# I'm older than Archie Bunker and other gut punches of pop culture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902 "2025-09-10T02:38:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/41 "2025-09-10T19:23:31Z")
And you knew who you were then Only two genders with which to contend Mister, we could use a man Like Richard Nixon again Didn’t have to pump your gas They arrested kids for smoking grass Coke still came in bottles of glass Those were the days ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/42 "2025-09-10T19:30:32Z")
Just started a rewatch of Babylon 5 and in the first season commander Sinclair is said to be 39. I still see him as older despite being in my early forties now myself. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/43 "2025-09-10T19:36:11Z")
Peter Falk was in his early 40s when he first started playing Columbo (41 when they filmed the pilot, 43 when the show was regularly aired). This stands out to me, as I was doing a _Columbo_ re-watch a few years ago when I myself was 43. Granted he was playing a character so who knows how old Lt. Columbo was supposed to be, but still… Also, the Golden Girls: Bea Arthur & Betty White: 63 in 1985 Rue McClanahan: 51 in 1985 Estelle Getty: 62 in 1985 I’m sure we all start to feel kind of old in our 60s but not _Golden Girls_ old! ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/44 "2025-09-10T20:12:21Z")
I am (well, I was) roughly the same age as Lisa Simpson, being as she was about 8 when it started airing. I am now several years older than Homer and my hairstyle is rapidly heading towards his (although thankfully the gut is a lot trimmer!). When (if) I start getting close to Mr Burns’ age is when I will start getting properly miserable though. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/45 "2025-09-10T20:49:56Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Hopefully this is allowed, as it isn’t pop culture, but I’ll often think about this on a personal level. I’m almost 58. I remember spending many days at my grandparent’s house when I was 5, 6, 7… 8 years old. They were old to me. Well, when I do the math… my grandmother was born in 1916, which means she was 58 when I was 7. Which also means I am now _her_ age. It’s so surreal; I don’t feel nearly that “old,” and I’m not even a grandparent. You know what freaks ME out… I gave birth to my son at age 37. My Mom was 37 when I _graduated high school._ For pop culture, I was once checking out at a Home Depot, wearing a Green Day shirt that I’d recently bought at the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame (we’re not off to a good start, are we?) and the young lady looks at my shirt and squints and says, “Green Day. Huh. Is that one of those new European bands?” That wasn’t the low point, though. The low point was when our young nanny came over wearing a Green Day t-shirt. I said, “Hey, Green Day! Cool.” She said, “Yeah, my Dad used to listen to them all the time, so…” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/46 "2025-09-10T21:22:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > (Note that Sha Na Na played Woodstock as a late-50s-early-60s nostalgia act. It would be like if we had a whole nostalgia industry for, say, 2019 – Lil Nas X? Billie Eilish?) Well, there’s Postmodern Jukebox… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/47 "2025-09-10T21:24:50Z")
As always, xkcd has a few things to say about this: [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ages.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ages.png) from **[xkcd: Ages](https://xkcd.com/907/)** and [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/movie_ages.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/movie_ages.png) from **[xkcd: Movie Ages](https://xkcd.com/891/)** which is _14_ years old now. There are a bunch more along these lines I’ll leave for somebody elese to find. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/48 "2025-09-10T21:44:23Z")
How about a cultural gut punch from some years back? I still remember my shock in 2017 when I realized that the actor playing Keenan Feldspar on Silicon Valley was none other than Haley Joel Osment. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/49 "2025-09-10T21:49:20Z")
Remember how no one could believe how young Mila Kunis was when she was on _That 70’s Show_? My **daughter** is older than Mila Kunis ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/50 "2025-09-10T21:50:49Z")
We’re about to hit the 50th anniversary of **Star Wars** , which still holds up to this day. Do you know what movies were like 50 years before it came out? Silent. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/51 "2025-09-11T01:04:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There are a bunch more along these lines I’ll leave for somebody elese to find. I remember watching _Jurassic Park_ at the old duplex theater in my hometown of Kingsville. I was a high school junior at the time. It was the last movie I watched there (and might well have been the last movie they showed) before it closed down and the new (now 32 years old 😮 ) six screen theater opened a few blocks away. I still think of that theater as “the new theater”. Now I understand how my father felt when he called that old duplex “the new theater” in comparison to the old Rialto theater that was around in downtown Kingsville back in the 50s. Speaking of downtown Kingsville, when I was a kid downtown was where all the “old people” used to hang out when they were kids in the old days. Now downtown Kingsville is where all the current young kids go, and the mall that was popular when I was a kid in the 80s is where the old people go. It now features stores like Tractor Supply 😅 . ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/52 "2025-09-11T01:10:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I have to explain to my young co-workers who the “agony of defeat” guy is. Goddamnit! Do they also not have understanding of the human drama of athletic competition? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/53 "2025-09-11T01:30:29Z")
