cousin maude's visit

Cousin Maude’s hearty laughs on 1973 ‘All In The Family’

In the midst of the golden age of sitcoms, All In The Family’s third season introduced us to an episode that’s as memorable as it is delightful. “Cousin Maude Comes To Visit” isn’t just another episode; it’s a ride through the brilliant comedic chemistry that defines classic television.

As our beloved Bunker family finds themselves under the weather, the entry of Cousin Maude, played by the indomitable Bea Arthur, transforms a sick day into a comedic spectacle. We’re immediately transported into the living room where the dynamics of family, illness, and unanticipated visits converge. Every dialogue and interaction is a testament to the writing that makes us feel part of this intimate, albeit hilarious, family gathering.

As viewers, we revel in the iconic standoffs between Archie and Maude. The battle over Archie’s coveted chair isn’t just a fight for a seat but a dance of wits and humor, emblematic of the genius storytelling that All In The Family was celebrated for. This wasn’t just television, this was an experience that invited us into the lives unfolding on the small screen, and we were all too happy to be part of the chaos, the laughter, and the unscripted magic that made every episode a familial gathering.

In this world, you and I are not just spectators. We are family members, privy to the internal workings of a household marked by its unapologetic candor and comedic brilliance. Remember Archie’s classic quips? They weren’t just lines from a script; they were echoes of a bygone era where humor was as natural as the familial bonds that held the Bunkers together.

As Maude’s unexpected visit turns the Bunker household upside down, we are reminded of the unscripted moments that define family. We laugh because we see our own family reflected in the antics on screen. We are not just witnessing the unfolding drama; we are active participants in a narrative that’s as familiar as it is extraordinarily special.

And as the laughter subsides and we return to our own world, the episode lives on, a testament to a time when television was not just entertainment but a shared experience. The brilliance of “Cousin Maude Comes To Visit” lies not in its scripted lines but in its ability to transcend the screen and embed itself in the collective memory of its audience.

So, we invite you to immerse yourself in this classic once more, because every viewing is a return to a time of uncomplicated joy and unbridled laughter. Hit play and let the nostalgia wash over you, reminding you of a time when family, in all its chaotic glory, was the epitome of television gold.

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Classic Hollywood:  Bea Arthur took ‘Maude’ out of ‘Family’s’ shadow

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“Cousin Maude’s Visit,” the Dec. 11, 1971, episode of the groundbreaking CBS comedy series “All in the Family,” introduced TV audiences to the unforgettable Maude Findlay, the outspoken, liberal and feminist cousin of Edith (Jean Stapleton) who took no guff from conservative Archie (Carroll O’Connor) even when he called her a “big-mouth buttinski.”

Producer Norman Lear recalled that the episode was airing on the East Coast when he got a call from the network’s programming head, Fred Silverman.

Silverman told Lear that Maude, brought vividly to life by Bea Arthur, deserved a series of her own.

And Lear couldn’t have agreed more.

Lear, whose autobiography, “Even This I Get to Experience,” was recently published, had seen Arthur in a 1955 off-Broadway show, “The Shoestring Revue.”

“She sang a Sheldon Harnick song called ‘Garbage,’’’ said the multi-award-winning writer-producer-political activist. “She was standing under a streetlight at night singing about a guy who treated her like garbage. I used to do ‘The George Gobel Show,’ and I used to bring her out to guest star.”

Lear knew the tall, husky-voiced actress would be perfect as Maude, who never met a grudge she couldn’t hold. “What I learned from my own family life was that there was nothing like a relative with an ancient grudge,” Lear said. “They picked it up off the floor and across 20 years.”

Maude made one more appearance on “All in the Family” in spring 1972 with Marcia Rodd as her daughter, Carol, before CBS premiered “Maude” that fall. The first spinoff of “All in the Family” became an instant hit with audiences.

Besides Arthur, the series starred Bill Macy as her fourth husband, Walter Findlay, the owner of Findlay’s Friendly Appliances in Tuckahoe, N.Y.; Adrienne Barbeau replaced Rodd as her divorced daughter and young mother, Carol, who lived with them; Esther Rolle as the bright, no-nonsense maid, Florida, who would get in her own spinoff, “Good Times,” in 1974; Conrad Bain as Walter’s conservative friend Arthur and later Rue McClanahan as his wife, Vivian.

On Tuesday, Shout Factory is releasing the six seasons of the sitcom on DVD complete with such extras as “Cousin Maude’s Visit,” two unaired episodes of “Maude” and a new featurette with Barbeau and Macy.

