Retro : All in Lear’s Family : ARCHIE’S FAMOUS LIVING ROOM IS NOW ON VIDEO--AS WELL AS IN ‘704 HAUSER’
Talk about perfect timing.
Early last month, CBS premiered its new comedy series, “704 Hauser.” The sitcom, from producer-writer-director Norman Lear, focuses on members of a black family who now live in Archie Bunker’s old house.
But if “Hauser” isn’t enough of a fix for fans of All in the Family, episodes of the groundbreaking comedy series, which aired on CBS from 1971 until 1979, are now on video for the first time. “All in the Family: The Collector’s Edition” is available on Columbia House Home Video Library.
The Emmy Award-winning series, also created and produced by Lear, was the first sitcom to explore such controversial topics as sex, racism, poverty, the Vietnam War and economics. Carroll O’Connor starred as the outspoken blue-collar conservative Archie Bunker, Jean Stapleton as his loving wife Edith, Sally Struthers as his liberal daughter Gloria, and Rob Reiner as her hippie husband, Mike (Meathead) Stivic.
The first volume of “All in the Family: The Collector’s Edition” costs $5; subsequent editions are $20. Each volume includes four half-hour episodes. The introductory volume features the series premiere “Meet the Bunkers,” which aired Jan. 12, 1971. Also included are the 1971 episodes of “Archie Gives Blood,” “Mike’s Hippie Friends Come to Visit” and “Everybody Tells the Truth.”
Also new from Columbia House Home Video Library is “The Wild Wild West: The Collector’s Edition,” comparably priced to the “All in the Family” set. Each volume features two episodes of the ‘60s Western romp starring Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. The first features the pilot episode, “The Night of the Inferno,” which aired Sept. 17, 1965, on CBS, as well as the 1965 installment, “The Night of the Double Edged Knife.” Leslie Nielsen guest stars in the latter as villain General Ball.
Two other Western TV classics, “Rawhide” and “Gunsmoke,” are moseying into the video corral May 4 on CBS Video. Unlike “Wild West” and “All in the Family,” these will be available in stores for $15 apiece.
“Rawhide,” aired 1959-1966 on CBS and starred Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood as cattle drivers Gil Favor and Rowdy Yates. CBS Video is releasing three videos, each containing an hour episode. Included in the collection are the 1962 comedic entry, “The Pitchwagon,” featuring Eastwood singing, and 1963’s “Incident of Iron Bull,” which explores Native American prejudice.
CBS Video mined the archives for its four volumes of “Gunsmoke.” Each video contains two half-hour episodes from the long-running show’s early years--1955 to ’57. Considered the first “adult” Western, “Gunsmoke” starred James Arness as Dodge City’s stalwart Marshal Dillon, Amanda Blake as Miss Kitty, Dennis Weaver as Chester and Milburn Stone as Doc.
Among the episodes featured are “The Killer,” with guest star Charles Bronson; “The Guitar,” which features TV producer Aaron Spelling as as a simple-minded minstrel; and “Sins of the Father,” with Angie Dickinson.
“All in the Family: The Collector’s Edition” is available only by calling 1-800-638-2922. “Wild West” is available via the same number .
