All in the Family centered around the Bunker family who lived in a home located at 704 Houser Street in Queens, New York. Archie Bunker was the main character, and what a character he was. He was televisons most famous bigot, crass and down right rude. Yet he was loveable, with a soft side just beneath the surface. Edith Bunker was his somewhat dizzy wife whom he called "Dingbat". Edith put up with Archie and had qualities about her that made her one of television's most unforgetable characters. Also living in the Bunker household were Archie and Edith's daughter, Gloria, and her husband Mike, or "Meathead".
It's Edith and Archie Bunker's 22nd wedding anniversary and their daughter Gloria and her husband Mike are planning a surprise Sunday brunch. Edith is pleasantly surprised, however, Archie's "no big deal" attitude leads to a huge argument with his son-in-law on topics ranging from Archie's prejudices, problems with the nation's government and Mike's atheism.
Mike writes a letter to President Nixon protesting everything that's wrong with America, including the state of the environment and the nation's involvement in Vietnam. Archie finds out, and to refute his son-in-law's claims, he decides he also will write a letter to Tricky Dick, praising the nation's chief.
While moonlighting, driving a taxi for Bert Munson, Archie is in a minor fender bender with a Jewish woman. Archie doesn't think much of it, that is until he hears Lionel's story about how George and Louise collected a fine sum of money (enough to open their first cleaning store) from an automobile accident settlement. Thus, Archie suddenly comes down with a bad case of whiplash and insists on a Jewish lawyer to handle the case.
Mike is set to go down to the blood bank to donate some blood and asks Archie if he would like to donate. Dead set against it, Archie refuses to donate blood because he's afraid that his vital fluids might get mixed in with those of a different race. After some coaxing, Mike gets Archie to come to the blood bank, but Archie takes one look at some blood and passes out.
Roger, a friend of Mike and Gloria's, stops by for a visit. Archie takes one look at him and labels him as gay due to what Archie considers effeminate behavior, even though Mike insists that he isn't. Mike soon makes a realization that one of Archie's drinking buddies, Steve is actually a well-adjusted, sports loving, straight-acting, gay man.
Gloria comes home from the doctor with some news: she's pregnant. This leads to a big argument between Archie and Mike so Mike decides to quit school and move out. Archie doesn't believe him, that is until Mike gets a job in Detroit and plans on moving there. However, plans for a move are suddenly halted when Gloria suffers a miscarriage.
Just before leaving on a flight to Europe, Mike's hippie friends need a place to stay for the night. Mike invites them to stay in the Bunker's living room, however, Archie objects citing that no unmarried couple will spend the night together under his roof. But a night of arguing begins to take its toll on everyone, as the fighting begins to stretch into the early morning hours.
When Jim Bowman sells his house, Archie discovers that a new family is moving to the neighborhood. Fearing that Jim sold to a Jewish family, he goes over to investigate, only to discover that the new family is black. Archie quickly hopes to round the neighborhood up and try to force the family out of the area. However, Archie is in for a shock when he discovers it is Lionel's family that has come to the neighborhood.
Edith is all excited that she has been chosen for jury duty. When Archie realizes that she may be sequestered, he forbids her to be on the jury, wanting to keep her at home to cook and clean for him. When she is sequestered, Archie fends for himself. However, Edith's stay may be longer than anticipated when she turns out to be the hold out vote in a murder trial.
Archie stays up all night, expecting a phone call from a security guard who has inside information. It seems his company is laying off and he fears he may lose his job. With Archie not sleeping, no one else in the Bunker household can sleep either and it soon turns into a three ring circus as a cop, a drunk, a pizza delivery man and Edith's friend Clara all stop by at 4 a.m.
Gloria has been reading books on women's lib and encourages Edith to try a little liberation herself. However, Mike won't take any of her ideas, which leads to huge fight in which Gloria demands that Mike recognize her as an equal partner in their marriage. When Mike refuses to do so, Gloria storms out of the house and moves in with a friend.
A delivery man delivers two gifts to the Bunker household. First, he delivers a box of fancy cigars and then a gift basket with assorted alcohol. Archie realizes they're from his good friend Eddie Frazier, who's hit it big in the used-car trade. However, Mike soon learns that Eddie may not be as successful as he wants people to think.
Archie is all set to go to the Mets game; however, Edith has different plans for the evening after she accepted an invitation to go to dinner with the Jeffersons. When Archie discovers this, he comes up with the excuse that Edith sprained her ankle, thus he turns down the invitation, but this is all in vain, when Lionel suggests Louise bring the dinner over to their house. Meanwhile, Archie discovers that George refuses to break bread with "whitey."
Archie is furious with his houseguest, Cousin Oscar. It seems when they were kids, Oscar bullied Archie and now Oscar is taking full advantage of his visit at the Bunkers. Archie wants to throw him out, but Oscar makes an exit of his own when he turns up dead. This leaves Archie left with the funeral arrangements which drives him up the wall after looking over the costs.
Mike's artist friend, Szabo, is coming to the Bunker's house for a visit. Archie is a bit perplexed for two reasons. First, he is Hungarian. The other is that he sketches models in the nude. Szabo gets a great idea that Gloria should pose in the nude for him (an idea Gloria is all for). However, Archie is dead set against it and Mike doesn't seem to have any problems with it. That is, until Archie's nagging leads to him having second thoughts.
Mike and Lionel are planning on attending a demonstration at the United Nations. However, the rally gets out of hand and news of it appears on TV. This worries Gloria who begs Archie to go down there and get Mike. Later, Mike and Lionel return with reports that protesters were arrested. Pretty soon, the family figures out that Archie has been mistakenly arrested and is trapped in jail with a group of radicals.
Archie gets fed up with a television editorial when this week's issue concerns gun control. Archie rails against gun control, battles it out with Mike and ultimately decides to go on the TV show with a rebuttal. Later, Archie meets his two biggest supporters -a pair of stickup artist who rob him at gunpoint
Archie's Sunday job, driving taxi cabs for Bert Munson, has been a fine extra job for additional income. However, Archie has failed to report the extra income on his tax returns. Archie goes down to the IRS to explain, and soon discovers that he will be audited by the IRS. Trying to get out of it, Archie considers bribing the agent.
Archie gets word that an old Army buddy who once saved his life is coming to town with his wife, Bobbi Jo. Archie offers to have them stay at his place. When Bobbi Jo arrives early, Archie gets an eyeful of the voluptuous woman and his guilt over his lust begins to show through to Mike and Gloria. Edith overhears a conversation between Archie, Mike and Gloria and out of concern for her marriage, makes a pivotal decision.
A heat wave hits New York, putting all of the Bunkers in bad moods and, to put salt on an already open wound, the air conditioner breaks down. When the house next door is put up for sale, Archie puts together a petition to prevent more minorities from moving into the neighborhood. Henry Jefferson hops on board when he discovers that a Hispanic family is looking at the home.
