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

Actor Michael Douglas said in a new interview that the political dynamics that helped hit comedy gold in “All in the Family” wouldn’t play out as well in today’s climate.

Appearing Sunday night on a CBS special about Rob Reiner, who was murdered last week along with his wife Michele, Douglas reflected on the 1970s sitcom “All in the Family,” in which Reiner played liberal Michael Stivic. His stepfather, Archie Bunker, a laborer, was politically opposed and preferred to call Stivic “Meathead” for some of his more left-wing views.

“It was about basing the story of a right-wing conservative blue-collar father,” Douglas said of the show. “Archie Bunker thought this guy wasn’t 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 between scenes from the film “The American President”, 1995. (Universal/Getty Images)

But this conservative-liberal dynamic wouldn’t be considered farce 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 aired during the CBS special, Reiner praised the “brilliant” and “edgy” writing of the series, which is considered a landmark in American television. This helped launch the career of Reiner, who became 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 played Bunker’s daughter on “All in the Family,” recently revealed that she was shocked by the script when she 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 this show,” Struthers said. “I was young when I finished it. And I grew up in Portland, Oregon, living in a Norwegian Lutheran family, who had absolutely no bigotry coming out of their mouth or their heart.”

American actors 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 the television series “All in the Family.” (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

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“Something would come out of someone’s mouth on 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 any racial slurs growing up. I didn’t hear any negative epithets. I really didn’t know all this ugliness existed. So it was a big learning curve for me.”

Reiner has often supported progressive causes and has said that he and O’Connor are actually quite politically aligned in real life.

“I was a rabid liberal and so was he,” Reiner said in an old interview that aired on the special.

Rob Reiner and Carroll O’Connor during an episode of the television series “All in the Family”. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

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Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their Brentwood, California home on December 14. Their son, Nick, was charged with the murders.