Though the series premiered 43 years ago, “Maude” is surprisingly fresh and relevant. The comedy tackled such taboo sitcom subjects as mental illness — Maude was diagnosed as bipolar — alcoholism and racism. And though Maude was much closer to Lear’s own liberal political bent, he wasn’t shy in sending up liberals.

“These are human problems that we don’t seem to beat,” said Lear.

“Maude” had been on only two months when the series aired the controversial two-part “Maude’s Dilemma” episodes. The 47-year-old had learned she was pregnant and eventually made the agonizing decision that she would have an abortion. When the episodes, written by Susan Harris, aired, abortion had recently been made legal in New York but the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion was two months away.

“We had to do two episodes,” recalled Lear. “We couldn’t get it done in one. This is where program practices was helpful. If I remember correctly, there was a great guy in New York who ran program practices at the time. As a result of a conversation with me, we invented a friend of Maude’s — she was only in one show — who had four children and was pregnant with her fifth.

“She couldn’t afford the four she had, but there was no way in the world she would have an abortion. That was the strongest way we could present the other side.”

The reason Lear could discuss such hot-button topics, said Barbeau, was “that he was doing it with humor. They were funny. He was never knocking the audience over the head with some socially significant issue he wanted to advance. He was entertaining them, making them laugh and hopefully making them think a little bit.”

“Maude” was Barbeau’s first TV series. She had been playing Rizzo in the musical “Grease” on Broadway when she was cast in the sitcom.

“One of the reasons I was hired was because they saw something in me that complemented Bea’s delivery,” said Barbeau, who remained close to the actress until Arthur’s death in 2009. “Almost everything I know about comedy came from Bea. I loved her dearly. Bea set the tone. She was first the first one in the rehearsal hall in the morning and the last to leave.”

Like Arthur and Barbeau, Macy also came from the New York theater. Lear had seen him in 1966 in an off-Broadway comedy “American Hurrah” and was taken with a comedic scene in which Macy’s character was choking on a chicken bone.

“The audience was screaming,” said Macy. “It was a very funny moment.”

After doing a short guest spot on “All in the Family” as a cop, he was cast as long-suffering Walter, who during the course of the series is forced to come to grips with his drinking problem and even falls into a depression when he loses his job.

“Bill Macy and Bea together were just priceless,” said Lear.

Macy recalled one evening shortly after the series began when he and Arthur were sharing a slow elevator at CBS Studios on Beverly Boulevard.

“We were strangers at the beginning,” said Macy, who would bring the actress pastrami sandwiches every Friday. “One night Bea and I were on the elevator going down and it took forever. In the middle of the silence she looked at me and said, ‘Bill, you are a rock. Despite your lack of humor, you’re a rock.’ I never forgot that.”

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All in the Family Season 2 Episodes

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A sitcom about the bigoted Archie Bunker. He was simultaneously lovable and pathetic and, series creator Norman Lear said, 'the bigger-than-life epitome of something that's in all of us, like it or not'.

Season 2 Episode Guide

24 Episodes 1971 - 1972

The Saga of Cousin Oscar

Sat, Sep 18, 1971 30 mins

After his freeloading cousin Oscar dies during a visit, Archie can't find any relative willing to help with funeral expenses. Whitehead: Jack Grimes. McNab: William Benedict. Mrs. McNab: Connie Sawyer. Bertha: Peggy Rea. Rev. Mr. Belcher: Will B. Able. Billy: Emmett Walsh. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Gloria Poses in the Nude

Sat, Sep 25, 1971 30 mins

After a famous artist friend asks Gloria to pose in the nude, Archie and Mike picture the process in decidedly different ways. Szabo Daborba: David Soul. Mike: Rob Reiner. Gloria: Sally Struthers. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Archie in the Lock-Up

Sat, Oct 2, 1971 30 mins

Archie, who agrees to warn Mike and Lionel that trouble is brewing at a demonstration they've joined, winds up behind bars. Sergeant: Allan Melvin. Guard: Ken Lynch. Mike: Rob Reiner. Lionel: Mike Evans. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Edith Writes a Song

Sat, Oct 9, 1971 30 mins

Edith wants to spend money on having music composed for a lyric she's written, but Archie would rather buy a gun to defend his home. Coke: Cleavon Little. Horace: Demond Wilson. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Flashback---Mike Meets Archie

