Before red and blue America, before MAGA and the resistance, before our current blue-collar and white-collar political sorting, there was Archie Bunker and Michael Stivic.

 

As Archie Bunker’s Foil, Rob Reiner Brought Politics Home

Reiner’s “All in the Family” role didn’t just capture the arguments of its time. It gave us a preview of our own.

By James Poniewozik

James Poniewozik is the chief TV critic of The New York Times. In 2023, he wrote an appraisal of the “All in the Family” creator, Norman Lear.