All in the Family is an American comedy that started in 1971 and ran until 1983. The show is based on a working class racist who argues with his family over issues of importance during that time. An interesting comparison to All in the Family would be Reba, a show staring Reba McEntire that ran from 2001 to 2007.
Something that both All in the Family and Reba have in common is that the main characters in both shows are very stubborn and wise cracking. Both Reba and Archie always believe they are right about everything, and they use their outspoken sarcasm to make the shows comical, which keeps the targeted audience coming back for more. When my father was younger he would watch All in the Family with his family to get a good chuckle, and today my modern day family watches Reba for the same reason. Another similarity between the shows is that the kids, even though married, lived for a good while with their parents. This fact also brings a difference between the two shows to my mind. In Reba, Cheyenne is pregnant and marries the father, Van. This was not something that Reba and her divorced husband Brock had in mind for their oldest daughter, but they accepted it and made the best of the situation. If Gloria, the daughter of Archie and his wife Edith, had gotten pregnant during high school, all hell would have broken loose. It is more common for teens to get pregnant in today’s society, and the shows demonstrate the difference in the beliefs between 30 years. During the time of All in the Family, issues of race and sexuality were huge, and it showed throughout the show. In the episode we watched in class, Archie assumed a male friend of the family was gay, but he couldn’t even bring himself to say the word. During an episode of Reba, Van’s sports agent was homosexual and came on to Reba, but it wasn’t portrayed as anything absurd.
Although these two shows were made 30 years apart, both comedies are hilarious and recommended by many, including myself.
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