'' was a short-lived
CBS television series in 1994. It was a
Spin-off of ''
All In The Family '' (the last of many) and was built around the concept of an
African-American family, the Cumberbatches, moving into the former
Queens home of
Archie Bunker years after Bunker had sold the house. The character
Joey Stivic (Archie's grandson) makes a cameo in the first episode.
Norman Lear created the series during the time when
Conservative U.S. Talk Radio was experiencing its initial upswing in popularity, particularly in the form of
Rush Limbaugh . Lear felt that the time was right for a new show to explore some of the issues being discussed, and ''704 Hauser'' was even more explicitly political than ''All in the Family''.
John Amos , a veteran of the earlier ''All in the Family'' spin-off ''
Good Times '', starred as Ernie Cumberbatch, while
Lynnie Godfrey played his wife, Rose.
T.E. Russell played their live-at-home son, Thurgood Marshall "Goodie" Cumberbatch.
The central plot conceit of the show involved a reversal of the original ''All in the Family'' formula. Ernie and Rose Cumberbatch were blue-collar, working-class Democrats, while their son Goodie was an assertive
Black Conservative activist in the vein of
Armstrong Williams ,
Walter Williams , or
Thomas Sowell . To add further conflict, Goodie's girlfriend was a white
Jewish girl (played by
Maura Tierney ).
The show did not do well; only six episodes were filmed, and only five were aired. Some suggest that fans could not see anyone but Archie living in that house, while others argue that the American T.V. viewing public weren't ready to have an
Interracial couple prominently featured in a prime-time program. Still others claim that many blacks were turned off to the show by Goodie's
Conservatism .
