While he was busy toiling away at the rock pile the
Grand Poo Ba almost overlooked one of the most important anniversary dates in the pantheon of the
Great American Poor Bastard Class....But then if he wasn't always a day late and a dollar short, the
Grand Poo Ba wouldn't really deserve his rightful place atop the
Poor Bastard Heap!
January 12, 1971 will live in infamy in the hearts and minds of
Poor Bastards throughout
The Kingdom as the date the iconic
Original Poor Bastard Archie Bunker, first appeared on American television!
This watershed moment in
Poor Bastard History marks the first time that
Poor Bastards one and all - ranging from the rank and file
Garden-Variety Poor Bastard to
Elitist Poor Bastards from the world of politics, academia and the exclusive confines of that
Poor Bastard mecca known as
Hollywood - were confronted with a caricature of their collective
Inner Poor Bastard, in the image of
Archie Bunker; the semi-literate, loose-cannon and
Rank & File Poor Bastard portrayed by actor and
True Poor Bastard in his own right,
Carroll O'Connor.
From the first moment he appeared in the living rooms, converted garages and mobile homes of
Poor Bastards throughout
The Kingdom, this iconic figure was destined to become a legend among the
Poor Bastard Class; as evidenced by
All In The Family's six year run as the #1 rated television show in the yearly Nielsen ratings - beginning in 1971 and continuing through 1976 virtually unchallenged for the top spot as the most popular show on network television!
Since that time, network television programming and the
Kingdom of The Poor Bastard in general have never been the same, as the show's ground-breaking efforts succeeded in loosening the tightly drawn sphincter of
moral hypocrisy,
collective societal ignorance and
cultural denial which had plagued the mass-media circus known as "broadcast television" since its inception almost three decades prior.
As it turns out
Poor Bastards throughout
The Realm had simply had enough of
Lawrence Welk, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver and Lassie...What they really wanted to see was what their
Inner Poor Bastard looked like in the mirror!
The success of the show is generally recognized by historians, sociologists and mental health professionals as the beginning of the end in terms of there being any hope of rescuing the human gene pool from its continued descent into the abyss of
Poor Bastard mediocrity and the lowest common denominator process known as "natural selection."
In an unfortunate
Poor Bastard twist of fate, actor
Carroll O' Conner ended up spending the last years of his life living out a
True Poor Bastard nightmare as his drug-addicted adopted son
Hugh O' Conner committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 32.
So when all of you
Poor Bastards out there in
The Kingdom head back to the trailer tonight after another hard day at your meaningless job, you might want to stop off at your favorite tavern to raise a toast and torch up a stogie in memory of the man,
Carroll O' Conner, and the pop-culture image,
Archie Bunker, that made you famous and put the
Kingdom of The Poor Bastard on the map.!
