Rob Reiner’s “Meathead” showed a better path was possible in a changing Queens — and America.
Yes, “All in the Family,” that iconic 1970s sitcom, was about Archie Bunker, that bluff and racist Irish-American paterfamilias. But the show wouldn’t have been what it was without Michael Stivic, played by Rob Reiner. Derisively called Meathead by his father-in-law, Stivic gamely played not only the straight, earnest man to Bunker but gave him a foil, a counter to his outdated conservatism. If Bunker’s attitude defined much of New York City’s “outer boroughs,” it was a state of mind under siege from a younger, more educated and liberal generation represented by Reiner.
Reiner died yesterday at the age of 78, in what police in Los Angeles are investigating as a homicide. While he will rightfully be remembered for a most impressive directing repertoire (“Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” and “When Harry Met Sally” have each given me and my family many a perfect night), my first thought upon hearing of the news was just how much he meant to Queens.
Our borough is the one, after all, that has produced Donald Trump, Andrew Cuomo and yes, Zohran Mamdani. To understand how this came to be, it helps to look back at “All in the Family.” I watched the 1970s sitcom religiously with my own father, and we returned to it again when it was in syndication. Archie’s bigotry registered differently as we grew up and better understood the America he clung to. I suspect my father identified with Reiner’s character as a fellow baby boomer but we also laughed at his idealism and moral outrage, like the pragmatists we are.
For all the focus on Archie being the butt of the show’s joke and how his struggles reflected the inevitability of progress, it dawns on me now that Meathead was the show’s real engine. He epitomized the social change that defines Queens today – a way of life rooted in diversity, family, feminism and, dare I say, a belief in meritocracy and possibility.
The Bunkers and Stivics lived in Astoria, and they stayed, unlike the Jeffersons who moved “on up” to the East Side. What we know now, with the benefit of hindsight, is that the Bunker’s row house on the fictional Hauser Street and the debates around the living room and dining table over busing, women’s roles and civil rights were much more than setting or backdrop. Rather, Queens – and Reiner’s character – were on the frontlines of making us who we are today. In this moment where those values face renewed attack, Meathead’s fight must live on.