Sat, Oct 16, 1971 30 mins

A flashback story recalls the night that "Meathead" met the bigot (or the introduction of Mike to his future father-in-law). Mike: Rob Reiner. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

The Election Story

Sat, Oct 30, 1971 30 mins

It's time for local elections and Archie is battling his political enemies---Mike and Gloria---planning to vote just to beat their candidate. Claire: Barbara Cason. Mrs. Edwards: Ida Mae McKenzie. Policeman: Frank Whiteman. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Edith's Accident

Sat, Nov 6, 1971 30 mins

After she accidentally dents a car's fender, Edith upsets Archie by insisting that she leave a note for the owner. Father Majeski: Barnard Hughes. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

The Blockbuster

Sat, Nov 13, 1971 30 mins

Upset with the upkeep his house requires, Archie decides to sell, and a black realtor offers him $35,000 for the house. Byrd: Jack Crowder. Cousin Bertha: Peggy Rea. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Mike's Problem

Sat, Nov 20, 1971 30 mins

Anxiety over passing his final exams has made Mike impotent, and he reluctantly goes to Archie for advice. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

The Insurance Is Cancelled

Sat, Nov 27, 1971 30 mins

In addition to Archie's insurance being cancelled, he's forced to choose which of three men at work should be fired. Wendell: Philip Proctor. Emanuel: Rafael Campos. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

The Man in the Street

Sat, Dec 4, 1971 30 mins

Archie gives his political views in a "man on the street" TV interview and is all set to watch it when the TV conks out. Bill: Jack Griffin. Kelsey: Bob Hastings. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Cousin Maude's Visit

Sat, Dec 11, 1971 30 mins

When the Bunkers and Stivics are felled by the flu, Edith's cousin Maude (Beatrice Arthur) plays nursemaid and crosses swords with Archie. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Christmas Day at the Bunkers

Sat, Dec 18, 1971 30 mins

It's Christmas, but Archie's not feeling festive because an error on the job resulted in his losing a bonus. Henry: Mel Stewart. Louise: Isabel Sanford. Wilbur: Noam Pitlik. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

The Elevator Story

Sat, Jan 1, 1972 30 mins

Archie's stuck in an elevator with a black lawyer, a ditzy secretary, and a Puerto Rican and his wife, who's about to give birth. Thompson: Roscoe Lee Browne. Miss McCarthy: Eileen Brennan. Mendoza: Hector Elizondo. Mrs. Mendoza: Edith Diaz. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Edith's Problem

Sat, Jan 8, 1972 30 mins

Menopause turns Edith into a tyrant, who's happy one moment and screaming the next, while Archie attempts to be understanding. Waitress: Jeanie Linero. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Gloria: Sally Struthers. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Archie and the FBI

Sat, Jan 15, 1972 30 mins

After a Government investigator questions him about a coworker (Graham Jarvis), Archie's convinced that the man's guilty of something. Bradford: Jon Korkes. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Mike's Mysterious Son

Sat, Jan 22, 1972 30 mins

A young woman (Marcia Rodd) leaves a 4-year-old (Stephen Manley) with Edith, claiming that Mike is the boy's father. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Archie Sees a Mugging

Sat, Jan 29, 1972 30 mins

After witnessing a mugging, Archie manages to get himself in trouble with the victim, the police and the mob. Vicino: Jack Somack. Det. Sgt. Perkins: Frank Campanella. Ralph Silvestri: Sal Bisoglio. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Archie and Edith Alone

Sat, Feb 5, 1972 30 mins

While Gloria and Mike are away, Edith and Archie have a disagreement and she gives him the cold shoulder. Mrs. McNab: Connie Sawyer. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Edith Gets a Mink

Sat, Feb 12, 1972 30 mins

Archie is upset that Edith has accepted a mink cape from her cousin, but changes his tune after the fur is ruined at the cleaners. Amelia: Rae Allen. Russ: Richard A. Dysart. Mrs. Jefferson: Isabel Sanford. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Sammy's Visit

Sat, Feb 19, 1972 30 mins

Sammy Davis Jr. (playing himself) comes to the Bunkers' home to retrieve a briefcase that he accidentally left in Archie's cab. Mrs. Jefferson: Isabel Sanford. Barney: Allan Melvin. Munson: Billy Halop. Mrs. Haskell: Fay DeWitt. Clarissa: Keri Shuttleton. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Edith the Judge

