meathead

Reacher blends the type of ‘80s and ‘90s action meathead flicks that Gen X and elder Millennials were raised on with a combination of high I.Q. and emotional intelligence.

For Rob Reiner, who played Archie Bunker’s liberal son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic in “All in the Family,” the news of Lear’s death, though not unexpected, was devastating.

During the waning days of Vietnam and the rancor of the Watergate era, the conflict between Meathead, an educated, politically progressive hippie, and Archie, a working-class bigot, resonated with millions of Americans.

He called his son-in-law “Meathead” and his wife “Dingbat,” and would snap at anyone who dared occupy his faded orange-yellow wing chair.

Filmmaker Rob Reiner, who starred as Archie Bunker’s hippie son-in-law, Michael “Meathead” Stivic, in “All in the Family,” also shared his thoughts on X: “I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was. my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family.”