As I Read How Lra Saw Archie,” argug that of urse bigots uld be lovable, as anyone wh a fay knew. If Archie Bunker didn’t e harsher language, was bee those words were “om another .” Bis, Michael and Gloria, the bleedg-heart liberals, always got the last word. Dpe Lear’s playful rponse, later episos of “All the Fay” nta many echo of this bate. The show’s tone gradually softened, and the more tic slang dropped out; Archie even stopped tellg Edh to “stifle.” (As wh “<em class="small">M</em>*<em class="small">A</em>*<em class="small">S</em>*<em class="small">H</em>,” s creators were fluenced by the rise of femism.) In Season 8, there’s a trenchant sequence which Archie, dnk and trapped a storage room wh Michael, talks about his childhood. Y, his father said “nigger” while he was growg up, Archie says—<em>everybody</em> did—and when Michael tells him what his father said was wrong, Archie livers a touchg, nfed fense of the man who raised him, who held his hand, but who also beat him and shoved him a closet. It was all out of love, Archie sists. “How uld any man that lov you tell you anythg that’s wrong?” he murmurs, jt before he pass out. The scene should have been grotquely manipulative and mawkish, but, strengthened by O’Connor’s affectg performance, mak Lear’s pot more strongly than any op-ed, even s later: bigotry is rilient, bee rejectg often means rejectg your own fay.</p><p class="paywall">Civil-rights advot, cludg the Natnal Urban League and the Anti-Defamatn League, tend to share Hobson’s distst of the seri. (In ntrast, the A.C.L.U. award Lear the Freedom of the Prs Award, 1973.) Bill Cosby, who was a major TV star after “I Spy,” downright spised Archie Bunker. Even a later, on “The Phil Donahue Show,” Cosby was still exprsg tratn that Bunker had never apologized for anythg, makg him “a hero to too many Amerins for his shortsightedns, his tunnel visn.” He add, “And I’m really a believer that the show never tght or tried to teach anybody anythg.”</p><p class="paywall">To crics, the show wasn’t the real problem: s dience was. In 1974, the social psychologists Neil Vidmar and Milton Rokeach offered some evince for this argument a study published the <em>Journal of Communitn</em>, g two sampl, one of teen-agers, the other of adults. Subjects, whether bigoted or not, found the show funny, but most bigoted viewers didn’t perceive the program as satiril. They intified wh Archie’s perspective, saw him as wng arguments, and, “perhaps most disturbg, saw nothg wrong wh Archie’s e of racial and ethnic slurs.” Lear’s seri seemed to be even more appealg to those who shared Archie’s tratns wh the culture around him, a “silent majory” who got off on hearg taboo thoughts said aloud.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="vl3kfh"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">This clearly wasn’t te of every bigot—at least, not Richard Nixon, who eagerly repped the seri for H. R. Halman and John Ehrlichman. In the Watergate tap, Nixon scrib tail an episo which a gay iend of Michael’s to vis, leadg Archie to disver that his own football-player buddy is gay. The seri “ma a fool out of a good man,” Nixon gmbl. He theoriz that Michael probably “go both ways” and worri that the show will rpt children, jt as Socrat did ancient Greece. Ehrlichman terjects, Socrat’ fense, that at least “he never had the fluence that televisn had.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">“A vast wasteland”! It’s impossible to discs TV, even today, whout stumblg upon the medium’s most famo libel, s own versn of “meathead.” The ntext has been lost, though. That scriptn om the first official speech given by Newton Mow, shortly after Print Kennedy appoted him chairman of the F.C.C., 1961. Mow wasn’t argug that what aired on televisn was bad; he was argug that was amoral. He quoted<a href="#edorsnote">*</a>, wh approval, the words of the dtry’s own Televisn Co and urged the works to live up to them: “Program materials should enlarge the horizons of the viewer, provi him wh wholome entertament, afford helpful stimulatn, and remd him of the rponsibili which the cizen has toward his society.”</p><p class="paywall">From a morn perspective, the passage feels prissy and lghable, the ridue of an era when televisn was nsired a public utily: was everyone’s bt tert to keep pure, and then add fluori. No cric uld support that approach, least of all those who see TV as an art form, and want to ee om anx parisons to novels and movi—to celebrate TV as TV. Durg a recent vis to a universy, I bridled when an ethicist praised me for takg a moral stance. (I’d lled a work show “od torture porn.”) I told her that I wanted origaly, even if was ugly, and that I’d rather watch a show that unsettled me than somethg that was merely “good.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">That’s te. And yet, like Archie himself, I have to adm to my own fascatn wh the good old days— particular, that spiky, surreal moment when people found televisn so dangero that they slapped warng stickers on . Lear and his crics disagreed about how his show affected people, but they agreed that <em>should</em> affect people. Every day marked a h skirmish: Should there be a “fay hour”? Were Starsky and Hutch makg viewers vlent? Back when televisn was a mass phenomenon, ntrolled by three works, watched live by the whole fay, was no wonr that observers wng their hands over whether might turn s viewers to monsters. (The days, we rerve those ncerns for the Inter.)