Sat, Feb 26, 1972 30 mins

Edith is the judge in Archie's dispute with a laundromat owner (Jack Weston), who claims that Archie overloaded one of his machines. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Archie Is Jealous

Sat, Mar 4, 1972 30 mins

After he learns that Gloria and Mike spent a weekend together before they were married, an enraged Archie gets another shock from Edith. Tommy: Brendan Dillon. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Mike: Rob Reiner. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

Sat, Mar 11, 1972 30 mins

This episode introduced the spin-off series "Maude," starring Beatrice Arthur as Edith's cousin, whose daughter is about to enter a mixed marriage. Walter: William Macy. Claire: Marcia Rodd. David: Bob Dishy. Repairman: Bernie West. Edith: Jean Stapleton. Archie: Carroll O'Connor.

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Cousin Maude's Visit

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.

Cast Appearances

Carroll O'Connor

Jean Stapleton

Sally Struthers

Episode discussion.

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Ten episodes that show how All In The Family changed television

With so many new series popping up on streaming services and DVD with every day, it gets harder and harder to keep up with new shows, much less the all-time classics. With TV Club 10 , we point you toward the 10 episodes that best represent a TV series, classic or modern. If you watch those 10, you’ll have a better idea of what that series was about, without having to watch the whole thing. These are not meant to be the 10 best episodes, but rather the 10 most representative episodes.

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All In The Family wasn’t the first TV series to tackle controversial subjects such as racism, rape, and homophobia. What was groundbreaking about the series, which ran from 1971 through 1979 and was the highest-rated show on television for five seasons, is that it mined comedy from hot-button issues, and it explored them through characters we got to know every week, as opposed to guest stars on heavy-handed dramas like The Defenders or Marcus Welby, MD.

And boy, did we get to know the Bunkers, the family at the show’s center.

Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) was an antihero decades before the term was regularly applied to TV characters. Archie never totally “broke bad,” but he had a deep mistrust of the human race, and he tried to provide for his family by taking advantage of every opportunity he could find, including his inherent privileges as a white man in America. He wasn’t “politically incorrect” just for the fun of it, which is why so many sitcoms with superficial “Archie Bunker types” have failed. In the earliest episodes, his cynical worldview is primarily challenged by liberal son-in-law Mike (Rob Reiner) and daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), both boarding at the Bunkers’ while Mike attends college. But by the second season, wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) assumes the show’s voice for optimism and compassion, and her slow struggle to pull Archie away from his comfort zone of suspicion and bitterness becomes the main theme of the series.

With 202 episodes (not counting the 97 episodes of the far more subdued sequel series Archie Bunker’s Place ), All In The Family is a challenge for the completist viewer. Power-watching the first season, when creator Norman Lear was trying to get everyone’s attention, means sitting through almost nonstop yelling and a lot of racial slurs. Our suggestion: Start a little later. Here are 10 episodes from throughout the series’ run that are essential watching.

“Edith’s Accident” (season 2, episode 7) In one of the series’ comic highlights, Edith describes how she accidentally dented a parked car with a can of cling peaches (in heavy syrup!) that bounced out of her shopping cart. Archie is furious that she left a note with her address and phone number, certain that the car owner will file an inflated, fraudulent insurance claim. ( Archie certainly would.) By now, Stapleton has caught up with O’Connor in terms of fully inhabiting her role, and the “dingbat,” as Archie calls her, proves a formidable opponent from this point on. She’s triumphant in one of the first episodes to directly pit her view of human nature against Archie’s.

“Cousin Maude’s Visit” (season 2, episode 12) This isn’t a superlative entry in terms of storytelling or character development, but it’s a good example of the show at its most topical. Edith’s stridently liberal cousin Maude (Bea Arthur, who quickly got a spin-off— Maude —on the basis of this episode) stays at the Bunkers’ to help nurse the flu-stricken family, and Archie and Maude rehash arguments going back to the Great Depression. Until All In The Family , specific political references were rare on sitcoms, so viewers got a thrill from two characters bickering over the merits of Franklin D. Roosevelt (the “first creeping socialist,” as Archie calls him) and Richard Nixon, just as real families did. Archie’s conspiracy theories would be a natural fit for today’s talk radio; he blames the Civil Rights movement on Eleanor Roosevelt’s “running around with the coloreds and telling them they was getting the short end of the stick!”

