# All in the family...son died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483 "2014-12-06T04:48:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/21 "2014-12-06T20:58:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > For a sec, I thought this was an obit thread for Rob Reiner. I wondered if it would be that too. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/22 "2014-12-06T21:06:18Z")
I just watched the Beverly LaSalle episode where he gets mugged with Mike. I watched it appreciating how great the actors were. All of them. There’s nothing that compares as far as sitcoms today. As dated as it is now, it really was something for it’s time. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/23 "2014-12-06T22:30:41Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Also, there was Michael’s Uncle Cas ( **Michael Conrad** ), who went upstairs and never came down. Michael went up to get him, and came back down saying he had died. Wow! Uncle Cas was Sarge from Hill Street Blues? I’ve not seen that episode in a long time. I recall he was way left of even Micheal and gave Archie a lot of grief. I guess I just don’t recall who played him, till now. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/24 "2014-12-07T02:21:04Z")
Geez! Now I’m on a binge watch of All In The Family. I remember one scene that really had me curled up laughing on the floor. When Gloria claimed she was allergic to kidney beans and Mike thought she was making it up so he called her on it and she ate a bean to show him how allergic she was. The way Sally Struthers pulled off that scene was effin hilarious and such great acting. I need to find that one next to see if it’s as funny as I remembered. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/25 "2014-12-07T03:07:04Z")
> [@MissSwitac](#): > > Wow! I am now the same age of Walter from Maude. Walter!! > And yes…I mourned the death of Rob Reiner for a half a second. > I can still picture Mike Stivic coming down the stairs with that dopey stunned look on his face after finding dead cousin Oscar. > > Off topic… Anyone remember a couple episodes with a transvestite type character? Bev? A man who dresses as a woman? Edith became close with him/ her? I’m wracking my brain here. Didn’t this character die from getting beaten up? Beverly LaSalle. [http://all-in-the-family-tv-show.wikia.com/wiki/Beverly\_LaSalle](http://all-in-the-family-tv-show.wikia.com/wiki/Beverly_LaSalle) Archie met her when he was moonlighting as a cab driver. Beverly passed out in his cab and he performed CPR. If I recall correctly, when he found out later that she was a man he was a bit put out by the fact that he had performed mouth to mouth resuscitation on him. In spite of everything Archie eventually became fond of him if not totally accepting of his lifestyle and was upset when he died. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/26 "2014-12-07T03:16:49Z")
> [@MissSwitac](#): > > Geez! Now I’m on a binge watch of All In The Family. > > I remember one scene that really had me curled up laughing on the floor. When Gloria claimed she was allergic to kidney beans and Mike thought she was making it up so he called her on it and she ate a bean to show him how allergic she was. The way Sally Struthers pulled off that scene was effin hilarious and such great acting. I need to find that one next to see if it’s as funny as I remembered. Remember the cling peaches… in heavy syrup? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DtegkRTqOA) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/27 "2014-12-07T06:08:18Z")
That dead uncle episode had my favorite Archie line: “Death…that’s life!” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/28 "2014-12-07T06:21:42Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Wow, miscarriage, death, and the murdering of trans people… this show was before my time and I never really watched it. I never realized it dealt with so many heavy issues. It was truly groundbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/29 "2014-12-07T08:28:50Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > That dead uncle episode had my favorite Archie line: “Death…that’s life!” It’s Cousin Oscar who doesn’t appear on-screen. He eats a lot of food, drinks a lot of Brandy and smokes all of Archie’s cigars. Michael Conrad plays Uncle Casimir Stivic in the flashback wedding episode(s). Dunno what he smokes or drinks, but from a quick youtube click, I see him sitting in Archies’ chair! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/30 "2014-12-07T09:43:38Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Are you sure about that? The episodes in which Uncle Cas appeared had him coming to the Bunker household to take part in Mike and Gloria’s wedding in a flashback. Archie angered Mike by making bigoted comments about Poles and Cas played peacemaker between Archie and Mike. I don’t recall Uncle Cas going upstairs and dying. I believe he went back home to Chicago after the wedding. That actor (Michael Conrad, as others have pointed out) had a famous off-screen death in another role. Sgt, Esterhaus (“let’s be careful out there.”) died _in flagrante delicto_ with Grace Gardner on _Hill Street Blues_. In reality, Conrad had died while the show was filming its fourth season. According to IMDb, the method of Esterhaus’s death was done at Conrad’s request. