Archie and Edith arrive in Santa Barbara, CA, where they intend to spend Christmas week with Mike and Gloria. But all is not holly-jolly in the Stivic household; Mike and Gloria are on the verge of getting a divorce. At first, Archie threatens dire consequences to Mike, but ends up taking The Meathead's side when he finds out that Gloria is responsible for the split. The ending of the episode is not entirely happy and upbeat, thereby setting the stage for Sally Struthers' subsequent "solo" sitcom effort Gloria a few years later. Originally telecast as a one-hour episode on December 17, 1978, "California, Here We Are" was originally planned as two half-hour installments, and has since been syndicated in this divided form. The first half of the program was written by Milt Josefsberg and Phil Sharp; the second half was by Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf.