The new neighbors, Irene and Frank Lorenzo, settle into the house next door. Soon Archie is annoyed with both of them, as Irene makes friends with Edith and Archie soon grows jealous of all the time that Edith is spending with her. Meanwhile, Archie also becomes annoyed with Frank, whose constant singing filters into the Bunkers home prompting Archie to buy an air horn to combat the noise.
While shopping at the supermarket, Edith befriends a lonely old man, Mr. Quigley, who ran away from the nursing home. Edith swiftly brings him home with her and Archie is less than thrilled to have a constant reminder of his own advancing years hanging around the house. Meanwhile, Mr. Quigley has another problem when he can't get a hold of his uncaring daughter.
Archie and Edith's 26th wedding anniversary celebration coincides with Archie's worry over whether or not his union will be going on strike. When the news hits that indeed there will be a strike, Archie and Edith find out separately and try to keep the news from each other to avoid putting a damper on the party.
With Archie out on strike, household funds have begun to dwindle, leaving Edith in a touch position trying to balance the little household income that is coming in. Meanwhile, tempers flare as Archie finds himself with nothing to do but sit around the house.
With Archie still on strike and the household income dwindling, Edith decides to go out and try to get a job. Louise comes to her rescue offering her a job working in one of George's cleaning stores. However, when Archie hears of this he refuses to take charity and tries to get Edith to turn the offer down.
As Mike and Gloria are getting ready to move into their own home, Gloria comes home with news from the doctor that she's pregnant and announces it to an overjoyed Archie and Edith. However, she is a bit nervous about announcing her unexpected pregnancy to Mike because of his stubborn attitudes concerning overpopulation. When Mike does find out he has a mixed reaction, ultimately resulting in him storming out.
Teary farewells turn into fireworks when Mike hits Archie with five years of repressed rage, only to discover that he and Gloria can't move out for another week after Mike reveals he forgot to turn on the gas and electricity at his new home.
Archie is all excited with the possibility of getting a promotion down at his work. Archie decides that he must try to impress his boss to get the position by making the maximum contribution to his favorite charity and unwittingly donates his body to medical science.
Archie becomes infatuated with Denise, a waitress at a local restaurant. He is flattered when she gives him her number. Later at home, Archie finds himself home alone with Edith busy volunteering at the Sunshine Home. This is when he reaches into his pocket finds Denise's number and decides to give her a call and soon finds himself in her apartment.
Archie shares a kiss with Denise and then then when they get interrupted, he makes a quick exit before it goes any further. However, now Archie tries to keep his encounter from Edith and tries to concoct a story to cover up what happened with Denise, but Edith only grows more suspicious and confronts him, when she finds Denise's number
After Edith walks out on Archie, she spends all her time at the Sunshine Home and Archie has been spending all his time at Kelsey's Bar. Meanwhile, Mike and Gloria do their best to try to get them back together and they set up a meeting at their home. This leads to an emotional reunion for Archie and Edith.
Kelsey has a heart attack, and decides to retire and sell the bar to the first person who can come up with $40,000. Archie is more than eager to buy it and quit his job, but must put his house at risk to get a loan, something that Edith is dead set against.
Edith is upset when she discovers Archie has forged her signature to get the bar. But Mike will influence Mrs. Bunker to change her mind.
Archie and Edith attend the funeral of Edith's unmarried cousin Liz. While Archie is obsessed with possibility of Edith inheriting her money and silverware, Edith has to convince him why she won't be taking any of it after she has a revealing conversation with Liz's longtime roommate, Veronica.
Edith's distant cousin Floyd and his nine-year-old daughter Stephanie visit the Bunkers while passing through on their way from New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale. Archie is shocked when Floyd abruptly leaves without his daughter and is dead set against letting Stephanie stay in his house, which causes her to run away.
Archie and Harry apply for partnership life insurance, and Archie fears his life may be over when an X-Ray reveals a possible spot on his liver. He decides not to tell Edith, but doesn't realize that Barney already has.
While Barney continues to mope around the bar because his wife Blanche left him for another man, Blanche suddenly shows up at the Bunkers' doorstep because her exterminator boyfriend just dumped her in Atlantic City. Edith takes her to the bar to attempt reconciliation, but finds that Archie is urging Barney to do the exact opposite.
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The family manages to collect $30 in the family pot and an argument ensues when Edith wants to use the money to set her lyrics for a song to music. Meanwhile, Archie is disturbed by robberies in the neighborhood and wants to use the money to buy a gun. They ultimately decide to go with Edith, but before Archie can return the pistol to the store, two robbers break into the house and hold the Bunkers at gunpoint.
Mike and Gloria are all excited about their first wedding anniversary and order take-out as a special dinner. Sitting around the dinner table, an argument ensues which leads to Edith recalling the day Archie met Mike. It seems that things even then weren't smooth sailing, however, the real bombshell came when Mike and Gloria also announced that same day that they were planning to be married.
A local election has the Bunker family in turmoil as Mike and Gloria are all for Claire Packer, a woman, which is exactly why Archie is dead set against her. However, once down at the voting booths, Archie soon realizes that he can't vote because he isn't registered, leaving it up to him to try to convince Edith to vote for his candidate of choice.
As she is walking out of the grocery store, Edith accidently dents an unattended car in the parking lot with a can of peaches. However, what infuriates Archie the most is how Edith leaves her contact information so she can pay for the damage caused. As a result, Archie and Mike get into an argument over how honest people are in the world.
The Bunkers are having problems with their furnace which gets Archie entertaining the idea of possibly moving to California. When an unscrupulous black real-estate salesman, Mr. Byrd, offers Archie a hefty sum of money for his home, Archie is all for it despite Mike's warnings that Byrd is a blockbuster (someone who persuades white home-owners to sell by appealing to the fear that minority groups will move into the neighborhood causing property values to decline).
Mike is all stressed out with upcoming exams leaving him impotent and frustrated. Gloria encourages him to discuss it with her, but he refuses. Gloria confides in Edith what the problem is, and in turn she tells Archie. This leads Archie to enter the situation, trying to give Mike advice, but this just makes matters worse
Archie comes home from work in a particularly awful mood because he has to make an important decision at work: whether to lay off a minority worker or a white man. His decision to lay off a Puerto Rican leads to an interesting visit to the Bunker household. To compound his stress, Archie learns that his insurance has been canceled when his neighborhood is redlined as a bad risk.
Archie comes home from work in a great mood and orders Edith to have dinner ready and waiting, because he has an important date to watch the CBS Evening News to see himself on it. Apparently, Archie was interviewed as a man-on-the-street voicing his opinions on Nixon's presidency. However, getting to see himself proves to be difficult for him, when the TV breaks down.
Edith has been running herself ragged caring for Archie, Mike and Gloria, who have all come down with a terrible flu. This prompts her to call on her extremely liberal Cousin Maude to come and stay with the Bunkers and help out. Maude proves to be salt in an already open wound for Archie, who has never liked Maude and vice versa.
