When deciding which family based Television situational comedy to compare to the classic show of the 60s and 70s, All in the Family, my mind kept coming back to the infamous family sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. Everybody Loves Raymond began filming in 1998 and focuses on the current time in which it was filmed (late 90s/early 2000s), as All in the Family portrayed your typical middle-class family of the 1970s. The strongest commonality between the two shows lies in the main characters of Archie Burker (All in the Family) and Raymond (Everybody Loves Raymond). Both Archie and Raymond portray your typical hegemonic idea of what being a “man” entails. Both enjoy beer, time with the boys, watching sports, and appearing tough with loud statements of their opinions combined with never-ending jokes at the expense of others. While both Raymond and Archie are lazy, trouble-makers, always trying to avoid taking responsibility for their actions, the types of things the two characters get away with are different because of a difference in production times.
In the 70s, the stereotypical family came hand in hand with the idea that the father was the man of the house, making all the rules, while the wife stayed home and followed the husbands orders. While the family structure might be similar in both shows, the roles vary greatly. In All in the Family, Archie’s wife, Edith, is portrayed as a “dim-wit” who while at times might disagree with Archie’s rude and judgmental statements does not ever raise her voice or attempt to put an end to it. On the other hand, while Raymond’s wife, Debra, might still be a stay-at-home-mom, she does not remain subordinate to her husband’s demands. She actually “wears the pants” in the family. Raymond’s jokes are censored because he must please the wife or he will be walking on thin ice. Archie on the other hand could care less about censoring his comments to his wife’s pleasing; she serves him, not the other way around. This is where the difference in times between the two shows is the most obvious. Roles have changed in the family. Maybe not completely; we still see many households where the man “brings home the bacon” while the woman takes care of the house, but the relationship between the husband and wife is much more equal presently than it was in the 70s.
Although both shows are family sitcoms with similar main characters, the issues addressed in the two shows differ from each other greatly. As observed in the episode of All in the Family screened in class, the issues addressed where very worldly (racism, sexuality, acceptance, etc). The show’s comedic aspects came from the characters’ varied reactions to these issues (focusing on how a typical family would react with the controversial issues of the world). These topics, although still controversial in today’s society (remember all the fights concerning “Don’ Ask Don’t Tell), are so extremely open and present in today’s society (gay pride; almost every TV drama today has a gay couple in it), that a show revolving around them would not generate much popularity (or acceptance). That is why the issues addressed in Everybody Loves Raymond revolve around family issues such as annoying next-door neighbors, avoiding trouble with the wife, jealousy, etc. The humor from this show derives from these issues, more commonly faced daily in your typical family.
Although the shows address different issue for the most part, Everybody Loves Raymond can at times still address the worldly controversial issues but does so by branching from conflicts originally derived within the family and their community.
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