
"All in the Family" is touted as the series that brought reality to prime-time TV entertainment. The lead character, Archie Bunker, is a loudmouthed, uneducated bigot who believes in every stereotype he has ever heard. His wife, Edith, is sweet but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. They and their daughter, Gloria, and her husband, Mike, all live in a working-class home. Unfortunately for Archie, he can't avoid the people he disdains: His son-in-law -- whom Archie calls "Meathead" -- is an unemployed student and of Polish descent; the Jeffersons next door are black; Edith's cousin Maude is a feminist; and, later, his partners in a local tavern are Jewish.

Impious Archie becomes religious after a close brush with death.

George Jefferson uses Archie's signature to get on the ballot when he decides to run for a local political office.

A shady salesman hustles Archie into signing for costly aluminum siding to prevent heat loss.

Gloria feels like a "dumb blonde" when Mike ignores her for an intellectual friend.