After a wildly successful eight year run, “All in the Family” aired its 200th episode on March 4, 1979. By then, the show had irrevocably changed the image of the American family, but creator Norman Lear initially faced challenges from network censors who feared the show was too politically charged and producers who viewed the show as a marked departure from the popular family sitcoms of the 1960s. Below, in Archie Bunker’s America: TV in an Era of Change 1968-1978
January 28 marks the Feast Day of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Roman Catholic priest who authored Summa Theologica and Summa Contra Gentiles, shaping Catholic Church and philosophy for centuries to come. Below, writing on a different subject in Commentary on Sentences, Aquinas explores the issue of “whether knowledge is higher than love.”
Christian Dior, born January 21, 1905, restored the hourglass to women’s fashion in the bleak aftermath of World War II. The corseted waists and full skirts of the New Look found wild success — and some criticism — in the middle of last century, establishing Dior as a major player in the industry and defining [...]
Agustin Roberto “Bobby” Salcedo, an assistant principal and school board member in El Monte, California, was shot to death last week while spending the holidays in Mexico. As his family, his friends, and his city honor his memory, Michael Jaime-Becerra, an El Monte native who explores the city in his fiction, pays tribute to his long-time friend.
Twenty years ago today, “The Simpsons” debuted on Fox. Its hundreds of episodes since have made it one of the longest-running and most successful shows on television — highly rated and critically acclaimed. Below, an excerpt from Carl Matheson’s essay in The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer
Orson Welles was born on May 6, 1915, and directed his most acclaimed film, Citizen Kane, at age 26. Years later, after a couple disastrous movies and a sojourn in Europe, he would reunite with one of its stars, Joseph Cotton, in The Third Man. Welles' character, Harry Lime, is the missing center of the movie until he appears, finally, and explains his motives for entering a less-than-savory line of work....
