Carroll O'Connor of Bunker's long-suffering wife, Edith Bunker, whom Lear remembered from seeing in the play and film "Damn Yankees". The producer sent the show over to ABC twice, but it did not get picked up. They then approached CBS with more success, and accordingly, "All in the Family" was retooled and debuted early in 1971. The show also starred unknown character actors, such as Rob Reiner as Archie's liberal son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, and Sally Struthers as Archie and Edith's only child and Mike's wife, Gloria. The cast had a unique on- and off-camera chemistry, especially Reiner, who became O'Connor's best
United States in the 1950s show. In "Life of Riley" (1953–1958), blue collar Chester A. Riley (William Bendix) became the prototype for a long line of bumbling television patriarchs that included Fred Flintstone and Archie Bunker. The show's first incarnation for the DuMont Television Network lasted a season (1949–1950) and won an Emmy during the first Emmy Awards in 1949. "The Honeymooners" (1955–1956) followed bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) and his sewer-working sidekick Ed Norton (Art Carney) while archetypal suburban life was limned in "Leave It to Beaver" (1957–1963), purportedly the first sitcom to be told from a child's point of view and the