Horrific Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle were killed last week. Allegedly at the hands of their deranged son, it prompted me to go back and watch two of my favorites “All in the family” Episodes.
Both are from season two. In the first, “Edith Writes a Song,” a pair of burglars, Demond Wilson (“Sanford and Son”) and Cleavon Little (“Blazing Saddles”), break into the Bunker’s house and discover that the homeowner has some racist tendencies.
“Look what we found here,” says Cleavon Little’s character. “100% real bigot, dead bigot in his mind. Come on, say something bigoted.”
“I’m not a bigot,” host Archie Bunker responds. “I’m the first to say it’s not your fault, you’re colored.”
The second episode, “Sammy’s Visit”, features the legendary Sammy Davis Jr., who leaves his suitcase in a taxi driven by Archie. When he comes to the Bunker house to retrieve it, he makes the same discovery, even when Archie’s black neighbor Lionel comes to his defense.
“He would never burn a cross on your lawn,” Lionel says.
“No, but if he saw one burning, he’d probably toast a marshmallow to it,” Davis answers.
“All in the Family,” which featured Reiner as Archie Bunker’s brother-in-law Mike Stevich, was one of the most groundbreaking shows on television during its run in the 1970s.
It took me back to a time when the quality of television was top notch, and everyone, whether black or white, rich or poor, watched the same thing.
It also made me wonder: How did we get Archie Bunker in the White House?
After the Reiner family was found stabbed to death in their home in Brentwood, California, President Trump, no fan of the liberal elite, said the following on social media:
“A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Rob Reiner, the extremely talented film director and comedy star, has died, along with his wife, Michelle, of the rage he inflicted on others through his massive and incurable suffering from a mind-afflicting illness known as Trump Disorder Syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to drive people crazy with his rage-filled obsession with President Donald J. Trump. His apparent paranoia has reached new heights as the Trump administration has exceeded all goals and expectations of greatness, and ushered in America’s Golden Age, perhaps like never before!”
What meat.
Meathead is what Archie Bunker used to call his brother-in-law on the famous show.
But the name seems more suitable for a man Who would attack a beloved murder victim, Caught up in a tragic family drama, before the body gets cold.
Even in the face of bipartisan backlash, Trump has doubled down on his hawkishness.
“I wasn’t a fan of it at all,” Trump said later at the White House in response to a question about his post. “He was a deranged person for Trump.”
Even Archie Bunker had a soft side.
On the show, Pinker’s favorite president was Richard Nixon. “Franklin Delano Roosevelt has ruined the country,” he insisted to his wife’s cousin Maud.
If Bunker’s character were alive today, he would have a new favorite: Donald John Trump. He would be on board with everything Trump has done to dismantle diversity and cozy up to dictators.
Archie Bunker: “Well, I’ll tell you one thing about President Nixon. He keeps Pat in the house. Which is where Roosevelt should have kept Eleanor. Instead, he let her wander around until she discovered color one day. We never knew they were there. I told them they’d get the short end of the stick and we’ve been in trouble ever since.”
Trump: I am Donald Trump, and I support this message.
What meat.