Requiem for the Meathead

I didn’t watch All in the Family all that often, I liked it but I wasn’t watching tv regularly at the time. When I did it was always as much for the Meathead as for Archie, or, above all, for their “relationship” (someone really ought to study how the word can be used in that particular instance).

The Princess Bride, many years after it came out, was, is, a continuing joy for our daughters, and for us. “I do not think that word means what you think it does” is only one of the lines that have become part of our daily conversation.

I’ll stop there with examples, I could go on and on. On top of all that, Rob Reiner was a Mensch to the fullest, onscreen and off. Read what the kids from Stand by Me say. Look at his comments on politics. About the murder of Charlie Kirk.

The first headlines I saw only said that he and his wife were dead, that was bad enough. There now seems to be no doubt that they were killed by their son. Nothing to say.

So: I may not be getting this quite right, but in a much later episode, Archie is arguing with a young man who has come along after his former “nemesis”, after a while all he can say, in horror, is “Shades of the Meathead!” I loved that when I saw it and I’ve always remembered, and used it on appropriate occasions. It means we will never forget you.

Love and solidarity,

            Bobby