STARCHIE'S BONKERS PLACE

ARCHIE BUNKER'S PLACE
(1979-1983) CBS

The show continued where All in the Family (see previous entry) left off. Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) bought the neighborhood bar and the show mostly took place there. Early on his wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) died and he was left to take care of his niece Steffie (Danielle Brisebois).

The original show was about a working class bigot always complaining about a changing world. His daughter and son-in-law lived with him and they were always at odds about politics, current events, and the differences in generations. He hated the African-Americans next door and they hated him just as much. It was very much a product of the early 70s. But without those things or even his wife as a sparring partner, the second version of the show now longer had any bite to it. Something MAD addressed in their parody.

MAD #228, January 1982
w: Arnie Kogen
a: Mort Drucker

Archie enters the bar and greets the cast. His partner Harry (Jason Wingreen), regular customer Mr. Van R. (Bill Quinn), friend Barney Hefner (Allan Melvin), and waitress Veronica (Anne Meara). They are visited by former partner Murray (Martin Balsam).

His maid Ellen Canby (Celeste Holm) is surprised when he doesn't throw racial slurs at her.

Then the Christmas Carol homage begins. Archie is visited by three ghosts, the first of which is producer Norman Lear.

The second ghost is his late wife Edith.

The third ghost is George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) the aforementioned African-American neighbor he would fight with.

A clip from the episode of All In the Family with Sammy Davis Jr. is on the write-up of that show.

Unlike A Christmas Carol, there's a fourth ghost in this.

Archie realizes being a racist is what made him what he was. (Hope the slurs aren't triggering anything for anyone. That's what he was like). Funny how ythe parody shows he's no longer a bigot while being condescending, which would be bigoted as well.


. ARCHIE'S BONKER'S PLACE
Crazy #93, February 1983
w: David Allikas
a: Kent Gamble

The intro is to the tune of the All in the Family theme song.

The premise of this parody is the bar is doing slow business. First they install video games (people weren't exactly racially sensitive 40 years ago).

Jose (I think the writer thought is name was Juan) and Raul were the two cooks.

Another niece Billie (Denise Miller) was added later in the show.

As was co-worker Katherine (Yvonne Wilder).

Archie finds out what's been taking his business away.


MORK AND MINDY MEET LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY FOR HAPPY DAYS AT ARCHIE'S PLACE
Wacko #1, 1980
w: Paul Laikin
a: Kent Gamble

This is a mash-up of several shows but I'm putting it here because there are many, many many more parodies of those three other shows, all of which are forthcoming.

Mork (Robin Williams) and Mindy (Pam Dawber) are already there.

The person in the last panel is Fred (Dean Scofield), a waiter from early on in the show Archie clashed with because of his homosexuality.

Laverne and Shirley (Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams) walk in.

Richie and Fonzie (Ron Howard and Henry Winkler) from Happy Days are next.

The “18½ minutes” refers to the missing gap in the Watergate tapes.


ARCHIE AN' THE “SHRINK”
Sick #132, April 1980
w: Arnold Drake
a: Jack Sparling

I guess this is a parody of this show. It doesn't say so, but it was printed when the show was airing in the first season when Edith was still alive.

They missed out on an opportunity for a joke when they talk about a moon and he has no pants.

His fare is a psychiatrist who leaves his briefcase behind. Archie has to go to his office and return it.

The lost briefcase plot was used in the episode of All in the Family with Sammy Davis Jr. that I just mentioned. The psychiatrist rewards him with sessions.

He punches the doctor during the session and now must take over for him.

He can't carry on the charade and the patent finds out he's an impostor anyway. Then he goes back home.


On radio show The Best Show (now a podcast), comedian Tom Scharpling takes calls from listeners, often one is a ringer who is his partner Jon Wurster, and the conversations often turn into one about the TV show he saw nobody else knows about that only aired once. One call was about the final episode of Archie Bunker's Place, which ends with Archie going to CBGB's to find his niece and he ends up dying in the electric chair.