Customer Reviews

All in the Family - Those Were the Days [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I agree with the other reviewer. The picture quality is grainy and poor for such a good sitcom. You would think the licencers would have done a better job for the grant to reproduce the show but the picture quality just plain sucks. Only buy it if grainy poor quality is not as important to you. The other similiar made videos of All in the Family are the same type quality I imagine as the other few tapes of the show I bought are. Licensors-you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing reproduction like this quality.

This video is in EXTENDED PLAY MODE, a fact which is not stated on the online information. All In The Family is a great program, and these episodes are wonderful, but don't buy this tape if, like mine, your VCR cannot reproduce an extended play video.

When I spent a recent Saturday night watching this VHS, I was almost certain that by this point in time ALL IN THE FAMILY would likely prove a little dated. Well, there's no denying that the show was definitely "of its era"--it's very 70s, as Mike and Gloria's attire and lingo attest. But at its best, AITF hit on timeless themes of love, family, and yes, on a grander scale, generational conflict and social justice.

The three episodes included on this particular VHS focus on the former concerns, however, and therefore number among the warmest and most human entries in the series. The common theme they share is love and marriage and their attendant problems. What the Bunkers and the Stivics have there is usually a failure to communicate, and while that may not be so surprising for the gruff and malaprop-prone Archie and the truly sweet but admittedly (delightfully) dingbatty Edith, the fact that the young, "liberated" Stivics miscommunicate so royally on the classic "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Wig" suggests that it will be ever thus.

At the time of its run, one of the criticisms of the series was that it made bigots like Archie kind of likeable, if not downright loveable. I always found such critiques a little tiresome. Archie's prejudices were always either actively challenged by those around him (Mike, Gloria, Lionel) or contrasted against the better example provided in Edith's innocent openheartness and good will toward all. The fact that Archie had his endearing human traits, alongside his appalling biases, only served to prove that he was human, not a monster. There was always hope for Archie, hope that he would learn at least a few small life lessons along the way.

In at least two of these episodes, he learns something about how to begin to demonstrate his love for his wife. For him, that was no small lesson.

This contains some very funny episodes of All in the Family. "Second Honeymoon" is hysterical. Same with the others. A must have for any All in the Family fan.