All in the Family | |
---|---|
Based on | Till Death Us Do Part created by Johnny Speight |
Developed by | Norman Lear |
Starring |
Carroll O'Connor Jean Stapleton Sally Struthers Rob Reiner Danielle Brisebois |
Theme music composer |
Lee Adams, (lyrics) Charles Strouse, (music), Roger Kellaway, (ending theme) |
Opening theme | "Those Were the Days" Performed by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton |
Ending theme | "Remembering You" by Roger Kellaway, (music) and Carroll O'Connor (additional lyrics added in 1971; instrumental version) |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 9 |
No. of episodes | 205 (210)(list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 25–26 minutes |
Production company(s) | Tandem Productions |
Distributor |
Viacom Enterprises (1976–1991) Columbia Pictures Television (1991–1996) Columbia TriStar Television (1996–2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002–present) |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
Picture format | Color |
Original release | January 12, 1971 | – April 8, 1979
Chronology | |
Followed by |
Archie Bunker's Place 704 Hauser |
Related shows |
Maude The Jeffersons Gloria Good Times Checking In |
All in the Family is an American sitcom TV-series that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network for nine seasons, from January 1971 to April 1979. The following September, it was replaced by Archie Bunker's Place, which picked up where All in the Family had ended and ran for four more seasons.
Produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin and starring Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, and Rob Reiner, All in the Family revolves around the life of a working-class bigot and his family. The show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for a U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, religion, miscarriage, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. Through depicting these controversial issues, the series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with more dramatic moments and realistic, topical conflicts.
The show is often regarded in the United States as one of the greatest television series of all time. The show ranked number one in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976. It became the first television series to reach the milestone of having topped the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive years. The episode "Sammy's Visit" was ranked number 13 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as number four. Bravo also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked All in the Family the fourth-best written TV series ever, and TV Guide ranked it as the fourth-greatest show of all time.