"I can't figure it out, Gloria. Twenty years ago, Archie was earning a lot less and we was eating a lot more. And then I always had something left over to put in the savings bank. Now there ain't hardly nothing left in there, and I got nothing to put in. I don't know how long the bank can afford to go on like this." - Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker
All in the Family: The Complete Fifth Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
All in the Family's Bunker and Stivic clans - bigoted Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), his put-upon wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), their feminist (yet immature) daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), and their liberal eggheaded son-in-law Mike Stivic (Rob Reiner) - were always lower-middle class, but season five starts off with them closer to the edge than ever. Archie's union goes on strike, threatening to send the family into poverty, when the season starts off with the four episode story arc "The Bunkers and Inflation." In part one, it seems as if a strike will be avoided, but right before their anniversary party, Archie and Edith separately discover that the strike will indeed go forward. Each tries to keep the information from the other so as not to ruin the celebration. This is quite touching, but the series' crackling dialogue is still evident:
Gloria: Daddy, swearing's just a sign of a small mind.
Archie: Oh, shut the hell up.
The episode is a strong start to both the story arc and the entire season.
In part two, we see Archie on strike. He doesn't really know what to do with himself when not walking the picket line. He is even shocked to learn that Edith has a daytime life that doesn't include him. It's not exactly an exciting life - it mostly involves vacuum cleaners and window washing - but it comes as a surprise nevertheless.
Things become so dire in part three that Archie even agrees to allow Edith to find a job. Unfortunately, the only job she can find is at one of George Jefferson's dry-cleaning stores. (George doesn't want to hire her, saying that "the n*ggers will think she owns the store and the honkies will think we bleached the help." Louise, however, convinces him that at the very least, hiring Edith will upset Archie.) At first, Archie refuses to let her take the job, saying that it's charity, not a real job. Edith points out, "If I don't take this job, we'll have to go on welfare. On food stamps. What do you call that?"
In the final episode of the arc, the strike finally ends. Archie is overjoyed, but as Mike points out to Gloria, with the rising cost of living, Archie has actually ended up worse off than he was before. These four episodes start off the season with a bang. Well written and subtly acted, the use of a story arc sets these apart from the stage bound episodes (found in early seasons and, to a certain extent, here), opening up the series in a natural, realistic way.
An actual strike on the set led to another multiple episode story arc. At the start of the fifth season, Carroll O'Connor insisted on receiving another raise before returning to work. Producer Norman Lear felt that the series could go on just as well without the services of O'Connor. To prove his point, the first three episodes commissioned (and filmed) for season five were "Where's Archie," "Archie is Missing," and "The Longest Kiss." In these episodes, Archie disappears on his way to a convention. Lear's plan was that if O'Connor didn't come to terms with the production company, this would be a permanent disappearance. These Archie-less episodes are so dull that luckily this permanent disappearance never came to pass. In "Where's Archie," Edith prepares to host a Tupperware party when Gloria learns that Archie has not shown up at his lodge convention in Buffalo. In "Archie is Missing," Edith visits the police office to report her husband missing while Gloria and Mike begin to suspect that Archie is having an affair with Mildred "Boom Boom" Turner from down at the plant. In "The Longest Kiss," Gloria, Mike, and Edith await Archie's return after finally hearing from him. These three episodes are the lowest point of this season. The show's writers obviously didn't know how to structure an episode with their star on strike, and it shows. "The Longest Kiss" is especially unfocused, often coming across as a bunch of random ideas simply thrown together to fill a half hour.
Edith continues to stand up for herself in season five. No longer content to merely be a doormat, she tentatively stands up to Archie. In "All's Fair," she insists that Archie "fight fair" using a new problem solving method that Gloria read about. In "Everybody Does It," Edith gives Archie the cold shoulder until he agrees to apologize to neighbor Irene Lorenzo (Betty Garrett). In "Amelia's Divorce," she forces Archie to allow her cousin Amelia to follow through on a planned visit. As Edith and Archie talk to Amelia and her husband, they are surprised to learn that they, the Bunkers, actually have a happy, reasonably well-adjusted marriage compared to the "perfect" Amelia.
To celebrate the 100th episode of All in the Family, the producers brought in film star (and supposed AitF fan) Henry Fonda to host "The Best of All in the Family," an hour long clip show that looked at highlights from the series' early episodes. This episode is presented here in its hour form, not divided into two half hour segments for syndication. The special episode also includes a bit of behind the scenes footage. Anyone familiar with the All in the Family 20th Anniversary special that aired in the early 1990s will recognize many of the clips here - entire sections seem to have been lifted intact for the anniversary show.
In "The Jeffersons Move Up," George Jefferson's thriving dry cleaning chain allows the family to move out of the Bunker's sagging Queens neighborhood and into a dee-luxe high rise apartment on Manhattan's East Side. This entertaining pilot episode effortlessly introduces the entire cast of The Jeffersons: Paul Benedict as eccentric British neighbor Harry Bentley, Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker as interracial couple Tom and Helen Willis, Berlinda Tolbert as Jenny Willis, and Zara Cully as Mrs. Jefferson. This episode is funny, but it also features a touching scene in which Edith attempts to tell Louise how much she has meant to her over the years.
In "Mike Makes His Move," Mike finally finishes school, gets a job, and prepares to move as far away from Archie as possible. The only problem is that he cannot afford a decent place on his starting salary. He and Gloria find a solution, albeit one that is only pleasing to George Jefferson: George lets them rent his now-empty house practically for free just to annoy Archie. It looks like the arguments between Archie and Meathead will continue in season six, only from next door.
Guest stars in season five include James Cromwell (Babe), Charlotte Rae (Diff'rent Strokes), Henry Fonda, and Elizabeth Wilson.
The twenty-four episodes that make up The Complete Fifth Season are divided onto three discs. The three discs are housed in a cardboard digipak decorated with production stills. A folder panel holds a booklet that serves as an episode guide. The digipak slides into a cardboard outer sleeve. The menus are a no-frills affair. Although there are no scene selection menus, the episodes are divided into chapters.
