All in the Family Archie and the Bowling Team (1971–1979) Online

This episode has Archie coming home from work in a very good mood, as it turns out that someone from a local and popular bowling team has died, and Archie is in line for a spot on the team, named the Cannonballers. As is to be expected, Mike objects to the happy news of a man who just died, but Archie says "that's life" and soon tells his family about a member on the team, Moose Hanson, who isn't exactly sophisticated and uses force to get what he wants and asks questions later. It also turns out that it helps to make the team if you're white, for which Archie feels that helps his chances that much more. During these scenes at home, Gloria buys Mike what looks to be a man purse, for which Archie, and later on Moose(Brad Logan), both scoff at him. A funny moment has Archie describing how nice the Cannonballers' shirts are, and how nicknames are on the front; for instance, a tall guy's nickname would be "shorty", and a fat guy would be named "skinny". Edith obviously meant no disrespect, but she says to her husband, "I know what your nickname would be...handsome." I don't think she planned to insult him, but it was for a good laugh. In order to make the squad, Archie must bowl against a few guys, and he ends up having a great game, although tied with someone else, who also happens to be black. The bottom line is that the team must take the other man because of league and community pressure, and even Moose says, "face it, Arch, the world's changin'." Allan Melvin also makes a funny appearance as Barney Hefner, who basically gets the shaft from Archie because he thought he made the big leagues on his new bowling team, and bowling with Barney is bush league, as Archie puts it. This is certainly a funny and solid episode during the superior early seasons of this great show.