All in the Family: Season 04  (1973)

Theatrical Release Information:
All in the Family: Season 04

Still riding high as America's number one TV show, All in the Family glides effortlessly into its fourth season. Vincent Gardenia and Betty Garrett join the cast as, respectively, Frank and Irene Lorenzo, the Bunkers' new neighbors. Also making his first series appearance is nonagenarian character actor Burt Mustin as Justin Quigley, Edith Bunker's friend from a nearby nursing home. And in "Henry's Farewell," Sherman Hemsley is introduced in the role of George Jefferson, a character he would carry over into his own starring series in less than two years (later on, Zara Cully makes her inaugural appearance as George's supremely judgmental mother, Olivia, a character likewise revived on The Jeffersons). Highlight episodes this season include "The Games Bunkers Play," wherein Mike (Rob Reiner) is shown to be just as stubborn and disagreeable as Archie (Carroll O'Connor) -- maybe even more so; "Archie in the Cellar," an unbearably funny half-hour in which an inebriated Archie "meets his Lord," who turns out to be a black man; "Edith's Christmas Story," wherein Edith (Jean Stapleton) tries to hide the possibility that she may have breast cancer; "Gloria's Boyfriend," another lesson in humility for Archie when he underestimates the abilities of a mentally challenged man (played by Richard Masur); and "Mike's Graduation," in which Archie prematurely celebrates the likelihood that Mike will at last be moving out of the Bunker household. ~ All Movie Guide