"Those Were the Days"

by: Lee Adams and Charles Stouse

Boy, the way Glen Miller played. Songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days!
Didn't need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight
Gee, our old LaSalle (a car) ran great. Those were the days!
And you knew where you were then! Girls were girls and men were men.
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
People seemed to be content. Fifty dollars paid the rent.
Freaks were in a circus tent. Those were the days!
Take a little Sunday spin, go to watch the Dodgers win.
Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin (five dollar bill).
Hair was short and skirts were long. Kate Smith really sold a song.
I don't know just what went wrong! Those Were the Days!

Lyrics were found on this AITF page

Here is my page dedicated to the best television show in history! Like my Simpsons, Beatles, and John Lennon pages, I will be telling my story of how I became interested in this groundbreaking show.

When I was looking through a book called TV Treasures: A Companion Guide to The Brady Bunch by Sylvia Stoddard, there were lists of the 1969-1974 seasons ratings, (which was how long The Brady Bunch ran--and if I may add--it never made the list!) However, once I saw the 1971-1974 ratings, the same program was always #1--All in the Family.

At that time, I had an idea of what the show was about, but I was not interested in seeing someone on TV say racial remarks about other people. For a long time, I avoided All in the Family, knowing I would be offended. However, during my last year in college, I decided to give the show a chance.

While watching an episode of The Simpsons, (instead of doing homework) I heard their parody of "Those Were the Days." I thought it was cute and laughed along with the references they used from the '70's. After that, I wondered what the lyrics were to the real song. Luckily, in the dorms, the college cable carried Nickelodeon. That night I was able to watch All in the Family and hear the theme song. I liked it a lot and being a History major, I enjoyed the historical notes from the '30's and '40's. I decided to watch the entire episode (which had been 'Mike and Gloria Mix It Up'). Low and behold I was not offended and began to watch more episodes. After seeing a few episodes, I realized that All in the Family was not promoting bigotry, but showing how foolish it is. There are people who still seem to be confused about that. They refuse to give this show a look because of what was said.

While watching the episodes, I noticed that these characters actually had realistic backgrounds. They had a history. Many historical events and people were mentioned throughout the show and being a History major, I was able to understand the conversations and banter that went on. Archie, Edith, Mike and Gloria were not one-dimensional, flat, stick-thin characters, like with the many politically correct shows of today. The Bunkers were real. Finally, I had found a show, other than The Simpsons, that made me laugh out loud. The writing and acting was superb. Then, for some strange reason, the dorm cable took away Nickelodeon and I couldn't watch All in the Family anymore. I had to study again. :(

Last summer (2001), I visited Washington D.C. and went to the Smithsonian and saw the Bunker chairs. I took a few pictures. If I had a scanner, I would be able to have them on my site, but as of now, that is not possible. The ironic thing about going to the Smithsonian was that it had been the weekend before Carroll O'Connor died (Thursday, June 21, 2001--R.I.P.).

I've heard many people talk about a very emotional All in the Family episode where a draft dodger shows up and has Christmas dinner with the Bunkers and Stivics. That Thursday night (6/21/01), I was able to see it for the first time and wished I had been interested in this show long before Carroll O'Connor died.

During my last semester of college, Nickelodeon was not brought back in the line-up. Once I graduated (with a B.S. in History, minor in English), I was able to get "reacquainted" with Archie, Edith, Mike and Gloria. From then on, I began to collect the Columbia House All in the Family Special Edition tapes via Ebay and tape other episodes off of TV. Now, I would like to show you my favorite All in the Family episodes. The summaries and thoughts are written by me. Thank you for visiting and enjoy my Favorite All in the Family Episodes Page and More Favorite All in the Family Episodes Page!

I have also included a page for the Archie Bunker's Place episode 'Archie Alone' (a.k.a "Edith's Death" episode) with my summary, quotes, and thoughts.

Recently, I wrote a AITF/ABP fan fiction story entitled 'Starting Over'--check it out!

If you have any questions or thoughts about All in the Family or Archie Bunker's Place please feel free to e-mail me at the address below.