‘All in the Family’ usually featured Archie Bunker in many foul moods. What can make a person more annoyed than forced dieting? Archie is forced to go on a diet but struggles to stick with it.
In the episode ‘Archie’s Weighty Problem,’ he is told by his doctor that he needs to go on a diet or he will have serious health problems. He rejects the help of Edith, Mike, and Gloria.
Edith runs through the door, welcoming Archie home, and he gives her a hilarious fake smile as she asks how his day went. He says, ‘How am I supposed to have a good day when I’m on this diet you put me on? How can I work 8 hours with no food?’
She tells him it was a healthy lunch. It had carrots, tuna salad, and an orange. He says, ‘Guess what I did with that lunch? I threw it to the warehouse cat.’ Edith says, ‘I know it’s hard, but you have to. The doctor said you gotta lose 25 pounds, so your blood pressure goes down.’
Archie responds, ‘Why should I listen to them? Doctors don’t get hungry. I’m lifting heavy crates all day, and they just shove a thermometer.’ Archie says he wants a beer, and Edith says, ‘No,’ but he goes anyway, and she blocks him from the fridge.
He distracts her by telling her there’s a mouse. She moves, and he gets it, and she says there’s a spider on his shoulder, and Edith takes the beer back. The crowd is laughing the entire time. Then he says, ‘I’m gonna count to three, and by three, I want that beer.’
On three, she holds it out, and he walks to grab it, and she runs away and screams. Then, she goes upstairs, and Archie says, ‘Edith! Don’t do what I think you’re gonna do.’ A toilet flush is heard, and Archie says, ‘The most heartbreaking sound I ever heard.’
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