All in the Family vs. Family Viewing Hour

It's hard to believe in more ways than one, but in 1975 the FCC established Family Viewing Hour, which reserved prime time before 9pm for "family-friendly" television. A Federal Court abolished Family Viewing Hour in time for the Fall 1977 season, but by then the provocative comedy All in the Family had been moved from its very comfortable roost at 8pm on Saturday. This was before video recording became a popular phenomenon, so the schedule shift probably mattered more than it would today.

Here's a great clip of the All in the Family cast responding to Family Viewing Hour with a parody of the show's theme song. Jean Stapleton and Carroll O'Connor are at the piano, backed by Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner.

Thanks to Frank Santopadre for the lead!



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SUZANNE PLESHETTE (1937-2008) AND ALLAN MELVIN (1923-2008)

Suzanne Pleshette, actress and recent widow of Tom Poston, will be well-remembered for playing Emily Hartley on the original Bob Newhart Show. As noted here just days ago, Pleshette and Poston sent out a funny 2007 Christmas card despite their ailments.

The name of Allan Melvin probably won't be remembered by many for very long, but he was also a significant television presence. Best known as Sam the Butcher on The Brady Bunch, he also appeared on The Phil Silvers Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, All in the Family, and Archie Bunker's Place. His voice-over contributions included work on Magilla Gorilla, The Flintstones, and The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.

Here he is in a Liquid-Plumr commercial, kinda doing a Bert Lahr thing.



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