“Edith’s Problem” (season 2, episode 15) Archie usually rails against social change, but in this episode, he’s no better at coping with the “change of life.” Edith is going through menopause, which gives her hot flashes and also lets out, in short bursts, all the pent-up frustrations she has with Archie. She even throws one of his favorite insults back, telling him to “stifle!” Stapleton is riotously funny but always believable. Archie, of course, longs for the day when women’s “interior problems” were not discussed: “If you’re gonna have the change of life, you gotta do it right now! I’m gonna give you just 30 seconds. Now, come on, change!” Lots of formerly taboo plots became sitcom standards after All In The Family tried them, but menopause has remained mostly untouched—partly because it would be so hard to match Burt Styler’s script, which earned the first of the show’s three Emmys for writing.

“The Threat” (season 3, episode 3) The realistic way All In The Family examines the Bunkers’ marriage remains one of the show’s most pleasantly surprising elements, especially considering the shopworn “battle of the sexes” approach of Till Death Do Us Part , the British sitcom on which it’s based. In this episode, Archie, usually the epitome of sexual repression, is titillated by a young woman (the trophy wife of an old friend) who’s staying at the Bunkers’. Even more unsettlingly, the situation tests Edith’s usual sunniness and hospitality, for once making her the Bunker who is suspicious of an outsider.

“The Bunkers And The Swingers” (season 3, episode 7) Michael Ross and Bernie West, who co-wrote this episode with Lee Kalcheim, went on to become executive producers of Three’s Company , and the Emmy-winning script for this all-out sex farce could have easily been adapted for that sitcom. Edith, taking the Suzanne Somers role, naively answers a personal ad from a couple seeking “new friends.” They turn out to be spouse-swappers, played with sweet sleaziness by Vincent Gardenia and Rue McClanahan (later Blanche on The Golden Girls ).

“Archie Is Branded” (season 3, episode 20) As if their house had been picked up and dropped into a war-torn country during the night, the Bunkers wake up one Sunday to discover a swastika painted on their front door. In this episode, reminiscent of The Twilight Zone , the Bunkers and Stivics are the inadvertent target of an anti-Semitic terrorist group, and Archie finds common ground with a Jewish vigilante who takes an “eye for an eye” approach to violence. The episode is distinguished by its disturbing (and Rod Serling-esque) conclusion, but the first half makes it one of the show’s funniest entries, thanks to Archie’s attempts to cover up the vandalism and the havoc caused by Edith’s ill-timed effort to bake a cake.

“Gloria Sings the Blues” (season 4, episode 22) This is another episode that nearly recalls Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From A Marriage , but this time, it’s Gloria who’s going through a crisis, suddenly seeing Mike as “a stranger.” By now, Edith has transcended her dingbattery to become a source of comic wisdom, and she tells Gloria of the time she looked at Archie and had a similar experience: “I didn’t know him. And what’s worse, I didn’t want to know him.” Meanwhile, in a funny counterpoint scene, Archie insists that Mike put on his socks and shoes the “right” way, underscoring how his unshakable certainty about even the most trivial matters helps to banish difficult questions from his mind.

“Edith’s Night Out” (season 6, episode 24) Cheers may be the reigning sitcom set in a bar, but it never matched “Edith’s Night Out” in showing the transformative effect of a night at the neighborhood watering hole. After Archie once again insists on staying in to watch TV, Edith goes on her own to Kelcy’s bar, and her genial nature makes her the life of the party. Archie shows up and is shamed into taking Edith out to dinner and making plans for the next Saturday night. But the newly empowered Edith tells the crowd at the bar that if Archie reneges, “I’ll be back!” This is a sweet episode that, typically, remains funny because of O’Connor and Stapleton’s sharp performances. Its moral—that you’re never too old to come out of your shell—is the basis for a lot of sentimental movies, but it rarely works as effectively as it does here.

“Cousin Liz” (season 8, episode 2) “Cousin Liz” puts a period on the years-long debate between suspicious Archie and open-hearted Edith. She shames Archie away from blackmailing a lesbian schoolteacher by simply saying, “I can’t believe you’d do anything that mean.” He finally trusts her judgment—as opposed to pushing forward only to have his reactionary views blow up in his face, which happens in many early episodes. The episode, for which a quartet of writers won an Emmy, is kind of a greatest hits of All In The Family bits, featuring Archie’s malapropisms (he says that Jews wear “yamahas”), his bizarre theology (explaining to Edith that people lose their genitals when they enter heaven), and Edith’s penchant for endlessly rambling stories.

