8. All In The Family
Norman Lear's All in the Family is about a working-class family called the Bunkers, which consisted of the conservative, bigoted patriarch Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), his dim-witted but sweet "dingbat" wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), his daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), and his stubbornly liberal son-in-law "meathead" Mike Stivic (Rob Reiner). Archie and Mike's combative and passionate arguments with each other about the biggest controversies in America was, and still is, a big draw and strength to All in the Family. It is one of the first American sitcoms to deal with heavy subject matter such as racism, sexism, homophobia, reproductive rights, breast cancer, the Vietnam war, and even rape. The show also broke minor television taboos along the way, such as depicting characters belching and even toilet flushing (yes, toilets were never flushed or even mentioned on television prior to this show). Edgy shows today own their existence for All in the Family's willingness to not pull its punches. This is a show nobody should miss. All in the Family is a groundbreaking show, but it is not the first show EVER to deal with tough issues. It is actually based on a British sitcom called Till Death Us Do Part (1965-1975), which is just as controversial, and sometimes a bit further than its American remake. Archie Bunker's British counterpart is a reactionary dockworker named Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell), who constantly screams out his racist and anti-socialist to anybody within earshot, mostly to his immediate family. The Garnett family consists of Alf's "silly moo" wife Else (Dandy Nichols), his daughter Rita (Una Stubbs) and her insufferable liberal son-in-law Mike Rawlins (Anthony Booth). Alf and Mike engage in the same heated arguments as Archie and Mike Stivic, but sometimes Else and Rita gang up a bit on Alf if he goes too far.
Despite their ignorant and extreme views, Archie and Alf are both popular characters on both sides of the pond, though I personally view Alf as worse than Archie.