When I was in the fourth grade, my scheduled bedtime was 9:00, but on Monday nights I was allowed to stay up a half an hour later to watch ALL IN THE FAMILY, since it started at Nine and ended at 9:30. This was considered special treatment for me, and I totally appreciated it!
I remember my dad remarking what a weird kid I was, being probably the only fourth grader whose favorite shows were All In The Family and MAUDE. But they weren’t the ONLY shows I liked, it was the only ones I got to stay up later to watch! Daytime syndicated shows were Brady Bunch, Family Affair and Gilligan’s Island, but nights were for One Day At A Time, Jeffersons, Maude, and yes, All In The Family!
I’m not sure what made the show so interesting for me, but I watched it diligently every week. The stories were always great, even if most of Archie’s racial slurs were above my head! The Jeffersons, the Lorenzos, Mike, Gloria and ever-suffering Edith...they all had to sit back and watch Archie learn the hard way about being bigoted and hard headed!
The Bunker household became as well known to me as my own house, and I never dreamed that it was a set I was watching. I remember years later, watching MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, and thinking, “Hey! It’s the Bunkers’ House!” because it had the same layout. In fact, I sometimes wonder if that was supposed to be a sly joke.
Come to think of it, I remember having the same reaction when the show “IT”S YOUR MOVE” came out, and thinking they were living in the apartment where ONE DAY AT A TIME was shot! But I digress…
One part of the show that I always HAD to watch was the ending credits, because I just LOVED the ending song “Remembering You” , that jazzy piano piece by Roger Kellaway with lyrics (added later) by Carroll O’Connor. I remember they would usually cut off the song before the first chorus would end, so I would wait in anticipation for the odd times the song played “complete”, so to speak. Plus, back then they had TV announcer voice-overs talking during the song, and that just drove me mad.
Searching on Youtube, I came across the ending credits someone had uploaded, and sure enough, it cuts off before the piano gets to the “re-mem-bering-you” line…SHUCKS!
