The eighth season of All in the Family is the last in which that "family" would all be together. Offered a professorship at a California University, Mike Stivic (Rob Reiner) moves himself, his wife, Gloria (Sally Struthers), and their son, Joey, out of their Bronx home, which of course is next door to the house inhabited by Gloria's parents, Archie and Edith Bunker (Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton). Although the conservative Archie and the liberal Mike have generally been at each other's throats throughout the previous seven seasons, the two men share a warm and tearful farewell, bringing season nine to a memorable close. But before that happens, another major story development occurs. Fed up with working for others, Archie decides to go into business for himself, purchasing his favorite watering hole, Kelsey's Bar, and renaming the establishment "Archie Bunker's Place." Ultimately the name of the saloon would succeed All in the Family as the name of the series. Season eight offers many other unforgettable moments. In the two-part "Edith's Crisis of Faith, Edith goes into a deep depression when her good friend, transvestite entertainer Beverly LaSalle (Lori Shannon), is murdered. Even more shattering is the two-parter "Edith's 50th Birthday," in which she is attacked by a would-be rapist (David Dukes) in her own home. On a less traumatic and more comical note, the two-part "Archie's Bitter Pill" finds Archie suffering the consequences of popping pep pills to forget about slump in his bar business. And in another dual-episode story, "Archie and the KKK," the otherwise bombastic bigot reveals that he is dead set against hate crimes -- especially those directed at his own son-in-law.