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/31 "2014-12-07T15:29:33Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Wow, miscarriage, death, and the murdering of trans people… this show was before my time and I never really watched it. I never realized it dealt with so many heavy issues. That was primary. I think this was the first show to be called a “dramedy”, and very aptly so. They not only treated a lot of serious issues, but they treated them seriously (with a lot of laughs to help the bitter pill go down.) Not only the first, but I’m hard pressed to think of another show that combined serious issues with comedy as well, so quite possibly the best. It’s a hard act to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/32 "2014-12-07T15:49:09Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > That was primary. I think this was the first show to be called a “dramedy”, and very aptly so. They not only treated a lot of serious issues, but they treated them seriously (with a lot of laughs to help the bitter pill go down.) > > Not only the first, but I’m hard pressed to think of another show that combined serious issues with comedy as well, so quite possibly the best. It’s a hard act to follow. I recall the term “dramedy” coming later - I associate it with “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd” from the late 80s [The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Days_and_Nights_of_Molly_Dodd). Ngrams shows “dramedy” as very rare until 1985 with a big spike at 1990 or so (which is consistent with being associated with Molly Dodd) [Google Ngram Viewer: dramedy](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=dramedy&year_start=1950&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=0&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdramedy%3B%2Cc0) (the only pre-1980 example of “dramedy” referring to a tv show is in reference to “MASH”). ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/33 "2014-12-07T16:03:44Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > That was primary. I think this was the first show to be called a “dramedy”, and very aptly so. They not only treated a lot of serious issues, but they treated them seriously (with a lot of laughs to help the bitter pill go down.) > > Not only the first, but I’m hard pressed to think of another show that combined serious issues with comedy as well, so quite possibly the best. It’s a hard act to follow. I had heard about the Edith rape episode, but I guess I thought it was more a one-off ‘‘Very Special Episode’’ thing than a recurring theme of the show. The only other ‘‘dramedy’’ contender I can throw out, another show that was before my time and I didn’t watch much, was MASH. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/34 "2014-12-08T19:33:21Z")
So apparently the moral of all these sitcoms is: Don’t go upstairs, lest you die. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/35 "2014-12-08T19:59:57Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > So apparently the moral of all these sitcoms is: Don’t go upstairs, lest you die. > [@](#): > > Hey! (_beat_). Let’s be careful out there! - Michael Conrad as Sgt Phil Esterhaus, Hill Street Blues … ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/36 "2014-12-08T20:05:37Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > So apparently the moral of all these sitcoms is: Don’t go upstairs, lest you die. > [@](#): > > Hey (_beat_). Let’ s be careful out there! - Michael Conrad as Sgt Phil Esterhaus (ETA: I missed **Robot Arm** ’s post of the above quote) …and I double posted. Something weird going on with my laptop. Or with posting from .ru. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/37 "2014-12-08T20:33:51Z")
Count me as one of those who thought this was a poorly-worded premature obit for Rob Reiner. Would it be possible to change the title to “All in the family - episode where son died?” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/38 "2014-12-09T01:49:14Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > So apparently the moral of all these sitcoms is: Don’t go upstairs, lest you die. \*“Let us contemplate the mystery of [Richie’s older brother Chuck](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/HappyDays), who ascended the stairs with his basketball in season one, and never came down again.” - — **Peter Griffin,** _[Family Guy](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy),_ “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/39 "2014-12-09T06:07:25Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Count me as one of those who thought this was a poorly-worded premature obit for Rob Reiner. Would it be possible to change the title to “All in the family - episode where son died?” Better yet, “Episode where cousin died,” since it wasn’t a son. That would eliminate any confusion with Rob Reiner. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483/40 "2014-12-09T17:45:19Z")
So apparently upstairs, in general, is a bad place to be in sitcom-land. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-the-family-son-died/706483.md?page=1)