All in the Family is about a working-class white family living in Queens, New York. Its patriarch is Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), an outspoken, narrow-minded man. Archie's wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) is sweet and understanding, though somewhat naïve and uneducated; her husband sometimes disparagingly calls her "dingbat." Their only child, daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), is generally kind and good-natured like her mother, but displays traces of her father's stubbornness and temper; unlike them, however, she is a feminist. Gloria is married to college student Michael Stivic (Rob Reiner) – referred to as "Meathead" by Archie – whose values are likewise influenced and shaped by the counterculture of the 1960s. The two couples represent the real-life clash of values between the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers. For much of the series, the Stivics live in the Bunkers' home to save money, providing abundant opportunity for them to irritate each other. – The show is set in the Astoria section of Queens, with the vast majority of scenes taking place in the Bunkers' home at 704 Hauser Street. Occasional scenes take place in other locations, especially during later seasons, such as Kelsey's Bar, a neighborhood tavern where Archie spends a good deal of time and which he eventually purchases, and the Stivics' home after Mike and Gloria move to the house next door. The house seen in the opening is at 89-70 Cooper Avenue near the junction of the Glendale, Forest Hills, and Rego Park sections of Queens.^[5] Supporting characters represent the demographics of the neighborhood, especially the Jeffersons, a black family, who live in the house next door in the early seasons.

The Jeffersons focuses on George and Louise Jefferson, an African-American couple who have been able to move from a working-class Queens neighborhood to a luxury apartment building on the East Side of Manhattan owing to the success of George's dry-cleaner chain. The show was launched as the second spin-off of All in the Family, on which the Jeffersons had been the neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker.^[6][7] The show was the creation of Norman Lear.^[6][8] The Jeffersons eventually evolved into more of a traditional sitcom but did reference such issues as alcoholism, racism, suicide, gun control, being transgender, and adult illiteracy. The epithets "nigger" and "honky" were used occasionally, especially during the earlier seasons.^[9][10]

Good Times focuses on James and Florida Evans and their three children living in a housing project in inner-city Chicago with their exuberant neighbor and Florida's best friend Willona Woods. The series was a spin-off of Maude (which was itself a spin-off of All in the Family). Florida was employed as Maude Findlay's housekeeper in Tuckahoe, New York, and James (named "Henry") was employed as a New York City firefighter. When Florida and Henry moved to Good Times, the producers decided to change the characters' history to fit a new series that was well into development rather than start from scratch to create a consistent starring vehicle. Henry's name was changed to James, and there was no mention of anything connected to Maude. Good Times was set in a traditional sitcom format, but dealt with serious issues of poverty, social class, racism, addiction, alcoholism, gang violence, gun violence, child abuse, homelessness, and politics. Controversially, in later seasons the show increasingly focused on the popular character of J.J., the Evans' oldest son, whom some critics, including the actors who played his parents, considered a negative stereotype of African-Americans.

The Facts of Life is a spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes in which the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett, moves to Peekskill, New York to work as the housemother of a dormitory at Eastland, an all-girls boarding school. Unusually for a spin-off, it premiered less than a year after the series that spawned it. Owing to its setting in a dormitory, the first season features a large cast of students, but in the second season, the cast was streamlined substantially and for the majority of the show's run, it focuses on Mrs. Garrett and four core girls: spoiled Blair, naive Natalie, gossipy Tootie, and tough Jo. The show's school-based setting combined with its long run necessitated a thematic shift in season five in which Mrs. Garrett leaves Eastland to open a gourmet food shop in Peekskill, and the four core girls come to live with her behind the shop as they attend different schools and work for Mrs. Garrett.

Diff'rent Strokes is about a pair of working-class African-American children from Harlem, New York, Arnold and Willis Jackson, who are taken in and eventually adopted by wealthy white industrialist Philip Drummond upon the death of their mother, Mr. Drummond's housekeeper. Other members of the Drummond household include Mr. Drummond's teenage daughter, Kimberly, and his new housekeeper, Edna Garrett; Mrs. Garrett departed for her own series midway through the second season and was succeeded by two other housekeepers. Early episodes deal with the culture shock of two children of limited means suddenly being vaulted into high society, but these themes were largely dropped in later seasons as the Jackson brothers became used to their privileged life on Park Avenue and began referring to Mr. Drummond as "Dad." Nonetheless, the sitcom continued to address serious issues such as drug abuse, child sexual abuse, disabilities and eating disorders. In doing so, it became one of the era's best-known purveyors of the very special episode.