It's Christmas Day and Archie is the only one not in the Christmas spirit. Mike and Gloria question him, but he refuses to reveal what's bugging him. The Jeffersons come over to wish the Bunkers a "Merry Christmas", but this does anything but cheer Archie up especially since Henry is dressed as Santa.
The Bunkers are celebrating Edith's birthday at an Italian restaurant in the city when Archie discovers that Edith failed to mail out a payment to the insurance company. This leads him to run across the street to drop it off. However, on his way he gets stuck in an elevator along with a pregnant Puerto Rican and her husband, an aging hippie, and an erudite black businessman
Archie, Mike and Gloria are stunned when Edith becomes a rollercoaster of moods, going from joy to anger to tears in a snap of a finger. Gloria sits her down and suggests that perhaps she's beginning menopause. This worries Edith, who becomes convinced that Archie doesn't love her and find her attractive anymore. Meanwhile, the family tries to cope with Edith.
A man shows up at the Bunker's door claiming to be a government agent and begins asking questions about Larry Grundy, a neighbor of the Bunkers. Archie soon becomes paranoid when he receives a phone call from a neighbor saying that Archie too is being investigated. As paranoia overwhelms him, Archie becomes convinced that he's being watched that perhaps the house is bugged.
Edith answers the door to find a woman on the stoop with a young boy. The woman casually mentions that she's dropping Mike's son off and promptly leaves. Edith now finds herself in the awkward position of explaining to the rest of the family where the boy came from. When he finds out, a stunned Mike doesn't know what to say, but does admit to Gloria that he had been intimate with the boy's mother.
Archie and Mike head down to the store to get some items and on the way out Archie witnesses a mugging. Archie doesn't want to get involved in the matter and refuses to tell the police what he saw. However, when he is forced to get involved, he embellishes his story, citing that the mugging was an attempted mafia hit.
Mike and Gloria go away for eight days to spend some time in a commune, leaving Archie and Edith to spend some quality time together. Archie and Edith settle down for a quiet game of cards but when she lets him win, Archie insults her and they get into a big fight. Edith refuses to forgive Archie until he apologizes.
Edith gets a package in the mail and discovers that it is a mink cape sent to her as a 'thank you' gift by her Cousin Amelia for Edith taking care of her after a surgery. When Archie sees the cape, he is furious (since he takes it the wrong way) and demands that she give it back. However, that's when the cape is ruined in an accident and Archie sees a chance to make a three-hundred-dollar profit.
To get some extra cash, Archie has gotten a job driving a taxi for Bert Munson. Archie is in for a big surprise when one of his passengers turns out to be Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy inadvertently leaves his briefcase behind and arrangements are made for him to retrieve the briefcase at the Bunker house. As usual, Archie's ignorance and bigotry are full force as he nervously awaits Sammy's arrival.
One Sunday afternoon, Archie comes home from the laundromat in fury. It seems that he overloaded one of the machines causing the machine to eat his clothes and cause a flood. The irate proprietor of the laundromat, soon stops by the Bunker home to get Archie to pay for the damages but Archie refuses. Soon Edith is called in to act as judge to decide who is at fault in the matter.
Gloria is reading over an old love letter that Mike had sent her. This leads to a conversation between Gloria and Edith concerning an old flame of Edith's with whom she once spent a weekend. However, when Archie hears of Edith's supposed innocent weekend, he hits the roof and demands that Edith not keep any secrets from him.
Edith's cousin, Maude, invites Archie and Edith to the wedding of her daughter, Carol. However, Carol and Maude are not looking forward to Archie, since the man she is marrying happens to be Jewish. Later, the men and the women have their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties, but a grumpy Archie decides to stay in the motel. Meanwhile, Carol realizes just what her fiancée envisions as married life.
Gloria has become friends with a girl named Tammy and they have been organizing a Women's Fair. Male chauvinism is put to the test when Gloria poses a riddle to Mike and Archie who are stumped when they can't come up with the answer. Archie even goes to his drinking buddies for help, but to no avail. However, it is Edith who suddenly comes up with the answer (an answer that Archie doesn't want to hear).
Archie's niece has been visiting the Bunkers and having a great time. She's even made friends with Lionel and loves going out on the town with him. However, a picture taken of the two of them becomes the thing that clues Archie in on their blossoming relationship and he hits the roof, citing that people should stick to their own race.
Edith comes home from shopping in a terrible state; it seems she had been arrested for shoplifting. Apparently, she had walked out of a store, wearing a wig, while trying to give bus directions to a woman. Edith becomes convinced that she has become a kleptomaniac, after finding that she also "stole" a necklace. Edith begins to obsess and Mike suggests that she see a psychiatrist, however, Edith has something in mind herself; she visits a priest.
Edith finds a magazine on the subway and reads an ad in the "swap" section. Not realizing what is actually being asked for, Edith assumes the couple is looking for friendship. Mike and Gloria, in a rush, try to explain what they really want. However, it isn't until the couple is actually standing in the Bunker's living room that Edith realizes, with a little help from Louise, that they are "swingers" and they want to swap with Archie and Edith.
Mike comes into some money when his Uncle Alex dies and leaves him $275. Archie tries to persuade Mike into giving the money to him for room and board, but Mike would rather give it to George McGovern's presidential campaign. This sparks a big feud, leading to a dinner separation: Gloria and Mike buy and cook their own food while Edith and Archie do the same.
Edith is in a celebratory mood for Mike and Gloria's second wedding anniversary. While sitting around the dinner table enjoying a special cake, the family recalls Mike and Gloria's wedding. They also recall how Mike's Uncle Casimir met Archie and how they butted heads over who would perform the ceremony.
The family continues to reminisce on Mike and Gloria's second wedding anniversary and they recall the actual day Mike and Gloria got married. As Archie and Mike's Uncle Casimir continue to butt heads, Edith must gather up strength to tell Gloria about 'the birds and the bees'.
Edith's antique locket is missing and Archie sees it as a way to collect from the insurance company to buy a new television set. Confident of getting the insurance money, Archie orders a new color set, only to have an insurance adjuster arrive at the house to question the claim.
Both Archie and Gloria come home in bad moods after a hard day's work. This leads to yet another argument over women's liberation. Meanwhile, Mike has been having a pain in the side and the doctor tells him that he needs to have an appendectomy. This leads Archie and Gloria's argument to the proficiency of women doctors. Mike would rather have a more expensive male doctor rather than a cheaper woman doctor.
When Edith finds some old lottery tickets that she has totally forgotten about, Archie hits the roof claiming she was wasting money. However, Archie's attitude quickly changes when the family discovers that one of the tickets is a winner, but there is a catch: Edith claims the tickets don't belong to her, but belong to George Jefferson.
Archie comes home in a fantastic mood for a change and it's all because he has the chance to possibly join a prestigious bowling team, the Cannonballers. After waiting six years, it seems that there is finally a vacancy on the team and Archie is planning to try out, even though the team practices discrimination in admitting members.