</p><p class="paywall">Five years after “All the Fay,” Lear lnched an even more radil show, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” a prophetic, neglected TV classic stuffed wh anti-TV them. A satire of soap operas, and one of the first tly serial eveng shows, was so loopy and avant-gar that s producers syndited penntly, airg on affiliat mostly late at night. Lear explicly signed to appeal to two dienc: those who enjoyed as melodrama and those who took as social satire. In the fale of the first season, s eponymo hoewife heroe (played by Louise Lasser) has a nervo breakdown on David Sskd’s talk show, as moralists hammer her wh qutns. “Were your asms better before Johnny Carson?” the iologu shout. “Erase! Erase!” Mary Hartman begs, panicked that she has said somethg wrong. It was a cry of terror that seemed to symbolize the mood of that era: the world was chaos, and viewers like Mary were tragilly vulnerable to the media’s fluence. Yet Lasser’s character’s odd, raw humany—together wh the show’s disorientg, liberately ugly edg rhythms—was a form of ristance. (The next season, she was stutnalized and happily beme a member of the hospal’s Nielsen fay.)</p><p class="paywall">Des later, televisn has a different relatnship wh s dience. We llect and rerd ; we rep wh strangers; pours through hundreds of narrow channels. Perhaps ’s not so odd that, around the time the digal revolutn began, another Archie-like figure rose up, as if om TV’s unnsc: the ranro middle-aged whe male antihero, nostalgic for a past when he was powerful—and often nceived by a middle-aged whe male shownner, the mographic wh the greatt enomic abily to shake thgs up. As wh “All the Fay,” the bt of the dramas shoved TV forward wh a rough charisma, blastg through piety and formula, ighteng and turng on—and, often, dividg the dience two. Then this genre, too, beme a p formula.</p><p class="paywall">In “S,” Aterlz argu that, as important as “All the Fay” was, is hard to re-watch: among other problems, s racial polics are dated, rcg racism to mere personal prejudice. There’s some tth to that, and yet, the days, Lear’s legacy is everywhere, often stealthy packag. Lear set the stage for agatg edi like “Louie” and “Girls,” acrid satir like “It’s Always Sunny Philalphia,” and boundary-crossers ls to my taste, like Seth MacFarlane’s “Fay Guy.” Ryan Murphy, the creator of “Glee” and “Amerin Horror Story,” is a profsed admirer of Lear, and his shows feature diva-bigots who are female variants of Archie Bunker. Lear is a hero to Judd Apatow, too. Every time a show cross the le of good taste, om humane pulp like “Orange Is the New Black” to bleak nightmar like “Hannibal,” enlarg Lear’s terrory. Some of the shows place people who look nothg like Archie at the center, helped by productn mols that don’t require reachg every viewer.</p><p class="paywall">There is no way—and maybe no reason—to une TV’s divid dience. If televisn creators began by tryg sperately not to offend, they clearly learned that the oppose approach n work jt as well: a show that speaks to multiple dienc n get ratgs by offerg many ways to be a fan. As for the “vast wasteland” bate, at tim feels as if the balance has shifted so far toward a reflexive cynicism (about torture as entertament, for example) that ’s difficult even to talk about the subject—at least, whout gettg lled a Margaret Dumont. Perhaps there’s another way to look at , which is to image an ethil qualy that is embedd real origaly. The bt seri rattle and wake up; the worst are numbg agents. Sometim, a divid dience is a rult of mixed msag, an herent text; sometim, ’s a sign of a bold experiment that we are still learng how to watch. But there’s a lot to be said for a show that is potent whout beg perfect, or maybe simply perfect for s moment: storytellg that alters the dience by mandg that viewers do more than jt watch. ♦</p><p class="paywall"><a href="#rrectnasterisk">*</a>An earlier versn of this article failed to attribute Mow’s quote to the Televisn Co.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="hkv9cd"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2014/04/07" data-reactroot="">April 7, 2014</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/ey-nsbm"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/ey-nsbm">Ey Nsbm</a>, a staff wrer at The New Yorker, won the Pulzer Prize for cricism 2016. 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SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">On Televisn</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2013/05/20/fakg--ey-nsbm" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Fakg It</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2013/05/20/fakg--ey-nsbm" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Fakg It" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">“Mad Men” ’s Don Draper problem.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Ey Nsbm</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2013/07/29/difficult-women" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Difficult Women" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">On Televisn</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" 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120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Difficult Women" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">How “Sex and the Cy” lost s good name.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Ey Nsbm</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Iphigenia Fort Hills" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">A Reporter at Large</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Iphigenia Fort Hills</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Iphigenia Fort Hills" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Anatomy of a murr trial.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Ja Mallm</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left 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archie bunker gay friend episode

