Archie Bunker's Place: "Thanksgiving Reunion"

Premiered November 18, 1979.

"I set aside one day out of the year to celebrate the birth of the pilgrims and this guy spoils it!"
-Archie Bunker

Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) and her niece Stephanie (Danielle Brisebois) are preparing Thanksgiving dinner.  Edith mentions that her daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), son-in-law Michael (Rob Reiner) and grandson Joey (Dick Billingsley) will be joining them for Thanksgiving.  But it's a secret and Stephanie must not tell her uncle Archie (Caroll O'Connor) about this.

That's not the only thing Stephanie is told to keep under wraps.  Michael has recently lost his teaching job.  He was fired after participating in a nude anti-nuclear protest.

When Michael and Gloria arrive, Archie is shocked but happy to see them.

He even smiles and hugs his son-in-law "Meathead."

Everything is going well until Archie learns that Michael has been fired.  He is enraged when he hears about the anti-nuclear protest.  Archie gets into a heated argument with Michael, just like the old days.

Michael says he did so because he believes nuclear power is dangerous and he wants Joey to grow up in a safer world.

Archie doesn't want to hear it, so he storms out and goes to his bar.  It appears that Thanksgiving has been ruined.

Can Thanksgiving be saved?

J.A. Morris says:

Most people remember All In The Family since it was one of the best and most important series of all time.  In addition to being a very funny sitcom, the show broke many TV taboos and was a huge hit with viewers and critics alike.  In later seasons, Michael and Gloria departed, while Archie spent more time at the bar he came to co-own.  All In The Family eventually morphed into this sequel series.

Archie Bunker's Place isn't well remembered, and that's for good reason.  It wasn't nearly as good as All In The Family.  I know because I was a regular viewer of the series.  Archie had mellowed into a generally likeable grandfatherly type.  His arguments with Murray (Martin Balsam), the liberally-minded co-owner of their bar, were never as entertaining or thought provoking as his quarrels with Gloria and Michael.

Murray gives Archie some advice.

Edith was eventually written out of Archie Bunker's Place and killed off.

But this is a very good episode.  It feels like the last episode of All In The Family that should have been.  Michael and Archie get one last episode to engage in intense political arguments.  It's worth noting that this episode aired eight months after a meltdown occurred at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.  So nukes were a major topic in the news in 1979.

There's a scene where Gloria and Michael have a private conversation in the living room.  It doesn't really have anything to do with the plot, but it's nice to see these characters get a scene to show how much they love each other.

There are some moments in "Thanksgiving Reunion" that don't work.  Early in the episode, Barney (Allan Melvin), a regular at Archie's bar, is featured in a scene where he talks about how he always misses his ex-wife at Thanksgiving.  This just feels like padding, since it's never revisited.

This episode has been released on DVD as part of the Archie Bunker's Place:Season 1 set.

"Thanksgiving Reunion" is a nice farewell to one of TV's all-time great ensemble casts and is recommended.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 and a half pumpkin pies.

RigbyMel says:

I was familiar with All In The Family, but had never heard of Archie Bunker's Place until we started getting seriously into our holiday blogging!

As J.A. Morris says above, this feels like a good send off for the original All In The Family cast.  I've always liked the fact that even though Michael, Gloria and Edith disagree with Archie on a lot of issues,  it's also very evident that these characters really love each other deep down.

I like the way this episode uses the trope of family arguments at Thanksgiving as a way of highlighting those differences and disagreements, but at the end of the day, we see the family gathered over turkey in a late night fridge-raiding session enjoying each others' company DESPITE their differences.

This episode of Archie Bunker's Place does suffer from "Cousin Oliver" syndrome a bit, with the addition of the ever so slightly too cutesey/precocious sitcom moppets.

For instance, there is a silly subplot about Joey hiding the knobs for the TV, thereby preventing Archie from watching Thanksgiving football.   As J.A. Morris mentions, there's no payoff for the bit at the bar where one of the regulars bemoans that he has no one with whom to celebrate the holiday.

I also feel like Edith doesn't have quite enough to do in the episode, other than inadvertently spill the beans about the impending arrival of Michael & Gloria.  This is partly because Jean Stapleton was pretty much over playing the character at this point, I suspect, but it would've been nice to see more of her!

Considering that this is an extra-long episode, it doesn't really feel like it needs to be extra-long.

Still, this is a Thanksgiving episode worth watching at least once, if only because it is the last time that these beloved characters all appeared on a show together.