Irene Ryan was 59 when she started playing Granny on _The Beverly Hillbillies_. Granny seemed like the very epitome of elderly. Now I’m old enough to be her … well, older brother. It was better being 20 in the '70s than being 70 in the '20s. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/54 "2025-09-11T02:10:43Z")
I have never been one to worry about birthdays or aging. But 8 cried for a week when i learned that both Dara O’Brien and Greg Davis are younger than i am. 😱 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iUnRMs3ijJ0/maxresdefault.jpg "Dara Ó Briain OBLITERATES The Competition | Taskmaster | Channel 4") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUnRMs3ijJ0) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/55 "2025-09-11T03:48:35Z")
Back in college we heard that Chuck Berry was playing in DC. Me and my roommates decided seeing him would be an experience we should have before he died. He was really old after all. He wouldn’t be around much longer. I’m 58 now. Chuck was 60 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/56 "2025-09-11T04:22:34Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Carrol O’Connor was 46 or 47 when he started playing Archie Bunker. Jean Stapleton was 48 when first playing Edith. Ann B Davis was 43 when she first played Alice on the Brady Bunch. All of these people seemed so old to me growing up, but I’m now I’m 50 and I think “How in the heck were they younger than I am now?” The Bunkers, to me, still seem so much older than me. People smoke less and have less sun exposure now, so they look younger. Also celebrities have a lot of plastic surgery options now. What is shocking to me is that the people who were heart throbs when I was a kid are in their 60s now. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, etc are all in their 60s now. Uncle Phil in the Fresh Prince was 44 when the show started. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/57 "2025-09-11T04:25:38Z")
Juno’s baby is now older than Juno was when the movie came out. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/58 "2025-09-11T10:06:25Z")
For all of us marveling at how not only other people, but also ourselves :eek:, get older, I suspect it’s even weirder if you are a performer, not an audience member. Yeah, there are a few snapshots of me in my younger years. But not many. OTOH, somebody like Brad Pitt, just to take a random name from the preceding post, has plenty of extended length film & stills of himself at every stage of adulthood. Yeah, usually he’s not playing himself. But it’s still him. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/59 "2025-09-11T11:47:59Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > What is shocking to me is that the people who were heart throbs when I was a kid are in their 60s now. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, etc are all in their 60s now. Don’t forget Leonardo Dicaprio. He’s still in his 50s, but somewhere along the way he somehow became the stereotypical “dirty old man”. I’m still trying to figure that one out. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902/60 "2025-09-11T11:57:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > People smoke less and have less sun exposure now, so they look younger. Also celebrities have a lot of plastic surgery options now. That’s some of it - but a lot of it is also the clothing and hairstyles and I think the 70s was a particularly strange time for fashion. Jean Stapleton was 48 (born in 1923) and Edith dressed like my grandmother (born 1910) did in the late 60s/early 70s. Print housedresses and low heeled shoes and a wool coat in winter. My mother was born in 1940 and I never saw her or her contemporaries wear a housedress. I don’t even know if you can buy that sort of dress anymore. Edith would look a lot younger if she was wearing jeans and sneakers and a different hairstyle and lots of men with that particular baling pattern that ages them just shave it all off nowadays, but I think that’s only part of it. The other part is that during that period of time, there was a big divide in how adults of the same social class dressed based on age , a bigger divide than there was before or after. It’s really hard to imagine Edith dressing the same way Gloria does, or vice versa but although my 85 year old mother, my 35 year old daughter and I don’t dress exactly the same, the differences are mostly in the details. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-older-than-archie-bunker-and-other-gut-punches-of-pop-culture/1022902.md?page=4)