by Pat Merewether

Created on: May 27, 2009   Last Updated: June 04, 2009

A number of TV shows have brought families together because they appealed to various ages and points of view. However some shows not only kept families gathered around the TV each week, but they also encouraged debate and controversy that gave equal time to several points of view. This gave viewers a new level of entertainment while inviting new ideas and topics for discussion.

The best example of this was "All in the Family." Produced by Norman Lear, this controversial TV show aired on CBS from January 12, 19871 through April 8, 1979. It was based on a British television series "Till Death Do Us Part" and covered topics that American networks had not ever eve mentioned; racism, homosexuality, women's rights, miscarriage, impotence, menopause and breast cancer. Today it is hard to imagine a network that doesn't cover all of these topics on a daily basis, but in the 1970's most shows were sanitized, if you will, in order to be deemed proper for American audiences.

The program centered around Edith and Archie Bunker, white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant, middle-class couple living in New York, their loving free spirited daughter Gloria, her Polish boyfriend/husband Michael (AKA "Meathead" a title given to him by Archie - who also took a dim view of Michael's Polish ancestry). Edith usually took the middle-road as she was the frustrated peacemaker of the family. Eventually, the Jeffersons, an affluent black couple moved in next door which opened the issues of racism, white flight from areas where African American's moved in and an interesting twist on the rich vs. poor dilemma. I always took Gloria's side and my Dad insisted that Archie was right - and sometimes both sides had a point, which was a refreshing change from the one-sided attitudes of previous decades.

Part of what made "All in the Family" so interesting was the way it portrayed controversial topics in a humorous way and gave the audience a choice of points of view. I was a young wife and mother at the time and often sided with Archie and Edith's more free-spirited, liberal thinking daughter, Gloria. My father, on the other hand felt more comfortable with the opinions of a very conservative Archie Bunker, who never failed to express his rather strong right wing and sometimes racist and sexist views.

Neal Simon walked a tightrope on the issues of the day, for example, when Archie complained about his black neighbor's wealth Archie: "I didn't have no million people marchin' and protestin' to get me my

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