Michael Douglas says 'All in the Family' couldn't be made as comedy today

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Michael Douglas says 'All in the Family' would be a drama instead of a comedy if made today

Michael Douglas, who worked with director Rob Reiner during his career, reflects that the political tensions in "All in the Family" wouldn't be fodder for comedy now.

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Actor Michael Douglas mused in a new interview that the political dynamics that made for comedy gold in "All in the Family" wouldn't go over as well in today's climate.

Appearing on a CBS News special about Rob Reiner, who was murdered last week along with his wife Michele, Douglas reflected on the 1970s sitcom "All in the Family," where Reiner starred as the liberal Michael Stivic. His father-in-law, working-class man Archie Bunker, was the opposite politically and preferred to call Stivic "Meathead" for some of his more leftist views.

"It was basing the story about a blue-collar, right-wing conservative father," Douglas said of the show. "Archie Bunker thought this guy was not good enough for his daughter, and particularly despised his politics, which is told as a comedy, and it was very funny." 

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Michael Douglas listening to director Rob Reiner in between scenes from the film "The American President," 1995. (Universal/Getty Images)

But that conservative-liberal dynamic would not fly as comedy today, Douglas said.

"And how far away those days are now," he said. "It's very difficult to do a political show about a very conservative father and his son, without it becoming a drama."

In a flashback interview that aired during the CBS special, Reiner praised the "brilliant" and "edgy" writing on the show, which is considered a landmark in American television. It helped launch the career of Reiner, who went on to be better known as a director.

Douglas starred in Reiner's 1995 film "The American President" as President Andrew Shepherd and said he had a "spectacular" experience working with him.

Sally Struthers, who starred as Bunker's daughter on "All in the Family," recently revealed that she was shocked by the script when she first arrived on set. In an interview with Fox News Digital last month, she described how she had a sheltered upbringing and was therefore taken aback by some of the show's humor.

"Well, I was very young when I started on that show," Struthers said. "I was young when I finished it. And I grew up in Portland, Oregon, living with a Lutheran Norwegian family, who had absolutely no bigotry coming out of their mouths or in their hearts."

Rob Reiner and Sally Struther, as married couple Mike and Gloria Stivic, look at a hand of cards in a scene from an episode of "All in the Family." (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

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"Something would come out of somebody's mouth in the show, usually Archie's, and I would turn to whoever was sitting next to me and say, ‘What does that mean?’" she added. "I didn't hear racial slurs growing up. I didn't hear negative epithets. I really didn't know that all this ugliness was out there. So it was a big learning curve for me."

Reiner often supported progressive causes and said he and O'Connor were actually fairly politically aligned in real life.

"I was a raging liberal and so was he," Reiner said in an old interview clip shown during the special.

Rob Reiner and Carroll O'Connor during an episode of "All in the Family." (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

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Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their home in Brentwood, California, on Dec. 14. Their son, Nick, has been charged in the killings.