Why Did They Kill Edith Off? - Archie Bunker's Place (1979) Discussion

[–] Dan-136 19 years ago

Right or wrong Carroll O'Connor and the writers felt having Edith Alive and having to explain where she was such as at work or out of town (Jean Stapleton was only willing to do a few episodes a year at most) was handcuffing their storytelling. So they decided it would be better for the development of the show if Edith was dead.

Dan
Webmaster
Archie Bunker's Place Homepage
http://archiebunkersplace.netfirms.com/

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[–] 4-Kane 18 years ago

I've heard that Jean Stapleton felt she had explored everything she could with the character, and that it was her idea to have Edith die. Norman Lear understandably objected to the idea at first, but eventually agreed to it.

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[–] Stone10186 18 years ago

Jean Stapleton actually said that she didn't want to do a 10th Season of All IN the family, and Carroll O'Connor said he would continue.. so they changed the name to Archie Bunker's Place.. but they felt the show still needed more than one original cast member.. so Jean Stapleton said she'll only be on there for several guest appearances. She wanted to pursue different roles so she wouldn't be typecast. Also, she said she felt her character of Edith Bunker was complete so she no longer wanted to be on for Any Season after 10, so in Season 11 (or Season 2), Carroll O'Connor who had the rights said that the public wants to see more of Edith. O'Connor said the audience would be questioning her whereabouts so the only way the audience wouldn't question was if Edith was gone.

All of this Information is on E! True Hollywood Story of All in the Family, if you ever catch it on Television..

-Frank

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[–] sjbradford 18 years ago

The E! Hollywood Story is notorious for errors, so they shouldn't be treated as gospel.

Jean Stapleton was tired of the role, but was willing to continue to appear in 5-6 episodes per year as long as they were shot consecutively (which is what happened during season 1). But O'Connor and his producers felt hamstrung by that situation; check out the first season, where most of the shows can't take place at the Bunker house without an explanation for Edith's absence. Removing Edith from the story would allow them to shift the focus back to the house, and give Archie chances to date, etc. For a show that was running out of gas, this was an attractive option. Stapleton said she was surprised at first that they were going to kill Edith off, but she ultimately agreed with the decision.

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[–] valro 18 years ago

At the time, I read that she didn't want to play that character anymore. The producers decided to have her character die rather than leave. They thought it was the more realistic thing to do because Archie really did love her and never would have divorced her.

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[–] stevenackerman69 17 years ago

Well, Jean came back for the first season but in a limited role. The problem there was people would be wondering where she was. Carroll O'Connor came up with this solution and Lear wasn't too crazy about it. Jean even told Lear that she was only a character and Lear said, "Not to me, she isn't."

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] stevenackerman69 16 years ago

The problem was that people would wonder where Edith was all the time. That was why they killed her off. As for Mike and Gloria, they were both asked to return but Reiner wasn't interested so they wrote that commune story to explain his absence. Personally, I could see Mike doing that in the 80's.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Mtch34 16 years ago

I read that during the final season the producers were looking for ways to keep it alive and bringing Mike into an epsiode or two were in consideration but the season got cancelled before any of the ideas got researched and inot play.

It would be interesting to see Archie confront Hippie Michael for running off to a commune.

Being one of the biggest hits on television I just wonder what kind of special final episode the producers wanted to do if they knew that this was coming to an end...Maybe Edith "spirit" could visit Archie in a dream when he has to make some big decison he has to make and some old friends come by the bar to visit (Maude, George etc) I saw on a website that his answer was no

http://archiebunkersplace.netfirms.com/frubin.htm

I always a little sad watching Archies Place and knowing so many of my favorite charactors are long gone and somehow the whole scenario was a bit more serious. If that happened it might have been a more dynamic ending but I guess we will never know

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[–] ejsnet1 15 years ago

This might help:

http://archiebunkersplace.netfirms.com/frubin.htm

Ed

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[–] stevenackerman69 15 years ago

I think they tried to do a version of Christmas Carol with Jean Stapleton playing all the ghosts, but it never panned out. Mad Magazine did a similar thing in issue 230, where Archie is now a nicer person and the ghosts try to show him he shouldn't be that way. One is Edith, another is Norman Lear, and one other is George.

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[–] tgibbs279 14 years ago

I've read another reason they made the decision to kill off Edith: having an off-screen Edith was the worst of both worlds. First, you never saw her, so the show didn't get the benefit of Jean Stapleton's performance. But the character still "existed," limiting what they could do with Archie's character. But with Edith gone, Archie could become a widower getting back into the dating scene. The producers saw it as a new direction for the show.

I read a TV Guide article from 1983, right after CBS cancelled it. The article was written by Carroll O'Connor. He said that when he found out CBS was about to cancel the show (a shock to him, as he had no idea it was coming), he and Norman Lear and some of the writers pitched the idea that if CBS renewed the show, Archie should get married again -- to a much younger woman. It would cause friction with his friends and his nieces. It would "shake up" the show, they argued, giving it an edgy quality that had been missing. And, as someone has already mentioned, they proposed bringing back Rob Reiner for a few episodes. CBS said no to all this, saying the show had run its course.

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[–] Seanpdineen 14 years ago

It was an important step, to show Archie griving, and finally aware of how much she had loved and shieded him.
Meathead sadly, would have left, because for the charecter it would be about how he felt. He is very simmlar to Spook in Wasserstein's the Heidi Chroicles, a well meaning man, who learns the price of only pleasing himself

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[–] stevenackerman69 14 years ago

I think you meant Scoop, not Spook.

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[–] Seanpdineen 14 years ago

Yes your right. I mispelled because im disabled and writing is difficult.
I met wendy once, a great writer and person.

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[–] Lokisgodhi 14 years ago

I think frankly, they should killed off them both. Micheal abandoning Gloria and his kid was just out of character. By the time they made the change over, communes weren't very common.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] bobgllsp 13 years ago

In one of the 1st episodes of ABP Mike and Gloria come to visit and it's revealed that Mike and Gloria were in a nude protest and Mike was fired from his job.

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[–] stevenackerman69 13 years ago

That was the Christmas episode of the first season. However, they didn't stay there. They did go back to California. I guess Mike got reinstated or something.