I can't decide. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the first "adult sitcom", thereby paving the way explicitly for Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, and most of the popular shows since then. It was the first major sitcom to feature a woman nearing middle-age as its star. It was one of the first sitcoms with "real people" on it, and a "woman" as opposed to a "girl." But All in the Family opened the door for progressivism, "issues", and imperfect human beings on TV.

All in the Family b/c it actually tackled issues - race, gender, sex, politics, war, working class households, etc; whereas, MTM only referred to the "Feminine Mystique", which didn't apply in my family b/c the women in my family always worked and didn't require a movement.

So b/c AITF tackled so much of the national scope of life,  it was much more important.

All in the Family b/c it actually tackled issues - race, gender, sex, politics, war, working class households, etc; whereas, MTM only referred to the "Feminine Mystique", which didn't apply in my family b/c the women in my family always worked and didn't require a movement.

So b/c AITF tackled so much of the national scope of life,  it was much more important.


Alot of the people in the women's rights movement weren't just fighting for the right of women to be professionals, they were fighting for eual pay and such.

I agree on the national scope, AITF was more important. But as a "sitcom" and for the sitcom art, you could argue MTM was more important.

Alot of the people in the women's rights movement weren't just fighting for the right of women to be professionals, they were fighting for eual pay and such.

I agree on the national scope, AITF was more important. But as a "sitcom" and for the sitcom art, you could argue MTM was more important.


Really, James? I didn't know that women were fighting for equal pay.  ::)  :P Did I miss that in all my history courses?

For the time, they were both important, though AITF was funnier.

Really, James? I didn't know that women were fighting for equal pay.  ::)  :P Did I miss that in all my history courses?

For the time, they were both important, though AITF was funnier.


Oh, don't have such an attitude. I'm sorry if it sounded like I was talking down to you...I wasn't. All the women in my family worked as well, except for like two generations on my mother's side of doctor's wives.

I think AITF seems a little dated now, because it was so topical about the '70s.

Oh, don't have such an attitude. I'm sorry if it sounded like I was talking down to you...I wasn't. All the women in my family worked as well, except for like two generations on my mother's side of doctor's wives.

I think AITF seems a little dated now, because it was so topical about the '70s.


Didn't you notice the smilies? They were telling how I was being tongue in cheek.

Didn't you notice the smilies? They were telling how I was being tongue in cheek.




I wasn't assuming you didn't know that and I knew you were being sarcastic.

I'd call All in the Family more important if I have to choose.  But I see them as so different in style, it's hard to compare.  But AITF really did create some real life kind of characters and tackle the tough issues head on.  Perhaps the characters of AITF were a little more...raw...that it stands out to me as more effective.

I wasn't assuming you didn't know that and I knew you were being sarcastic.


Cool beans

ALL IN THE FAMILY

I do think Norman Lear pushed the social agenda too hard at times, AITF dealt with real issues and current events, but managed to stay comedic...usually.
The reason AITF worked was Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton were funny. That was the heart of it all. If the show had not had such gifted actors in the lead (Stapleton, O'Connor, Reiner), the heavy-handed social stuff would have gone over like a lead balloon.

Today the comical portions of the show still work. Furthermore, the conservative versus liberal banter between Archie and Meathead is still relevant. The specific references are long gone, but the issues regarding politics, race, religion, values, and hypocrisy are still with us. I mean Archie really does sound like Limbaugh, it's amazing!

Where the show is dated is on the "women's lib" stuff. It's not that women today have achieved complete social parity with men, but that the popular culture has changed too drastically since the '70s to make the humor work. I can watch time and again the episodes about race and class, emphasizing Archie versus Mike, or Archie versus the Jeffersons. I cannot stand the episodes that deal with Mike and Gloria's marital problems. It's not just the datedness. "Gloria" is a weak character, and Sally Struthers is a crummy actress. She was fine as part of the banter among the other cast members, but why they thought Gloria's constant crying jags added anything to the program is beyond me!

All in the Family.

Like said, it blew the lid off many issues and tackled important social topics of the day.  It changed the style of television as a whole- no more "too good to be true" television families, real conflict between characters, etc.

Though it could get a little preachy at times, (also like said) the comedy aspects of the show still hold up today.

All In The Family, if only because it was something you hadn't seen on TV before at the time, and something you really don't see on TV now.  I can't imagine a sitcom made today getting away with HALF of what AITF got away with in 1971.  It was ground-breaking and controversial and thought-provoking and it came out at the right time. 

Watch the UK counterpart to 'All in the family' called 'Till death us do part' and then you'll know what pushing the boundaries is all about.

Anybody interested in an episode, give me a PM and I'll see what I can do for you.

All in the Family. I wasn't alive prior to the premeire and I wasn't alive when it ended, but I can see how it would have impacted society at the time. Mary Tyler Moore was liberating for women and it did bring up issues, but All in the Family took the cake  ;D