.....Mike was a complete jerk, living rent-free and always shooting off his mouth. He had opinions on everything. In reality, anyone living at the pleasure of others should be more humble.
And, Sally Struthers wasn't a very good actress. She was more of a caricature.
Carroll and Jean made the show.
It was supposed to satire everybody
I did not like it bc it was basically my grandparents who my parents could not stand. We did not fund it funny.
Yes, the humor was supposed to come from the Liberal "Meathead" and the Conservative Archie. It worked very well.
But, 40 years later, Mike seems like a real jerk. Maybe it's because *I* am now 40 years older and can no longer relate to Mike. 🙄 ❓
I know what you mean. I had a set of grandparents almost exactly like Archie and Edith.
Sally Struthers is a fine actress, and her 2 Emmy win was not easy to come by. A caricature is an entity who overplays like a cartoon, which she did not do. Sitcom comedy is double-belief, which is what you're seeing in her. She was not offered Day of the Locust (yes, offered) for no reason; she was not a big enough name to offer for "bankable-name'' status
.and Edith could not be considered caricature-like?
Have to agree - Struthers is a terrific actor. Look how good she and Reiner are in "The Games Bunkers Play", where
Archie leaves for the show (kind of refreshing, actually) and (it appears) the neighbors and Gloria gang up on
Mike.
Since watching more of this in reruns, I've changed my opinion of Sally.
She was a fine actress in both the comedy and drama segments.
What initially turned me off was her exaggerated, open-mouth cry: "WAAAH!"
It was reminiscent of "Lucy Ricardo," and in my opinion, it wasn't funny when Lucy did it. It looks and sounds like it's coming from a half-wit.
Mike shot his mouth off as a response to Archie. If someone was rattling opinions about politics all the time that you strongly disagreed with, you'd shoot off, too.
shareWhile watching a couple of episodes of this every night, I think they're both too much.
I guess it was more tolerable once a week. 🙄
The Meathead was supposed to be the voice of the left, and as a youth I usually sided with him. Now that I've grown up I can see that he was a self-righteous, annoying hypocrite. Not only that, but Archie, in spite of his blustery, blue-collar manner, was much more aware of reality and more rational. He should have kicked Meathead's ass out the first season.
shareOne more season and Meathead would be ranting about Archie's praise for Reagan. Good thing TDS wasn't around!
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