Imagine if Lucille Ball decided to continue the Lucy Ricardo character after the I Love Lucy show/Lucy-Desi Comedy hour concluded and the character had divorced Ricky on the show and Fred had died. That's what Archie Bunker's Place feels like. The dynamic is gone and you feel it more acutely because the characters you grew to love are missing.
I understand the perspective that the Archie character "evolved" in this series but he evolved into something kinder and gentler and consequently less funny. To keep O'Connor and the production staff at CBS working, they should have developed a new series, like "The Lucy Show." You could have had a curmudgeonly grandfather character, obviously similar to Archie, but a fresh storyline where you're not in the living room of the characters you're missing. Alas, if only Norman or Carroll had taken my telephone call in 1979....
I understand the perspective that the Archie character "evolved" in this series but he evolved into something kinder and gentler and consequently less funny. To keep O'Connor and the production staff at CBS working, they should have developed a new series, like "The Lucy Show." You could have had a curmudgeonly grandfather character, obviously similar to Archie, but a fresh storyline where you're not in the living room of the characters you're missing. Alas, if only Norman or Carroll had taken my telephone call in 1979....