Previous to watching "All in the Family" in class I had never seen the sitcom, which turned out to be quite fine with me. I found Archie, the father, to be extremely irritating, arrogant, and a bigot and I wondered why this show would ever be liked enough for regular viewing because of his flamboyant hatefulness. Although much of the audience during this time period may have disagreed with the issue at hand in the episode that we watched, homosexuality, the father's slander and incessant loud-mouthing seems like more than enough for someone to grow tired of the attitude. The episode treated the issue of homosexuality using two very different arguments, Archie's which was one of utter disagreement and his daughter's and son-in-law's whose seemed practically passe. The only thing is, Archie being the reigning male of the house who pays the bills and whatnot had the dominant opinion. Whether this situation was simply the writer's way of showing two sides to an issue or a way to show that father knows best is unknown to me. Regardless, the gay issue was evident and important enough to dominate an entire episode.
On another end of the television spectrum is a relatively new sitcom called "The Secret Life of the American Teenage", this show not only has a homosexual male character, but a teenage mom, another pregnant teenager, a promiscuous lot of high school students, a plethora of divorcees, infidelity, and a whole slew of what used to be seen as risque and unspoken of issues that were immoral elements of society. But as we see in this show, and several others mind you, those elements are real, they are exposed, and they are normal in our current every day society. Unlike "All in the Family" "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" provides a tolerant, if not positive, view of all of these issues. In no way is homosexuality ever negatively regarded, in fact the character plays a quite prominent role and one of the father's in the show enjoys his company and friendship with his daughter. I personally find most of the issues addressed in "The Secret Life" to be somewhat realistic of many U.S. families, to be somewhat realistic of many U.S. teenagers, and to be highly inappropriate for viewing. This is where "All in the Family" ties in to this all too real sitcom, although "All in the Family" is a bit irritating to the ears and difficult to sit through, in my opinion of course, it at least did not present material that was grossly and blatantly inappropriate for younger viewers but rather took on a more subtle and modest approach to a current issue. "The Secret Life" fails to be anything but explicit, while this is a reasonable approach in certain realms, such as politics, it can lend itself invariably to the actions and behaviors of teenagers themselves. After seeing the issues in the show rather shamelessly played out in front of them, many young adolescents may find themselves involved in similar situations.
Although both sitcoms target, or targeted, a younger adult population and their families each show differs in the way that they presented a similar issue: homosexuality, with "The Secret Life" portraying it as normal and an every day occurrence, and "All in the Family" revealing a different side of the issue through the eyes, and mouth, of Archie the father.
Here is a look into "The Secret Life of the American Teenager":
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