Co-hosts

• Norman Lear
• Jimmy Kimmel

Guest stars

• Martin Short as Himself – performing the theme song from The Facts of Life in the second special^[11]
• Ja'Net DuBois, Jimmie Walker, and Bern Nadette Stanis as Themselves – cast members on the original series of Good Times^[12]
• Todd Bridges – original cast member of Diff'rent Strokes
• Lisa Whelchel, Mindy Cohn and Kim Fields – original cast members of The Facts of Life

The first special was announced on April 19, 2019 (which aired May 22). Jimmy Kimmel deemed All in the Family and The Jeffersons as his favorite TV series of all-time,^[13] and stated: "the fact that a group of Oscar winners eagerly agreed to play these iconic characters is a testament to the greatness of these shows and their creator, Norman Lear."^[14] On May 10, 2019, it was announced that Anthony Anderson, Ike Barinholtz, and Sean Hayes would be part of the cast.^[15]

Live in Front of a Studio Audience was broadcast from the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California.^[16] Many of the details regarding the special, including which episodes would be performed, guest stars, and other aspects, were kept as surprises to encourage viewership. Lear remarked that "the whole thing was Jimmy's idea", and that the two shows' relevance remained the same in the current political climate, explaining that "seriously, the most amazing thing is listening to these two shows where we agreed word for word — we would not change a word, and nothing has been changed". Lear also hoped that the special could become a larger franchise in its own right.^[1]

Justina Machado was originally announced as playing Florence Johnston; however, during the live broadcast, original The Jeffersons cast member Marla Gibbs made a surprise appearance to reprise her role as Florence.^[17][18] Veteran actress Fran Bennett portrayed Mother Jefferson.^[19] The original episodes aired between 1973 and 1976 on CBS, respectively.^[20]

A second special was announced on November 5, 2019 (which aired December 18), featuring episodes of All in the Family and Good Times.^[21] On December 11, 2019, it was announced that Harrelson, Tomei, Kemper, and Barinholtz would reprise their All in the Family roles, and would be joined by Kevin Bacon, Jesse Eisenberg, and the previously announced Machado in yet to be revealed roles. It was also revealed that Anderson, who previously played Henry Jefferson in the first special, and Patti LaBelle would sing the Good Times theme song.^[22] The following day, the special's Good Times cast was announced: Viola Davis as Florida Evans, with Andre Braugher as James Evans, Jay Pharaoh as J.J. Evans, Asante Blackk as Michael Evans, Corinne Foxx as Thelma Evans, Tiffany Haddish as Willona Woods, and Jharrel Jerome in another yet-to-be revealed role.^[23][24] ABC also announced that it would air special "retro" promos for its current programming during the broadcast, which were modeled upon ABC's on-air presentation from the mid-1970s and early to mid 80s. Several ABC stations similarly planned to air their own throwback promos for local newscasts during the special, such as network owned-and-operated stations WTVD-TV^[25] and WLS-TV.^[26][27] The original broadcast was occasionally interrupted by ABC News special reports of updates on the impeachment of Donald Trump. Nevertheless, the final half hour tied with the Survivor season finale for the number 2 spot, losing to only the season finale of The Masked Singer.^[28][29]

A third special was announced on November 18, 2021, for the principal cast of the Diff'rent Strokes reenactment,^[30] and the cast of The Facts of Life reenactment was announced on November 29.^[31] It aired December 7.^[32]

On January 11, 2022, ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich confirmed that there would be more installments of Live in Front of a Studio Audience.^[33]

Critical response edit

Film critic Caroline Framke of Variety felt that "with meticulous attention to set detail and wig shapes, ABC's live staging of 'Henry's Farewell' and 'A Friend in Need' managed to feel both like an artifact of a nostalgic past and the urgent present", noting that Archie had "retained his notoriously ugly streaks of sexism and racism", while the word "nigger" had to be censored from the Jeffersons episode due to current broadcast standards.^[34] Framke similarly noted that "some of the punchlines reveal[ed] their age, but as Lear warned us ahead of time, far more hit close to home" (especially if one were to, for example, "swap out every Nixon mention for Trump"), and that "the deja vu does tend to create an extra depressing level to the proceedings." She felt that most of the starring roles were trying to "impersonate" their original actors with mixed results (also noting that Jamie Foxx had broken character to point out his flubbed line, blurting out that "[everyone's] sitting at home thinking their TV is messed up"),^[35][34] but that Marisa Tomei "stole just about every scene", and that they were backed by a supporting cast that "more often than not, have had ample experience on their own comedies borne of the Lear tradition". She concluded that "TV could frankly do a whole lot worse than gathering talented performers to tackle smart, topical comedy with such visceral joy that they're practically vibrating off the screen. That the material remains so stubbornly timely is a bonus — and a warning."^[34]

Viewership and ratings edit

The first special was seen by 10.4 million viewers, with a 1.8 rating among viewers 18–49, making it the most-watched program of the night. It ranked #2 for the week in viewers, and #1 for the week in the 18-49 demographic. The live special was followed by a half-hour retrospective on the two shows, All About All in the Family & The Jeffersons (seen by 7.9 million), and the series finale^[36] of Whiskey Cavalier (3.64 million).^[37][38] The special also gave ABC its most watched season-closing Wednesday since 2007.^[39][40]

An encore presentation of the special and retrospective were aired on May 25, 2019, with a 0.4/2 rating/share and 2.49 million viewers.^[41][42]

The second special was seen by 5.8 million viewers, with a 1.1 share among viewers 18–49.^[28][29] Despite the massive drop in viewership, the special scored ABC's biggest audience on the Wednesday before Christmas since 2009.^[28][29]

The third special was seen by 4.8 million viewers, with a .96 share among viewers 18–49.^[43] Despite the decline in viewership,^[44] the special scored the best ratings of the evening.^[45][43]

Accolades edit

• Live in Front of a Studio Audience at IMDb