Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday and the end of our second annual RERUN series, designed to give yours truly a chance to get further ahead in coverage of our last few ’90s comedies. Regular programming will resume next week, but in the meantime, I’m excited to resurrect and re-examine some of my favorite Sitcom posts from this blog’s nearly six year run!

As with last year’s series (begun here), my intention is to provide a link to each original piece and then offer a tiny bit of updated commentary, either on episode picks I’d call differently now (like in my famous “Regrets” post) or on something broader, like evolving thoughts on the year/series as a whole. I’ve picked a few goodies, so I hope you’re as excited as I am about revisiting our favorites… But please be gentle! Many of the posts you’ll see were written a while ago. The standards here have changed as I’ve changed. (There are plenty of typos, juvenile “hot takes,” and places where more information would now be appreciated.)

This week, I’m rerunning… The Seven Best ALL IN THE FAMILY Episodes of Season Nine. Check it out here: https://jacksonupperco.com/2014/11/25/the-seven-best-all-in-the-family-episodes-of-season-nine/

I still maintain that All In The Family has one of the worst qualitative declines of all the shows we’ve covered here. This is because of both the extraordinary heights reached in its first three seasons and, in relative proximity, the disheartening lows of its last three seasons — particularly the last two seasons — most particularly the last season. In fact, when covering that final season, which is without Mike and Gloria and instead replaces them with a kid (y’all know how apprehensive I am when it comes to kids — for good reason, in this case), I couldn’t even select a full list of ten favorites; I could only choose seven. However, with years to reflect — having covered both better and worse shows that have popped up here on Sitcom Tuesday, especially the continuing Archie Bunker’s Place, a Wildcard Wednesday feature that is, at varying times, both easier and harder to enjoy than its predecessor’s ninth season — I’ve had a change of heart. No, I still can’t make a full list of ten. But I definitely could have done eight. And I think the Honorable Mention that, today, I would bump up to the list would be “Stephanie’s Conversion,” which isn’t great, but is good based on the season’s standards because it attempts to reconcile the inherent conflict in Stephanie’s presence with our knowledge of Archie’s character (and shows us how far he’s come). It becomes even more valuable with the knowledge of where he’s going… So, with that additional entry mentioned, please check out the post above again, and feel free to share your thoughts on the series and its trajectory in the comments below!

Come back next week for another Sitcom Tuesday! And stay tuned tomorrow for a new Wildcard Wednesday!