1970 Monday Night Football & All in the Family

[LeonardRachiele]

In the fall of 1970, two shows appeared on television that really changed the media;  All in the Family and Monday Night Football. Both were novel approaches to long standing issues.

All in the Family was a situation comedy but with an effectively understated message.  It showed a family in Queens, New York with problems within the family and intertwined with the social and economic climate at the time.  While this was a loving family, it was dysfunctional.   It was the first time a television series portrayed the family in a more realistic fashion.  There are tensions within every family that should not be ignored.   Generally, creator Norman Lear mixed humor with this tension and it made the message easier to accept.   The show relieved us from some guilt feelings.  Now we knew families were not like the silly innocent nonsense of  Leave it to Beaver, Father Know Best, and Meet the Nelsons.  We did not feel as bad about our own family problems.

Let's look deeper into Father Knows Best.  Billy Gray, who played Bud on that program, is  today somewhat ashamed of his role.  He stated, and correctly so , that it was corny and gave America a false impression of what families were all about.  Robert Young won Emmy Awards from Father Knows Best.  Looking back, it was a waste of a very talented actor. I prefer his movies and never watched Marcus Welby.

In addition, All in the Family helped us defuse tensions that stemmed from the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and crime. Two shows were spinoffs from All in the Family-the Jefferson and Maude.  If there are more,  I am unaware of them.  Each week I looked forward to watching Carrol O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, and Sally Struthers.  In laughing at them we were laughing at ourselves.

I will talk about Monday Night Football later.

[rhickok1109]

IIRC, the first episode of "All in the Family" opened with a shot of Archie watching a pro football game on TV.

[Retro Rider]

IIRC, the first episode of "All in the Family" opened with a shot of Archie watching a pro football game on TV.

In one of the early episodes Archie mentions Alvin Haymond's 98 yard kickoff return touchdown (Rams vs. Cardinals 9/18/70). He has plans to watch NFL highlights but is upset because son-in-law Mike has eaten his slice of bannana cream pie that was in the refrigerator.

[RyanChristiansen]

All in the Family was a situation comedy but with an effectively understated message.  It showed a family in Queens, New York with problems within the family and intertwined with the social and economic climate at the time... In laughing at them we were laughing at ourselves.

I agree with the premise that an All in the Family-like show would be something great to have, it would have almost zero impact because of the way we consume media today. We don't just have three broadcasters plus public television anymore. In our house alone, we watch local broadcast TV for local news, but for nothing else. We have cable so that we can watch the Minnesota Twins and NFL Red Zone. Because we have cable, we sometimes watch HGTV or cooking shows just to fill the dead air. But we also have an Amazon Prime membership, and we watch shows on Prime, and we watch shows on Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, HULU, HBO Max, and Netflix. Last year, I could watch CFL games on ESPN Plus, but I see this year, I'll have to subscribe to the CBS Sports app. It's a mess. In other words, you can't get critical mass to make a difference. I believe the only show we can get critical mass with anymore is the Super Bowl or big football games, and maybe the World Series.

[Brian wolf]

Now the NFL is taking a wild card game from the big three networks and putting it exclusively on Peacock ... which I dont stream currently ...