“Two’s A Crowd” (season 8, episode 16) Archie has bought Kelcy’s and moved up to the entrepreneur class, so he can finally do things his way. In this bottle episode, Mike accidentally locks himself and Archie into the bar’s storeroom for the night, so they get drunk and share secrets and insults. (“I am not the one who sponged off of me for five years and didn’t earn nothing but the name of Meathead!”) Most strikingly, Archie essentially admits that he inherited racist attitudes from his own father—and says it would be a betrayal to change them. (“How can any man who loves you tell you anything that’s wrong?”) Though not the official finale, this is a fitting capstone for the series. All In The Family ’s ninth and final season, without Mike and Gloria, is the broken chips at the bottom of the bag—tasty but not worth eating until there’s nothing else left.

And if you like those, here are 10 more: “Meet The Bunkers” (season 1, episode 1); “The Saga Of Cousin Oscar” (season 2, episode 1); “Flashback: Mike Meets Archie” (season 2, episode 5); “Archie And Edith Alone” (season 2, episode 19); “Sammy’s Visit” (season 2, episode 21); “Lionel Steps Out” (season 3, episode 5); “Archie In The Cellar” (season 4, episode 10); “Edith’s Friend” (season 5, episode 22); “The Draft Dodger” (season 7, episode 13); “Edith’s 50th Birthday” (season 8, episode 3)

Availability: The complete run of the series is on DVD, with a box set due for release in October. As of now, most episodes are posted on YouTube, with a rotating selection of episodes streaming on Hulu.

Next time: In the not-too-distant future/ as in right next week/ a guy named Erik Adams/ will tell you which Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes to watch. (Sorry. We couldn’t make that one scan.)

Ep 12. Cousin Maude's Visit

• December 11, 1971
• 8.7   (340)

Edith's liberal Cousin Maude to comes to help out after Archie, Mike and Gloria come down with the flu.

• Genres Comedy
• Cast Carroll O'Connor Jean Stapleton Rob Reiner Beatrice Arthur
• Channel CBS
• First Aired December 11, 1971
• Runtime 26 min
• Language English
• IMDB Rating 8.7   (340)

All in the Family - Season 2

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20 Episodes

S2 e1 - the saga of cousin oscar, s2 e2 - gloria poses in the nude, s2 e3 - archie and the lock-up, s2 e4 - edith writes a song, s2 e5 - flashback: mike meets archie, s2 e6 - the election story, s2 e7 - edith's accident, s2 e8 - the blockbuster, s2 e9 - mike's problem, s2 e10 - the insurance is canceled, s2 e11 - the man in the street, s2 e12 - cousin maude's visit, s2 e13 - christmas day at the bunkers', s2 e14 - the elevator story, s2 e15 - edith's problem, s2 e16 - archie and the fbi, s2 e17 - mike's mysterious son, s2 e18 - archie sees a mugging, s2 e19 - archie and edith alone, s2 e20 - edith gets a mink.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired Mar 11, 1972

Archie and Edith travel to upstate New York to attend Carol Findlay's wedding. Archie and Edith travel to upstate New York to attend Carol Findlay's wedding. Archie and Edith travel to upstate New York to attend Carol Findlay's wedding.

• Norman Lear
• Don Nicholl
• Carroll O'Connor
• Jean Stapleton
• 4 User reviews
• 1 Critic review

• Archie Bunker

• Edith Bunker

• Michael 'Meathead' Stivic

• Gloria Bunker-Stivic

• Maude Findlay
• (as Beatrice Arthur)

• Walter Findlay

• David Green
• (as Robert Dishy)
• The Repairman
• (as Bernie West)
• (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia In this episode, Carol is portrayed by actress Marcia Rodd . When Maude (1972) became its own series, the role of Carol went to actress Adrienne Barbeau (reportedly Marcia - primarily a theater actress - decided not to join the spinoff). Bea Arthur was quoted as saying she would rather have had Marcia Rodd carry on playing Carol throughout the spin-off, regarding Barbeau's portrayal as too soft, while Rodd played her as hard-edged. Rodd did guest star as a different character in "Walter's Temptation" during the final season of "Maude".
• Connections Featured in Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You (2016)
• Soundtracks Those Were the Days (Opening Theme) Written by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse Performed by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton

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• gcanfield-29727
• Aug 27, 2020
• March 11, 1972 (United States)
• United States
• CBS Television City - 7800 Beverly Boulevard, Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Tandem Productions
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Cousin Maude's Visit (All in the Family Drama Script Books)

By frederic s. mishkin.

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