Archie has been suffering from a terrible pain in his back and has become a terrible pain to Edith, who has been waiting on him hand and foot. When the doctor takes a look at him, he orders Archie to be admitted to the hospital for tests. This is where Archie befriends the other patient in his room, but because of a partition, Archie doesn't realize the man is black.
Archie begins to realize that he's not as young as he used to be when he finds that he may need glasses. To make matters worse, middle-aged Archie can only envy the eternally youthful outlook of his friend and contemporary, Bill Mulheron. He is especially impressed that the toned, flashily garbed Bill has managed to attract a sexy young bedmate named Tina. However, Archie soon discovers all is not as it seems.
Archie is searching the house for a magazine to prove to Mike that he was right concerning a debate that they are having. However, Archie oversteps his boundaries and searches Mike's room where he discovers a poem that Mike once wrote. This leads to a huge argument concerning privacy and Mike storms out to Lionel's while Gloria and Edith storm out and have a slumber party at the apartment of one of Gloria's friends.
Edith gets an invitation to attend her 30th high school class reunion, but when Archie refuses to escort her, she decides not to go. When her Cousin Amelia shows up to question Edith about her decision, Edith learns that an old flame, Buck, will be attending the reunion. Suddenly, Archie decides that he would like to go. However, when Buck does finally show up, Archie is in for a surprise since the once good looking track star seems to have lost his good looks.
Archie comes home with a brand new watch and claims that he got a bargain on it, since he was told that it was a $300 watch and he got it for $25. Later, Archie is crestfallen when he discovers that the watch is broken. Meanwhile, Mike is convinced that the watch is stolen and encourages Archie to be careful, since the serial number may lead the jeweler to discover that indeed Archie has a hot watch. Thus, Archie scrambles to find a jeweler who will fix it with no questions asked.
One morning Archie gets up, goes to his front door to get the newspaper and is shocked to discover that someone has painted a swastika on his front door. Archie soon gets into a debate with Mike as to who could have painted it and why. As Archie is calling the police to report it, the Bunker home gets a visit from a man from a Hebrew vigilante group who wants to plan some retaliation.
Archie, Edith, Mike and Gloria go out to a French restaurant and recall the events of the day. Each one of them has a vastly different version of the day's events. It seems that the Bunker's refrigerator is on the fritz and a pair of repairmen enter the scene. However, in the end, the fridge doesn't get repaired and it's Edith's version of the day that explains why it didn't get fixed.
Archie swears Edith into secrecy when he begins attending night-school classes to qualify for a high school diploma in hopes of getting a promotion at work. However, Edith spills the beans and soon Mike and Archie must learn to share a study space, but that proves to be difficult.
Gloria comes home from work in a most unusual mood, and confides in Edith that she was attacked near a construction site walking home from work. Mike and Archie call a police detective to the house with the intent of filing a complaint, but have second thoughts when the detective bluntly explains how difficult it is to successfully prosecute a rape charge in this day and age.
Being her time of the month, Gloria is in a complete foul mood and gets into a big argument with Edith, lambasting her for letting Archie boss her around. Soon, Gloria gets into a big fight with Mike and decides to sleep on the couch, however, no one can sleep when Mike and Gloria's bickering keeps Archie and Edith up. Meanwhile, all of this puts a damper on Gloria's birthday celebration.
While spending time at the Lorenzo's home, Gloria admires a statue replica of Rodin's 'The Kiss." Seeing the admiration in Gloria's eyes, Irene gives her the statue. However, when she brings it home, Archie is infuriated by it, citing that it's pornography. There is also another problem that arises when Frank wants the statue back and that Irene had no right to give it away.
Archie comes home in a great mood, bearing gifts of perfume for Gloria and bubble bath for Edith. However, Edith becomes deeply distrubed to find out Archie won money while playing the horses. It seems that he had promised never to gamble again, twenty years prior, when his addiction got so bad that Edith threatened to leave him.
Henry Jefferson seems to be moving away to open up his own cleaning store in another county and Louise and Lionel are planning a going away party. Archie refuses to set foot in the Jefferson's home and George Jefferson refuses to have white people in his home. So when the party is moved to the Bunker's, George makes an unexpected visit and finally meets the Bunkers.
A computer error leads Edith into collecting a small fortune in quarters sent to her in the mail by a prune company. When Archie discovers this, he immediately wants to keep the money and doesn't want Edith to say anything to the company. However, Archie has a computer problem of his own when the Veteran's office officially declares him dead.
Mike is all excited when the Lorenzos and Lionel are coming over after dinner for a game of 'Group Therapy.' Archie takes one look at some of the questions that are asked during a game and quickly rushes off for drinks at Kelsey's bar. Later, during the game, Mike childishly refuses to accept criticism from everyone involved.
Archie becomes concerned when Edith begins attending Irene Lorenzo's church. Edith also begins wearing a Catholic medallion and gets literature on how to be Catholic. This leads Archie to believe that Irene is trying to convert Edith to Catholicism. Meanwhile, with the rising meat prices, Gloria brings home horse meat and makes it for dinner.
Irene installs a new lock on the cellar door just as Mike and Gloria go away for the weekend and Edith leaves for a baby shower. Archie is left home alone. Not having paid attention to Irene's instructions, he locks himself in the basement. After finding a bottle of Polish vodka, Archie spends a long night contemplating his life through the haze of a drunken stupor.
Wanting to try something new, Gloria buys a brunette wig and it immediately arouses Mike, who desperately tries to get Gloria to wear it while they make love. However, Gloria is insulted which leads to a big fight that lands Mike to sleeping on the couch. Meanwhile, Archie is out of town on a Veteran's retreat, but when he arrives home he finds himself in the middle of the argument centering on the wig.
For their 25th wedding anniversary, Edith plans a romantic second honeymoon getaway to Atlantic City, the same place they went on their first honeymoon. However, trying to keep it a secret and get Archie to come along is a challenge, since Archie is all excited about an upcoming basketball game.
Archie is robbed of $50 by a young man while driving a cab for Burt Munson. He files a report at the police station and has every intention of filing charges when the suspect is eventually apprehended. However, he has a sudden change of heart when a lawyer for the young man's affluent father pays a visit to the Bunker residence.
Archie and Irene get into a heated argument about the appropriateness of women playing men's sports, which inspires Irene to challenge Archie to a pool match. While initially eager to accept the challenge, Archie becomes desperate to come up with an excuse to back out when he learns a relevant fact about Irene's past.
The Christmas season has everyone in the Christmas spirit. For a joke, Archie purchases some fake nose and mustache glasses that were on sale, but Mike also happened to go to that same store and hit that same sale. Meanwhile, Edith returns from a doctor checkup and confides in Gloria the fact that she has a lump in her breast and she fears it may be breast cancer.
One evening, Edith and Archie go out for the evening to a party that Edith's Cousin Amelia is having, leaving Mike and Gloria with the house to themselves. When Gloria makes sexual advances on Mike, the two become embroiled in a huge argument, in which Mike insists that the man is supposed to make the first move.
