Archie Bunker to the rescue again

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33189, 31 March 1973, Page 5

Archie Bunker to the rescue again

Archie Bunker would ; hardly see himself as a [champion of the [oppressed, but Thursday night’s viewing being so i dreary of late he might well have taken on such ■ a role to many viewers. After “All in the Family” had been screening for some weeks this reviewer offered The opinion that the programme was as good as any I series previously bought from the United States. ’ If anything our views lin this regard have strengthened since then and in the comedy line we would rate it the equal to, if not better, than any British offering. The story this week again put Archie (Carroll O’Coninor) in the role of the born loser. He committed his I usual number of malapropisms, scored a few direct | hits with his bigotry, but iover-riding all other considerations was that Archie, i the little man—or common man. as he put it—was once again dealt a cruel blow by ifate. His disappointment in having his television interview cast aside to make way for an announcement by the man I (President Nixon) whom he [had spoken of so highly in ■the interview was cleverly (done and, being Archie, it was only natural that his [opinion of the President ■ should so suddenly change. I Although this series must ’mean more to Americans than it possibly can to audiences of other countries, there is still much in the scripts with universal application. One such example this week: the commentator came on the screen after the President had concluded his address and Edith (Archie’s I wife) explained that he was there to tell people what the [President had just said. Archie, himself, provided a gem, a thought so typical of his character when he [worked out that God must ’believe in President Nixon [because the President plays I golf with Billy Graham.

I This was certainly not ’Archie’s night, but through ail his trials he had our greatest sympathy when he sought his family’s recognition by the description “someone you know and love.” The answer he got of “Marcus Welby” might surely have sent a better man " than Archie heading straight for Kelly’s bar — never to return. “Gallery” appears to be going through a rather quiet period at present and one might even go so far as to say that it has lost some of its’ drawing power. Perhaps there are not the lively issues about that there used to be. Or perhaps another Brian Edwards is needed to stir things along a ’little. None of Thursday’s three segments would have had widespread appeal and one wonders what was the purpose of splitting the interview with the American professor of economics, Paul Samuelson —who seems to have been to economics what Dr Spock has been to childraising— into three parts, each at a different location. The first of them, the hotel bar. seemed most inappropriate and should have been rejected if only for the background noise and poor picture quality. ip i<* *•• “The Storefront Lawyers” started out as yet another contemporary story about a young activist (female this time) wrongly accused of a politically-motivated crime. A sure sign that she was wrongly accused came in the first few minutes when her gravel-voiced, beady-eyed and stiff-necked (we often suspect he’s a robot) attorney, Devlin McNeill, said he knew her father well. The story was propped up in the middle stages by the introduction of another contemporary theme, kidnapping, but not sufficiently to save it. There were all the ingredients for tension, but the characters seemed to have as fair an idea as we did how it was all going to end.

I “The Protectors” went in Tor a little sentimentality this week, but like most other facets of this series it was so badly handled that it only I made all concerned look ! ridiculous. On every count the story [was a weak one. The plot | was devoid of originality; | the dialogue full of hack[neyed phrases; and the outjcome as obvious as a black ’eye—and almost as painful. —PANDORA’S GUEST.