Characters

Archie Bunker

The quintessential all-American bigot, Archie Bunker is part of the "old guard" who fails to recognize the melting-pot mentality of the modern world. Archie is befuddled and annoyed by everyone -- and everything -- who doesn't share his narrow view of the world. He's a brash, uneducated blue-collar worker, and his small thinking doesn't win him a lot of friends. Archie's problems mostly stem from the changing values around him.

While he calls his wife Edith a "dingbat" and tells her to "stifle" when she talks too much, he truly loves her -- and he's strayed just once, nearly having an affair with a female friend, Denise. Archie makes his living on the docks as a foreman and drives a cab on the side for extra money. He ultimately buys his favorite bar, Kelcy's, and renames it Archie Bunker's Place.