It's Archie's 50th birthday and Edith, Gloria and Mike are planning a surprise party for him. However, Archie finds out about the party and Edith insists that he act surprised when he walks through the door. Meanwhile, Archie isn't so happy about celebrating his birthday when Archie insists that he's 49, but Mike confirms that he indeed is 50 years old, according to his birth certificate.
Archie is all excited when an old friend whom he used to work with, Joe Tucker, stops by for a visit. Archie soon discovers that Joe, who has been unemployed for quite some time, is trying to get a job at Archie's plant. Archie soon tries to sabotage Joe's efforts to land a job at the loading dock because he's afraid the man might be in line for his position.
Gloria befriends the box boy, George, who works at the local supermarket and happens to be mentally handicapped. When Archie discovers this, all of his misconceptions come pouring out and he encourages Gloria not to lead him on. Meanwhile, Archie encourages George to take a break at the Bunker's while George is still on the clock. George's father storms over to the Bunker's home with the bad news that George has been fired.
Edith, Mike and Gloria are each extended a special invitation to attend Lionel's engagement party. However, Archie isn't invited, that is until a big argument between Louise and George results in Louise deciding to invite him. Later, during the party, George is in for a big shock when it turns out that Lionel's fiancée, Jennie has interracial parents.
Archie comes home for a nice dinner that Edith has prepared: beef and mushroom stew. Later, when Mike comes to the table for dinner, he finds Archie has completely finished his meal and then breaks the news that there has been a recall at the supermarkets of a certain brand of mushroom. Convinced that he has food poisoning, Archie rushes down to the hospital for treatment.
As Mike and Archie make final preparations for a weekend fishing trip, Gloria comes home in an especially depressed mood and makes an uncharacteristic derogatory comment to her parents. When Edith is finally is able to get her to open up, Gloria admits to a problem in her marriage that Edith can easily relate to.
Archie stops by Jefferson Cleaners to pick up some dry cleaning and pays with a twenty dollar bill. Later, a furious George shows up at the Bunker's front door claiming the bill Archie passed to him was counterfeit. This leads to two separate arguments: one between Archie and George and the other between Edith and Louise. Louise and Edith quickly make up and soon put a plan into motion that would clear up the entire mess between George and Archie.
As Mike nervously awaits results of final exams that are his last obstacle to graduation, Archie is in an especially good mood, in eager anticipation of Mike finally moving out and being able to pay back the money owed to him. However, Archie doesn't anticipate another possible outcome that would put his celebration on hold for yet another year.
Archie begins to feel like the odd man out, with everyone working in the family except him. Meanwhile, negotiations continue with Archie's union but an agreement is finally made leaving Archie with a raise. However, Archie doesn't realize that the results of the negotiations will leave him worse off than before the strike began.
Archie and Edith are kept up all night with the sounds of an argument coming from the Jeffersons home. This soon leads to Lionel temporarily moving in with the Bunkers after George refuses to allow his son to marry a girl who has a white father. Archie soon gets fed up and tries to get Lionel and George to make peace.
Irene has been job hunting and in her spare time, she has been spending time at her women's club with Edith. Not pleased that Edith has been at the women's club, he decides to help Irene get a job at his company. However, he is anything but pleased when she lands a job as a forklift driver on his loading dock.
Yet another argument erupts between Archie and Mike about the nation and its problems, Mike states that he does not want children. This takes Gloria by surprise and leads to an even bigger argument between Mike and Gloria.
Mike and Gloria worry about Archie's sudden disappearance while on his way to a union convention in Buffalo. Not wanting to upset Edith, they keep this from her who is busy putting together her first Tupperware party and struggles with a short speech that she plans to give.
After discovering that Archie is missing, Edith goes down to the police station with Mike to file a missing persons report. Later, while going through some of Archie's things, Mike discovers a photo of Archie with another woman. This leads him to believe that Archie may have run off with another woman.
Edith has news that Archie finally called home to let everyone know where he was. Supposedly he got sidetracked to a podiatrists' convention in Rochester. Meanwhile, Mike and Gloria get into a big fight about lying which results in a kissing contest, just in time for a welcome home party.
While at work, Archie is in a near fatal accident when a large crate nearly crushes him. This near death experience leads Archie to suddenly become a devout if somewhat hypocritical churchgoer.
In a crooked attempt to buy the building next to his cleaning store, George Jefferson has decided to run for a position on the Republican county commission and needs Archie to sign a petition. Naturally, Archie wants to know what's in it for him if he signs.
The Bunker home gets a visit by a fast talking furnace inspector who cons Archie into signing a contract to purchase two-thousand dollars worth of aluminim siding. Later, Irene and George warn Archie that the man is a fraud but are too late, the installation crew has just shown up.
One of Mike's graduate school friends, Stuart, comes over one evening for a visit and Gloria begins to feel like an intellectual outcast. This leads her to believe that perhaps as Mike becomes more educated in school, he may start looking for a smarter woman.
In celebration of its first 100 episodes, Henry Fonda hosts a retrospective of the previous episodes and explores the relationships and the characters that make up the Bunker household, via flashbacks.Henry Fonda continues to host this retrospective look back at the previous 100 episodes that CBS has aired, taking special look at the relationships and characters of Archie, Edith, Mike and Gloria.
In celebration of its first 100 episodes, Henry Fonda hosts a retrospective of the previous episodes and explores the relationships and the characters that make up the Bunker household, via flashbacks.Henry Fonda continues to host this retrospective look back at the previous 100 episodes that CBS has aired, taking special look at the relationships and characters of Archie, Edith, Mike and Gloria.
Edith becomes friends with Nick Howard, the plumber's assistant who happens to be a convict on a work-release program from Sing Sing. When Archie discovers this, he becomes paranoid and begins to feel unsafe in his home and doesn't want Edith and Gloria left alone with him.
Edith stops by the Jeffersons home to say goodbye to her dear friend, Louise. It seems that George his struck it big with his dry cleaning business and has decided to 'move on up to the East side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky.'
Mike and Gloria have been practicing something call "Fair Fighting" in which they set aside time to vent their frustrations. After seeing Archie yet again push Edith around, wanting her to do what he wants, Mike and Gloria encourage her to try out a little "Fair Fighting."
Archie is hoping to have a relaxing Sunday, but his hopes are dashed when Edith announces that her cousin Amelia and her husband Russell are coming over for a visit. Both Archie and Edith both get a shock and realize that their marriage is in pretty good shape compared to Amelia and Russell, who may be on the brink of a divorce.
Archie steals a box of nails and a drill from work in order to do so home improvements. He soon finds himself at the center of a household debate on morality and becomes worried that Irene will report him when she finds out he has work property.
Edith takes a life expectancy quiz in a magazine and the results state that Edith will live to be a ripe old age. However, when Archie takes the quiz, it only gives him another seven years of life. This has Archie reconsidering his bad habits of drinking and smoking.
Edith goes to Scranton to attend a family wedding. Once there, Edith is reunited with a childhood friend whom she was once smitten with despite thinking that he was her cousin and now learns that they were never related and briefly entertains the notion of infidelity.
