One of the most controversial and compelling episodes of All in the Family, "Edith's 50th Birthday" begins as the rest of the family prepares a surprise party for Edith at Mike and Gloria's house. Left alone in her own house, Edith is attacked and held at knifepoint by a rapist (David Dukes). Though the intruder leaves before inflicting any physical damage, the experience so unnerves Edith that she refuses to go to the police and testify against her attacker; in fact, it appears as if she will be too frightened ever to leave her house again. Offsetting the grimness of the central situation is a surfeit of broad comedy, including Archie and Mike's slapstick efforts to search the Bunker house just in case the rapist is still lurking about. Written by Bob Weiskopf and Bob Schiller, "Edith's 50th Birthday" originally aired as a 60-minute episode on October 16, 1977; it has since been re-edited as two 30-minute episodes for syndication purposes.
