Panic sets in when Mike breaks Archie’s chair on ‘All in the Family’

Rob Reiner played one of the most iconic characters in TV history on ‘All in the Family.’ ‘Mike Stivic,’ affectionately known to Archie Bunker as ‘Meathead,’ was his son-in-law. Mike was married to Archie’s daughter ‘Gloria’ played by Sally Struthers.

In Season 7, Episode 17 ‘Archie’s Chair,’ Mike gets a coffee from his mother-in-law Edith and proceeds to sit down to watch ‘Sesame Street.’ He sits in Archie’s chair, and it immediately breaks, tossing Mike to the ground.

Mike panics on the floor, yelling, “I broke his chair!” repeatedly as he gets up. Mike says, “He’s going to go crazy!” When his wife Gloria walks in, she laughs because Mike has shaved off his mustache. She cracks a joke, saying, “I just noticed that your nostrils are uneven!”

Gloria calls a friend to fix the chair before Archie finds out, but the chair doesn’t return in time for Archie’s arrival. In a panic, Gloria puts out another chair and instructs Edith to keep him out of the living room at all costs.

Edith meets Archie on the porch and tries to convince him to visit the neighbors. She is hugging him, trying to block his view. He walks right by the empty space where the chair usually sits and stops, looking mysteriously at the audience. He lights his cigar and says, “Ain’t there something funny in here? Did you do something to your hair?”

Archie concludes, saying, “It’s spooky. Let’s go in the kitchen.” The two depart the living room area that now features a big empty space where the chair should be.

‘All in the Family’ was a fantastic sitcom focused on great characters and stories. Carrol O’Connor as ‘Archie’ and Rob Reiner as ‘Meathead’ were iconic characters that butted heads for laughs. The family drama and comedy had America tuning in every week.