After a woman asks Archie to put out is cigar, Archie defends his smoking habit. Soon, the Bunker house is locked in a battle of wills after Mike vows he can go without food longer than Archie can abstain from smoking.
Archie and Edith are all excited and throw a mortgage burning party because they have finally payed off their mortgage. Meanwhile, Mike has completed his graduate classes and begins a fruitless seach for new lodgings. Later, Mike and Gloria agree to rent George Jefferson's old house-even though it means living next door to Archie.
While driving his cab, Archie has a claim to fame when he uses CPR to save the life a one of his passengers, a woman. However, Archie gets a shock when he discovers that the tall, classy dame whose life he saved turns out to be a man. Suddenly, Archie is not so sure he wants to be hailed as a hero.
Mike quickly begins to have second thoughts about whether or not he will be in the delivery room when Gloria gives birth. Meanwhile, Edith is all excited with her friend Sybil who is coming over to make a psychic prediction about the gender of the baby.
As a gag, Irene sends Edith and Archie a chain letter and Edith takes the letter seriously and promptly participates in it to avoid bad luck. However, Archie throws his away and he soon begins experiencing a string of bad luck, which includes him believing that he may have contracted hepatitis.
Mike becomes increasingly worried about keeping a tight budget and he soon finds that the budget has become even tighter when he learns that he is now the sole support of the growing family as Gloria has just lost her job. The reason for her termination just adds fuel to the fire as they learn she was fired because of her pregnancy.
Edith has been busy volunteering part-time at the Sunshine Home for the Elderly and Archie feels abandoned. This prompts him to put his foot down and forbids her to volunteer any more, which doesn't go over very well. Edith puts her foot down and insists that she will keep volunteering as long as she wants too.
Archie has been dreading a company physical and he is worried that if he does not pass he may get fired. He soon finds it difficult keeping his blood pressure down after the family launches into a heavy debate over what to name Mike and Gloria's baby.
With her pregnancy nearing the ninth month, Gloria has become insecure about her looks and begins to suspect hanky-panky when she meets the beautiful blonde Mike's been tutoring after school hours. Meanwhile, Edith and Archie try their best to keep the gift they bought for the baby a secret.
Thanksgiving dinner becomes a family battleground when Archie discovers that Mike and Gloria don't want to impose the family's religious beliefs on their baby. The argument quickly extends throughout the whole dinner with Archie insisting that the baby should attend Sunday school, while Mike and Gloria want their child to decide for itself.
While driving a cab for Bert Munson, Archie encounters a mugger who pulls a knife on him. In retaliation, Archie sprays him with tear gas. Later, Archie finds himself hauled off to court, when an officer gives him a ticket for owning tear gas, which is outlawed.
Gloria is fed up with being pregnant and the fact that she is nine days overdue doesn't help anything. Mike soon finds himself a target as Gloria soon begins to take out her frustrations on Mike. Meanwhile, Edith is excited about an upcoming baby shower for Gloria.
Archie is a nervous wreck when he is scheduled to perform a minstrel number in blackface at a convention at his lodge. He quickly begins looking for a way out and soon gets one when he learns the Gloria has gone into labor. However, little does he know Gloria has become stuck in a phone booth at an Italian restaurant.
Edith and Archie arrive at the hospital and alarmed when they learn that Mike and Gloria have not yet arrived. Meanwhile, Gloria is rescued from the phone booth and later arrives at the hospital and soon must battle through the boredom of a slow delivery.
On New Year's Eve, Al and Trudy stop by prior to their wedding right in the middle of a fight between Mike and Gloria over Mike constantly making descisions without consulting Gloria. To make matters worse, the babysitter for Joey backs out and Mike makes the decision without consulting Gloria to have the wedding in the Stivics' home.
Mike and Gloria are looking forward to having a night on the town for the first time since Joey has been born. However, Archie is distressed when he learns that they have hired a teenager to look after the baby. This leads Archie to take over and must find away to juggle babysitting with his poker game.
Archie becomes friends with a Jewish man named Bernard Bernstein and he asks Archie to go in with him on an invention that he is perfecting. When Edith learns that Archie is planning on giving him $1000, she tries her best to talk him out of it but Archie is persistant on this venture.
Mike is all excited at the possibility of getting a promotion despite the fact that it would mean moving to Minnesota. However, Archie is anything but happy at the possibility of his daughter moving away from him. Later, Mike's integrity is put to the test when he loses it to an equally qualified black candidate.
Archie is not at all pleased after he has a visit with the doctor and learns that he has to go on a diet to lose 25 lbs. Edith does her best to keep him on a healthy diet but when Archie gets fed up he soon turns to Kelsey who begins cooking him his unhealthy dinners. But Quigley shows up to Kelseys and tells him the importance of losing weight and Archie starts changing his ways.
Mike and Gloria's sex life begins to suffer after they have to begin planning their encounters around the baby's feeding schedule. Mike gets Edith and Archie to babysit Joey so they can have some time together but this only leads to an argument. Later, Gloria turns to Edith for advice while Mike turns to Archie.
Archie becomes insistant on having Joey baptized and presents his case to Mike and Gloria both of whom refuse. Meanwhile, as Edith is preparing to donate boxes of clothing to the church, Archie kidnaps Joey and takes him to a church to be baptized without Mike and Gloria's permission.
Following Archie's attempts to get Joey baptized, a broken furnace forces Archie and Edith to spend a few nights under the Stivic's roof and Mike is furious with Archie for secretly trying to have Joey baptized. With Mike and Archie at each others throats, Edith and Gloria try to make peace between the two men.
Gloria surprises Edith with a new outfit and wants to take her and Archie out for a night on the town. Archie refuses which leads Edith to abandon her stick-in-the-mud husband and decides to liven things up on her own by spending an evening out at Kelsey's Bar.
Edith and Gloria are all excited for Michael because he sold an article and it's going to be published in a magazine. Meanwhile, Archie's self-esteem takes a beating when he loses his job on the loading dock. Archie soon finds himself fighting what seems to be an uphill battle with unemployment. He goes down and applies for unemployment but is certainly not impressed with all the legal red tape.
Archie has not been a happy camper since being fired from his job, it seems he has been rendered impotent and also has developed a pain in his side. Archie later gets a job as a janitor, however, a college grad who applied for the same position threatens to jump off the building and Archie does his best to stop the man from leaping to his death.
Archie's pain turns into something more serious as he has to have his gallbladder removed and he is taken to the hospital right away for the operation. Archie's trip to the hospital turns into an ethnic nightmare for him. He's admitted by a Puerto Rican receptionist, treated by a Jewish physician, and is forced to accept a blood transfusion from a female West Indian doctor's assistant.
Archie is recuperating after gall bladder surgery and becomes more comfortable with the fact that blood was used from a female West Indian doctor. However, the hospital bill is not a happy sight for Archie or learning that a pal of his has taken his position at the loading dock, that is until he learns he's been called back to work-with a raise and a promotion.