Stream Archie Bunker Meets a Homo by Gayt Episo Ever on sktop and mobile. Play over 320 ln tracks for ee on SoundCloud.

Contents:

‘ALL THE FAY’: INSI THE EARLY EPISO THAT CHALLENGED ARCHIE BUNKER’S VIEW OF GAY PEOPLE

In s earlit days, one of the ntroversial topics 'All the Fay' tackled was Archie Bunker's view of gay reprentatn. * archie bunker gay friend episode *

One example is episo five, “Judgg Books by Covers, ” which prented an unexpected take on the subject of homosexualy — at a time that nobody was alg wh . The All the Fay wiki offers up this plot scriptn: “Archie thks he knows a homosexual when he se one and when Mike v his flamboyant photographer iend Roger (Anthony Geary) to the Bunker hoehold, Archie tomatilly assum that Mike’s iend is a “flamer.

GAYT EPISO EVER: HOW ‘ALL THE FAY’ GAVE US OUR FIRST GAY S CHARACTER

Judgg Books by Covers: Directed by John Rich. Wh Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reer, Sally Stthers. Archie is irrated at Mike's offbeat iend, who drs and behav a way that leads him to mistakenly nclu he is a homosexual. But Archie soon learns that one of his bt iends is gay." data-id="ma * archie bunker gay friend episode *

” Retreatg to the safety of Kelcy’s Bar, Archie choos to spend time wh his “he-man” pals, notably his old arm-wrtlg crony Steve (Philip Carey), who, when hearg about Roger, reveals himself to be gay — which Archie never spected. Televisn historian and thor Jim Colucci, who is currently -wrg wh Norman Lear a 50th-anniversary book voted to All the Fay, ments, “This was a brand new show g blazg out of the gate, bee if they were gog to tackle touchy issu 1971, gay reprentatn was certaly among the touchit.

Jim mentns that when he wrote his book Goln Girls Forever, he mented that the first regular gay character on televisn was the short-lived s The Corner Bar, which aired 1972. Gay liberatn and Stonewall had been 1969, so certaly was somethg the world was talkg about. And the gay muny had started to fd s very nascent voice, but wasn’t beg reprented mastream media and certaly not on televisn.

“Not only did they have gay reprentatn, but they also were breakg the harmful stereotyp that were the only thg that day and age people knew about gay people. In 1971 people probably thought all gay people were ty, feme, limp-wristed men wh lisps — jt all the stereotyp. While any stereotype has some tth, what the episo took pas to show is that never tells you whether Roger, Mike’s iend who wears the ast and is very boistero, and ee talks wh his hands, is gay or not.

‘ALL THE FAY’: INSI THE EARLY EPISO THAT CHALLENGED ARCHIE BUNKER’S VIEW OF GAY PEOPLE

* archie bunker gay friend episode *

But what do show is that the macho man, the nfirmed bachelor who’s an arm wrtler and big and beefy, and a former play player, whom Archie idoliz and hangs out wh the bar all the time, has been gay all the years. “So there was jt so much that the show did, ” Jim pots out, “to give reprentatn to a gay character, which would have been ground breakg enough, but also showed multi-dimensns to what beg gay meant. All the FayCast & crewUser reviewsTriviaEpiso aired Feb 9, 1971TV-PG26mArchie is irrated at Mike's offbeat iend, who drs and behav a way that leads him to mistakenly nclu he is a homosexual.

The Boys' Night Out: Directed by Oz Stt. Wh Carroll O'Connor, Danielle Brisebois, Allan Melv, Denise Miller. The boys' night out for Archie, Barney and Harry uld turn to one of the wrong kd once they get ught a gay nightclub." data-id="ma * archie bunker gay friend episode *

Read allArchie is irrated at Mike's offbeat iend, who drs and behav a way that leads him to mistakenly nclu he is a homosexual.

But Archie soon learns that one of his bt iends is is irrated at Mike's offbeat iend, who drs and behav a way that leads him to mistakenly nclu he is a homosexual.

Not only that, gave Ameri s first gay s character — and que likely, the first LGBT character on a show of any kd that was portrayed sensively and posively.

The Cook: Directed by Lila Garrett. Wh Carroll O'Connor, Mart Balsam, Anne Meara, Allan Melv. Archie hir Veroni Rooney, an outspoken Irish ok and her gay nephew as the waer and Archie Bunker's Place has 's grand openg." data-id="ma * archie bunker gay friend episode *

In short, if you’re an otherwise pop culture-savvy gay guy who’s never seen an episo of All the Fay, at least know about this one. On Febary 9, 1971, jt five episos to All the Fay’s first season, “Judgg Books by Covers” turned Archie Bunker’s anger toward gay men — or as he lls them many tim throughout the episo, fags. While the episo begs wh Archie fumg that he has to teract wh his dghter’s effemate male iend, he’s shocked later on to fd out that Steve (Philip Carey), the manly ex-football player who hangs out at the lol bar, is himself gay.

What’s remarkable about this episo is that most prev TV pictns of gay people were fairly negative. But give this episo of my podst, Gayt Episo Ever, a sp.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ARCHIE BUNKER GAY FRIEND EPISODE

Gayt Episo Ever: How ‘All the Fay’ Gave Us Our First Gay S Character | Hor, the Queer Social Network .

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