lynn: i m mr. belevedere! gerrad hall: by the late 80s family sitcoms were very popular among the big three networks. gerrad hall: there was this incredible resurgence. jesse: this is great, we should be mothers. joey: ah yeah! ethan alter: families tuned into these tv shows to see an aspirational version of what family life could be. urkel: did i do that? jennifer keishin armstrong: shows like silver spoons and growing pains and all that. it s constant hugging and learning, right? [audience clapping] ethan alter: with the family sitcom at the height of its popularity, fox started moving into the television arena. cedric: fox was new, building their network. they were one of the last majors to build a network. patrick gomez: they decided they were going to use the family sitcom to do that and compete against the big three. peggy: al, look at our little girl. we don t really have to go to a recital, do we? ethan alter: and they wound up going in a completely opposite direction. sort of
al: now bud, apologize to your sister. bud: no. al: okay. anita sarkeesian: married with children is full of trash people that do horrible things and say horrible things. al: quiet you morons! paul reiser: you were always aware they were just wise guys, you know, zinging each other. al: peg, how could you sell the family playboys? jacqueline coley: looking back on it now, i don t know how that show stayed on air. kelly: is this okay, mom? i haven t worn it since grandma s funeral. jim colucci: married with children helped put fox on the map. ethan alter: this idea of a darker family presentation spoke to people who were bored with what the main family sitcoms were offering at the time. al: family before you go, would you bring old daddy s shot gun and stand close together?
4 students are killed. ethan alter: but some people didn t want to hide from what was happening. drew carey: people were like, no, we want to hear about all this stuff and how it s affecting our families. that s when shows like all in the family came on. ethan alter: norman lear was at the beginning of his career and was looking to find a show that he could really make his own and he was turned on to a british series called til death do us part . norman lear: it was about a bigoted father and i was said holy moly. that was the way i grew up, and i knew i had a show. crew: air pilot. take one. ethan alter: they shot the pilot at abc. it featured carroll o connor and jean stapleton as archie and edith bunker. actor 1: we just don t see any evidence, of god. alright? actress 1: that s right daddy. archie: i know we had a couple of pinkos in the house but i didn t know we had a pair of atheists. ethan alter: it was not well received by abc. they watched it and felt the chemistry wasn t th
ethan alter: but some people didn t want to hide from what was happening. drew carey: people were like, no, we want to hear about all this stuff and how it s affecting our families. that s when shows like all in the family came on. ethan alter: norman lear was at the beginning of his career and was looking to find a show that he could really make his own and he was turned on to a british series called til death do us part . norman lear: it was about a bigoted father and i was said holy moly. that was the way i grew up, and i knew i had a show. crew: air pilot. take one. ethan alter: they shot the pilot at abc. it featured carroll o connor and jean stapleton as archie and edith bunker. actor 1: we just don t see any evidence, of god. alright? actress 1: that s right daddy. archie: i know we had a couple of pinkos in the house but i didn t know we had a pair of atheists. ethan alter: it was not well received by abc. they watched it and felt the chemistry wasn t there between the parents
jim colucci: the cosby show had proven that the family sitcom was a viable genre again. [audience laughter] lynn: i m mr. belevedere! gerrad hall: by the late 80s family sitcoms were very popular among the big three networks. gerrad hall: there was this incredible resurgence. jesse: this is great, we should be mothers. joey: ah yeah! ethan alter: families tuned into these tv shows to see an aspirational version of what family life could be. urkel: did i do that? jennifer keishin armstrong: shows like silver spoons and growing pains and all that. it s constant hugging and learning, right? [audience clapping] ethan alter: with the family sitcom at the height of its popularity, fox started moving into the television arena. cedric: fox was new, building their network. they were one of the last majors to build a network. patrick gomez: they decided they were going to use the family sitcom to do that and compete against the big three. peggy: al, look at our little girl.