Archie is fed up with his jokester pal, Pinky Peterson. It seems every time Archie turns around, Pinky is playing yet another practical joke on him. Meanwhile, female impersonator, Beverly LaSalle stops by the Bunkers for a visit and to invite them out to dinner, when Archie gets the bright idea to play a joke of his own on Pinky using Beverly.
To bring in some extra money each month, Archie and Edith decide to take in a boarder in hopes of reviving their battered budget. Archie is less than thrilled to find the border is a pushy Puerto Rican nurse and he disapproves of almost everything about her, the way she talks, her music and her cooking. Meanwhile, another war is brewing, Archie versus a mouse.
Michael almost gets hit by a train and the experience gets him and Gloria thinking about their will and who will get custody of Joey. Michael and Gloria decide not leave Joey to Archie and Edith due to Archie's bigotry. Things hit a boiling point, when Archie brings Joey a machine gun for a birthday present and Michael lets slip their custody plans.
Edith is working at the Sunshine Home when a man grabs his chest and collapses before Edith's eyes. Thinking quickly, Edith begins to perform CPR on him and saves his life. Later, the Bunker household turns into a media circus when Edith is being interviewed for a news program and Archie feels left out.
Archie comes home to find Edith in an usual mood, it seems she ran into some old high school friends, Bummie and Dolores and she has invited them over for dinner. Archie confides in Mike that he once had a brief encounter with Dolores before he married Edith. Little does he know, Edith already knows about their fling.
Archie gets into an argument with Barney Hefner over who has the cuter grandchild. When Archie learns Barney has enter his grandchild in a newspaper's beautiful baby contest, Archie decides to do the same and tries to get the perfect snapshot of Joey. However, he soon has a battle on his hands when Mike and Gloria forbid him to enter Joey into the contest.
After experiencing several symptoms of pregnancy, Gloria urges Mike to get a vasectomy. However, while he is having that procedure done, she gets news that it was just a false alarm.
It's Christmas and Edith. Archie, Gloria, and Mike are hosting Archie's friend Pinky for dinner. Things soon get tense when David, an old friend of Mike's unexpectedly drops by. When David lets it slip that he's a draft dodger, an enraged Archie attempts to kick him out of the house, only to be stopped by an impassioned plea to let him stay by Pinky, because it's what his son, who was killed in action, would have wanted.
Mike tells Teresa and her boyfriend they can have the Bunker house to themselves because Archie and Edith are away for the weekend in New Jersey. However, this turns out to be a bad idea when Archie and Edith miss their bus and come back home that same night.
When Mike accidently breaks Archie's favorite chair panicked Edith, Gloria, and Mike attempt to get it fixed before Archie gets home. However, while enroute to the repair shop, the chair gets thrown away and eventually picked up and put in an art exhibit.
Mike insists on going on a weekend ski trip with his unmarried friends, despite Gloria's concern that she'd feel uncomfortable going to an engagement party by herself. Mike regrets his decision and comes home early, only to witness Gloria arrive home from the party with another man.
Archie reluctantly agrees to deliver Stretch Cunningham's eulogy, unaware that his departed friend was Jewish.
When Gloria finds Edith reading a book on how to spice up her sex life, she urges Mike to have a talk with Archie on how to spice up things in his marriage.
Archie, Mike, and Gloria become stranded on a crowded subway car, and Mike instinctively punches a man in the face when he perceives that Gloria is in danger. The experience causes him to reconsider some of his core beliefs.
The Bunkers and Teresa wake up in the middle of the night to discover a small fire has broken out in the bathroom, which Mike is able to put out in short order. Archie feels that his twenty years of premium payments entitle him to a large insurance payout, but he's in for a shock when the adjuster investigates the cause of the fire.
A game of Scrabble sparks a huge fight between Mike and Gloria, and Mike is forced to spend the night with Archie. This proves to be disastrous, but gives Mike the opportunity to reevaluate the way he treats his wife.
The newspaper accuses Archie's "Kings of Queens" club of being bigoted, which causes him and his friends to fear protests and the loss of their tax exempt status. Archie naively thinks the solution is to initiate one of his coworkers to be a token black and Jewish member.
Archie and Barney's friendship becomes strained when Archie retaliates after being continually harassed by Barney's unleashed dog. When he accidentally runs the dog over and breaks its leg, he makes matters a lot worse, but not in the way he expected.
Archie leaves Edith by herself when he goes to Mike and Gloria's house to help them prepare for her surprise 50th birthday party. She is visited by a man posing as a police detective but quickly finds herself in a life threatening situation.
The family tries to convince Edith to cooperate in the investigation of her assailant and delicately help her through the lasting effects of her traumatic experience. However, it soon become obvious that it's going to take tough love to make a break through.
Edith puts her foot down when Archie demands that she cancel a planned wedding in their house for an elderly couple from the Sunshine Home that conflicts with their scheduled departure for a fishing trip with Barney. However, this doesn't stop Archie from scheming in an attempt to get his way.
Archie is excited for his grand opening, and calls in sick to work yet again so he can be there. The night starts off on a bad note when Harry and Carlos quit due to Archie's unrefined management skills, and things only go downhill when he is forced to turn to his inexperienced family members for help.
Archie becomes stressed out and depressed because his new bar is having trouble attracting customers, his friends have deserted him, and he is being hounded by a bill collector. Hank Pivnik convinces him to take amphetamine pills to help pick up his spirits, which only creates a succession of increasingly worse problems.
Archie breaks his pill habit, but remains in bed depressed and refuses to go back to the bar. His family tries to convince him that his only option to avoid losing the house is to apologize to Harry and make him his business partner.
A power outage and reports of looting in the city prompt Mike to write a letter to the editor about how greedy governments do the same in the name of free enterprise. At the bar, Archie vents his frustrations about how Mike always argues his point and doesn't see things his way. Two men - who have been listening in - approach Archie and suggest that he come to a meeting of the Kweens Kouncil of Krusaders (a chapter of the Klu Klux Klan), where they will come up with a more severe way of "teaching" Mike a lesson.
Archie comes to grips with the fact he just unwittingly joined the KKK and agreed to help them burn five crosses, including one on the Stivics' front lawn. He is compelled to take preemptive action when Mike and Gloria prohibit him from seeing Joey after learning what he's done.
Gloria gets a letter from her friend Debbie Ballantine, who was responsible for arranging a blind date between Gloria and Mike. Gloria recounts the story of what happened that night, when Archie and Edith left her home alone to visit Edith's Aunt Iola.
Edith is thrilled when her good friend, female impersonator Beverley LeSalle, pays a visit and announces she will be playing Carnegie Hall after Christmas. Mike offers to walk her to a cab on his way to the store to buy a new star for the Christmas tree, but tragedy results when they encounter a couple of muggers.
On Christmas Day, Edith becomes despondent and feels betrayed by God as she mourns the death of Beverly. However, she is encouraged to see the situation differently by the seemingly most unexpected person.
