What Was the Purpose of All in the Family and Jeffersons Reboot
Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei starred as Archie and Edith Bunker in ABC'south re-creation of All in the Family unit and The Jeffersons, a live effect staged in front end of a studio audience and broadcast in Goggle box'due south prime time. Eric McCandless/ABC hide caption
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Eric McCandless/ABC
Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei starred equally Archie and Edith Bunker in ABC's re-creation of All in the Family and The Jeffersons, a live event staged in front of a studio audience and broadcast in Goggle box's prime fourth dimension.
Eric McCandless/ABC
There was a bittersweet quality to ABC'southward triumphant two-hour live sitcom special on Wed night. At least, for me there was.
On the sweet side, watching talented stars like Jamie Foxx and Woody Harrelson re-create archetype scripts from All in the Family unit and The Jeffersons was a shot of pure, uncut nostalgia. In that location are few spectacles as entertaining as these guys mugging their ways through impressions of classic characters like George Jefferson and Archie Bunker — in live performance.
For those of us raised on the original stuff — the inspired swagger of Sherman Hemsley as cocky-made success George; Carroll O'Connor'due south vividly accurate, Queens patois as Archie — fifty-fifty the distant echoes evoked past Foxx and Harrelson on ABC's live special were entertaining. And, of form, Foxx stole the show by improvising his style through an inevitable line flub. ("It'due south live," he said, turning to the audience while his co-stars struggled to keep directly faces. "Anybody sitting at dwelling house ... retrieve they TV just messed up.")
Harrelson actually struggled a bit as Archie; I never quite bought him as a cluelessly bigoted (yet somehow lovable) working-class schlub from Queens. And his labored efforts to make those old-school punchlines sing revealed just how much O'Connor'due south grounded performance helped sell the material back in the 24-hour interval.
Marisa Tomei fared much improve besides-meaning wife Edith Bunker, smoothing over Archie'due south barbs with a manic earnestness very close to the magic Jean Stapleton one time managed weekly. Wanda Sykes was hostage, but uncharacteristically subdued, as Louise "Weezy" Jefferson.
They, forth with a cast of fellow stars, re-created ii actual, unchanged scripts from All in the Family and The Jeffersons that originally aired in the 1970s, on sets painstakingly copied from the originals, directed by the great sitcom craftsman James Burrows. Hosted past late-night talker Jimmy Kimmel, who dreamed up this revival, the live outcome also had the approving of the TV legend who helped develop both shows: 96-year-old executive producer Norman Lear.
Lear'south benediction came before information technology all started, delivered while sitting in Archie'south legendary living room chair: "The language and themes from almost 50 years ago tin still be jarring today," he said, as a scrap of a warning. "And nosotros are still grappling with many of these same bug."
It was a loving tribute presented like a Broadway play. So why did watching it brand me feel and so, well, odd?
Wanda Sykes (from left), Will Ferrell, Kerry Washington and Jamie Foxx — playing characters from The Jeffersons — were among many famous actors tapped for ABC's prime-time live special. Eric McCandless/ABC hide caption
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Eric McCandless/ABC
The 2 episodes they re-created, "Henry's Goodbye" from All in the Family and "A Friend in Need" from The Jeffersons, centered on a farewell party for George'south brother held at the Bunker home, and an statement between the Jeffersons over whether they should hire a maid.
Function of the problem was the rigidness of the setup. With no changes to the scripts, actors had a tough fourth dimension delivering a fresh take on their characters. When Archie, Edith, George and Weezy beginning burst onto TV screens in the early 1970s, no i had seen characters like them on network television. This time, nosotros saw pale imitations through the brume of fond memories.
Frankly, I'k manner more interested in seeing Jamie Foxx play a George Jefferson in today's world than I am in seeing him re-create another thespian's signature grapheme in a way that feels a little too much like an old In Living Color skit.
As well, much equally we might despair that the country hasn't moved far enough on problems of racial equality and fighting prejudice, the fact is: We have changed. Equally show, note that ABC felt the need to insert a lengthy bleep over George Jefferson'southward use of the N-word in a scene on Wednesday; that same scene was unbleeped when it originally aired in 1975.
Yous can bickering that networks are too politically correct these days to air a give-and-take contained in quite a few hit rap singles. But back in the 1970s, network TV — the medium of the masses — didn't seem to care much whether anyone was put off by ane of the worst racial slurs in our nation'southward history. Changing that attitude sounds like a skilful thing.
I don't usually find fulfillment in straight-upwards TV nostalgia. I prefer the reboots and reinventions of old TV shows that accept archetype programs in new directions, like Star Trek: Discovery or the new Latinx-centered Political party of V. So even while I was impressed by the scope of ABC's revival, I was also a chip disappointed. Is the future of network tv actually going to be so focused on re-creating its by?
Withal, there were astonishing moments Wednesday. Jennifer Hudson was her usual incandescent self, belting out a voice-and-piano version of The Jeffersons' theme "Movin' On Upward" to transition between the two different episodes. Kerry Washington and Will Ferrell were inspired choices to play the interracial couple Helen and Tom Willis. And bringing in Marla Gibbs to reprise her part as the Jeffersons' maid Florence was a squeamish bear upon.
Given that the special was Wed'south most-watched show with more than x million viewers, and all the goodwill generated past this experiment, I'm sure there will be more than classic sitcom revivals in network Television receiver's futurity. Simply I promise at that place's also some energy expended on making the new renditions unique and fresh in their own ways, rather than only re-creating shows nosotros originally fell in love with because they were then original in the offset identify.
Patrick Jarenwattananon and Nina Gregory produced and edited this story.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/23/726223769/all-in-the-family-and-the-jeffersons-revival-delivers-nostalgia-for-what
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