RigbyMel's rating:

3 pumpkin pies

All In The Family: "Too Good Edith"

Premiered April 8, 1979.

Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) takes her niece Stephanie Mills (Danielle Brisbois) to see Dr. Sidney Shapiro (George Wyner) for an appointment.

Stephanie's health is fine, but Shapiro notices Edith is favoring her left leg.  After an examination he diagnoses Edith with phlebitis and tells her she needs to stay in bed and off her feet for a while. Edith is upset over this, because she planned to cook most of the feast for her husband Archie's (Carroll O'Connor) St. Patrick's Day party.  The party will be held at the bar Archie recently purchased.    

When Archie gets home, he's brought a ridiculous amount of corned beef and cabbage and expects Edith to cook it all.  She asks Archie if he can possibly have it catered.  He says no and Edith can't bring herself to tell him she's sick.  

Edith spends all day cooking, limping around the kitchen to the point where she can barely stand up. When she tells Archie, he says he needs Edith to serve the food at the bar.  She finally falls down and Dr. Shapiro comes to visit and sends her to bed. 

Will Archie understand that Edith is sick or will he be angry at her for not serving food at the St. Paddy's Day party?   

J.A. Morris says:
As a child of the 70s, All In The Family was a big part of my TV education and it's one of the greatest shows of all time.  But I don't recall seeing this episode before.  "Too Good Edith" was the last episode ever produced of this series.  It morphed into Archie Bunker's Place for the 1979-80 season and ran in that form until 1983.  

Even back in when I was a kid, I wasn't crazy about the show after the departure of Gloria and Michael (a "Shark-Jump" moment in my opinion), followed by the addition of Stephanie, but I kept watching.  

At the end of the episode, we get a touching scene where Archie comforts an ailing Edith, showing that in spite of all their arguments over the years, they truly love one another. 

St. Patrick's Day isn't always at the forefront of "Too Good Edith", but the holiday serves as the catalyst that drives the story here.  We've all been in scenarios when we didn't feel well enough to do something, but didn't want to let down a friend or family member.  So Edith's hiding of her illness is relatable.

A note about the cast:
Dr. Sidney Shapiro is played by George Wyner.  He's been a prolific character actor in film and TV over the last four decades.  

Wyner is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Irwin Bernstein on Hill Street Blues and as Colonel Sandurz in the movie Spaceballs.

Wyner as "Colonel Sandurz."

"Too Good Edith" can be found on the season 9 dvd set of All In The Family.

It's not a great episode and it doesn't have any of the political content that made All In The Family a groundbreaking series.  But "Too Good Edith" serves as a nice farewell episode for the series.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Shamrocks. 

RigbyMel says:

There aren't that many St. Patrick's Day themed shows out there, and this final episode of the classic All In The Family series is a pretty good one.  

Too much corned beef and cabbage?

We get to see Archie all dressed up in green finery.   Edith heroically prepares an insane amount of corned beef and cabbage for the party at the bar in spite of her illness.   They don't wind up getting to attend their own party due to Edith collapsing, but we get a very heartfelt scene where Archie tells Edith that he wouldn't be anything without her, which really makes for a touching summation of the whole series.   

Edith relaxing --- in Archie's chair!! 

Even though this episode isn't as blatantly political as some episodes earlier in the run of All In The Family there is definitely some feminist subtext underpinning the proceedings.   Edith feels obliged to buck up and get the St. Patty's Day cooking done in spite of her illness because she loves Archie and also since Archie expects it.  Moreover, her upbringing has conditioned her to see her role in the relationship as the one who cooks and keeps the house.   

Exhausted Edith and silly hat

This episode also has a bit of inter-generational conflict, with young Dr. Shapiro getting picked on by Archie repeatedly because of his youth.   Dr. Shapiro yells at Archie for making Edith cook after her collapse, not realizing that she hadn't told Archie she was unwell.   Shapiro, who has know the Bunkers since he was a kid then has a brief reversion to being that kid apologizing, despite the fact that he himself is now a trained and competent doctor.  However, his assumptions based on Archie's general curmudgeonliness are understandable.  

The conflict is resolved with a very sweet exchange between Archie and Edith where they talk to each other and, in their own quirky ways, show how much they really love one another. 

The last shot of the series is an iris slow wipe showing Archie and Edith 

This is a solid, if not an outstanding episode and St, Patrick's Day drives the plot. 

RigbyMel's rating: 

3 shamrocks.