During a trip to the Laundromat, Edith is chosen to star in a commercial for "New and Improved Sunny Suds" detergent. Archie is elated at the prospect of the money she could earn, but becomes frustrated when her honest nature threatens to ruin her opportunity.
In anticipation of a large crowd at the bar for Super Bowl Sunday, Archie hires "Boom Boom" Turner as a waitress, rents a large screen projector, and organizes a $500 pool for the game. Unfortunately, everyone finds at the game's conclusion that two of the men in the crowd weren't there just to watch the game.
Edith's Aunt Iola has spent the past two weeks with the Bunkers and Archie is eager to get her out of his house as she prepares to depart and spend two weeks with Cousin Sydney. When Sydney calls and says he can't take Iola, a big fight ensues after Archie insists Iola move into the Sunshine retirement home even though she is healthy and he has a spare bedroom.
The local butcher has developed a crush on Edith, who resembles his recently deceased wife, and has been giving her special deals on meat to keep her coming into his shop. While Archie initially thinks he's harmless, he has a change of attitude after learning that Barney has just lost his wife to another man.
Archie and Mike become locked in the storeroom at the bar while moving empty beer bottles. They decide to start drinking the alcohol to pass the time, which results in them having an intimate conversation about Archie's childhood.
Mike and Gloria have dinner at a Japanese restaurant to celebrate their friends' seventh anniversary together as a passionate, yet unmarried couple. The experience causes them to acknowledge the sad state of their own marriage, and they decide to spend the weekend at a Pocono resort in an attempt to reignite their passion for each other.
Archie's brother Alfred shows up at the Bunker doorstep after being estranged for twenty-nine years. Archie becomes enraged and refuses to reconcile, but reconsiders when he reads the contents of a letter that Alfred gave him and told him not to read until three weeks after he left.
Archie is devastated when he learns that the Stivic's will be moving to California in two weeks after Mike accepts an offer to become an associate professor in Santa Barbara. A visit from George Jefferson makes his day even worse.
On the Stivics' last night in New York, Mike accepts a short notice invitation to have dinner with his new superior, who happens to be in town. This creates an awkward and potentially explosive situation since Edith has been busy preparing a special farewell dinner for them.
In an effort to erase the memory of last night's fighting and create a lasting positive memory before the Stivics depart for California, Gloria and Edith convince their husbands to renew their respective wedding vows in the presence of a minister.
Archie intercepts a letter from Stephanie's father Floyd that explains he will not be returning to pick her up. Edith is more than willing to allow Stephanie to stay indefinitely, but she faces a difficult task trying to convince Archie it's a good idea
Edith is unable to convince Archie to accompany her to her Aunt Rose's funeral because he is unable to forgive Rose for disapproving of him when they got married. However, Edith has to deal with an even more awkward situation when she arrives at the service.
The Bunkers accept an invitation to spend a weekend with Barney and Blanche at their cottage, which turns into a nightmare when their recently reconciled hosts become embroiled in a bitter argument while playing a game of Monopoly.
Archie and his friends get together for an American Legion caucus, but spend the entire evening in their hotel drinking and playing gags on each other. Archie is in for the shock of his life when he wakes up the following morning with an African American stewardess in bed with him.
The Bunkers' television self destructs in a cloud of smoke, and Edith decides she will surprise Archie by purchasing a new one for their 30th anniversary. However, she quickly runs into complications when she tries to apply for $500 in financing by herself.
Edith finally confronts the waitress who tempted Archie's fidelity after Harry unwittingly hires her to work at Archie's Place.
Archie is understandably outraged when he and Harry discover they've accepted five counterfeit $10 bills. Their frustration is compounded when Edith calls from the police station with news that she's been arrested for passing another fake bill she got from Archie.
The Bunkers are eagerly looking forward to the return of the Stivics to celebrate Christmas. However, they are forced to make a last minute change of plans when Edith receives a call from Gloria explaining they won't be able to travel due to Mike's back going out.
Archie, Edith, & Stephanie arrive in Santa Barbara to spend Christmas with the Stivics. However, the happiness they are greeted with is merely an illusion, as Mike and Gloria try to hide the major change in their personal lives to avoid ruining the holiday.
Unable to keep up appearances any longer, Gloria finally tells Edith in the middle of the night that she and Mike have separated because she feels neglected and has been seeing another man. While Archie expresses his outrage and tells Mike he is too good for Gloria, Edith is determined to do all she can to help the Stivics salvage their marriage.
Edith agrees to sing with Stephanie during a parent/student recital at her school's next PTA meeting, much to Archie's chagrin. However, all of their practice appears to be for naught when Edith develops laryngitis on the eve of their performance.
Edith has a run in with her former butcher at the Laundromat, who proudly announces that he's engaged. Edith assumes that this means that he is over his crush on her and regrettably invites the couple to dinner.
Edith eagerly anticipates surprising Stephanie with a party for her tenth birthday, but their celebration is put in jeopardy when Stephanie develops appendicitis. Archie is outraged when he learns that she is going to be operated on by the son of their regular doctor, who Archie knew all too well as one of Gloria's childhood friends.
Archie and Edith are stymied when Archie notices that some of his socks and war memorials have suddenly turned up missing. They realize they have a big problem on their hands when they meet with the principal at Stephanie's school.
Archie finds himself in the middle of a bad situation when a suicidal Barney calls him to announce that Blanche has run off again, this time with the furnace repairman. Archie concludes that Barney needs a new woman in his life, and sets him up with Edith's rich widowed, albeit obese, friend.
Archie's brother Fred returns after recovering from heart surgery and convinces Archie to invest $5000 in a Chinese cafeteria franchise. Their new financial partnership is threatened, however, when Archie discovers that Fred's new wife is only 18 years old.
After an awkward incident at Sunday school, Rev. Chong informs Edith that Stephanie has been raised Jewish. Archie decides the best thing to do is convert her, while Edith wants to enroll her in classes at a local temple.
Edith, who stands by idly as a resident dies, is fired from the Sunshine Home after she admits to the outraged son-in-law that she was just following the woman's wishes to be allowed to die with dignity. Afterwards, she is visited at home by the woman's daughter.
Norman Lear hosts an affectionate look at the high points of his ground-breaking TV series.
Norman Lear hosts an affectionate look at the high points of his ground-breaking TV series.
Norman Lear hosts high points ot the TV series.
Louise Jefferson visits the Bunkers to ask Edith if she could show the house next door to prospective renters. Archie is all for the idea, as he thinks it will ensure that his new neighbors will be white.
Archie and Edith are devastated when Stephanie's dysfunctional father Floyd returns and demands they give him $1000 if they want to keep custody of Stephanie. Archie becomes convinced that Floyd is bluffing and refuses to give in to the demand, despite Edith's pleadings.
Young Dr. Shapiro diagnoses Edith with phlebitis, and orders her to stay off of her feet for extended periods. However, with the bar being busy due to the St. Patrick's day holiday, Edith feels compelled to ignore the advice despite her rapidly deteriorating condition.