One of, if not the most, successful television series of all time, "ALL IN THE FAMILY" has made its debut on dvd from COLUMBIA TRISTAR with a specially packaged presentation of the entire first season.  The show, starring Carroll O' Connor as Archie Bunker, a lovable bigot, is often hysterical, but, more importantly, thought provoking as well!

Adapted from a british t.v. series, "All in the Family" is distinctly American!  It captures the politics and atmosphere of the '70s like no other show has done.  Unfortunately, after too many seasons, the series lost the creativity so prevalent in the early years.  The first season still holds much of its shock factor, even today. It's hard to imagine the same show could have been made today.  There's "nothing" politically correct about Archie, and the fact that he was allowed to speak the way he did, in the '70s, shows just how daring a series this was!

The episodes offered here include:

Meet the Bunkers-arguments over whether or not Archie is a bigot, surround the wedding anniversary being held for Edith and him.

Writing the President-After Meathead writes President Nixon about his anger at government policy, Archie decides to write his own form of apology.

Oh, My Aching Back-Archie tries to find a Jewish lawyer to help him with a phony whiplash accident he's involved in.

Judging Books By Covers-One of the funniest surprise endings occurs in this episode, dealing with preconceptions over whom might or might not be gay.

Archie Gives Blood-serious racial issues don't prevent some hilarious moments in this episode.

Gloria's Pregnancy-Things get crazier in the Bunker home, when Gloria lets out that she's pregnant.

Mike's Hippie Friends Come to Visit-Archie is up in arms when Michael's "less-than-cleanly" friends expect to stay over.

Lionel Moves into the Neighborhood-One of the best episodes, in which we meet Lionel. But, then again, almost every episode in this season is spectacular!

Edith Has Jury Duty-Archie reveals his true dependency on Edith when she's taken away for jury duty.

Archie is Worried about his Job-Obscene phone calls complicate the Bunker home, as Archie awaits while he awaits a possible firing by phone.

Gloria Discovers Women's Lib-Meathead's own prejudices come out when Gloria and him disagree over women's equality.

Success Story-One of Archie's army pals comes to his home seeking more than Archie realizes.

The First and Last Supper-The Jeffersons offer a dinner invitation, which Archie tries to get out of.

COLUMBIA TRISTAR has presented the series in the same 1.33:1 aspect ratio which the show was presented in.  While the image appears to be comparable to the television airings on cable, it's not nearly as sharp as we've grown to expect from most COLUMBIA TRISTAR releases.  To begin with, fleshtones vary, sometimes, not just scene-to-scene, but "minute-to-minute!"   Another problem lies in video noise.  There are numerous scratches, lines, and other defects apparent in various spots, throughout the season's episodes.  The image is still generally sharper than the VHS counterpart, but not by much!

The show, of course, was made before "stereo" tv, so the monaural track offered is pretty dull, but non-problematic.  Its fidelity limitations only become apparent in a few argument scenes.