User Reviews

Ron Glass was a great actor who could play many types of characters. In this episode, he plays three versions of the same character. Archie depicts him as a radical militant, and Mike pegs him as an Uncle Tom. Only Edith saw the real man. Contrasting Archie's and Mike's versions of the same story, you see that these two men are, to a degree, opposite sides of the same coin. In this, and other episodes, Archie actually tries to convince everyone that he is not prejudiced. This was true, to a point. His attitudes came out of ignorance and fear, not hatred. This is one of the funniest episodes of the series, which also gives insight into the main characters.

"Everybody Tells the Truth" is a hilarious portrait of how one incident of a broken refrigerator can be interpreted in both Mike's and Archie's views...with hilarious results! A previous reviewer thought that the close-ups and the exaggerated behavior of the characters were too much. I believe that was the whole point of the episode: As I was watching both Archie's and Mike's versions of the story, it was a VERY accurate account of how each character REALLY thinks in their life and believes his view was the correct one. Without giving it away, Edith finally sheds the light on the REAL story.

I absolutely agree with the previous poster - this is the funniest sitcom episode of ANY show, ever. The characters in AITF were caricatures to begin with, but the in the warped recollections of Mike and Archie they are taken completely over the top. I can remember having an audiotape (!) of this in the 70's and I listened to it so much, I had the whole thing memorized. Then I was able to record it to VHS in the 80's, where it was subjected to many viewings. Now, thanks to YouTube, it's on my computer right now. It never gets old - I've watched this dozens of times now. The thing that nails it for me is Ron Glass' performance as the mau-mauing brother - extraordinary! Especially the "apple scene". I looked him up on IMDb and this performance is the FIRST one listed for him (1973) - what a debut! Of course, let's not forget his very fine work in Barney Miller. Drop by youtube and type this title into the search box - you won't be disappointed.

A "Monty Python" like almost episode. Completely off the wall humor. Archie the timid saint was really funny. A rare instance the Bunker's are actually chowing down throughout a meal besides Mike. Usually arguments end meals in mid stride. Though, it looks like the were still on their soup near end. Archie had a right to complain about hired help eating on his time.

It plays like a bunch of bad SNL skits stitched together. I get they probably wanted to do a fun episode after the heavy seriousness of the previous "Archie is Branded" episode, but it's so over the top and removed from reality that it's jarring to watch.

I still watch it when I get up to it on my dvd viewings, but each repeat viewing is just as painful as the last. I don't know why I don't skip over it---maybe I like to torture myself.

I just finished watching this episode on DVD. It was the first time I had seen it. I'm too young to have seen the early seasons in first-run, but I was raised on syndicated reruns of AITF, and as I watch the DVDs, at least one moment from each episode is familiar to me. With this one, however, there were no such moments. It felt like I was watching a lost episode. That leads me to believe it's not replayed in syndication, and I can see why.

One of the strengths of AITF is that it never relied on gimmicks to be funny. Strong writing, strong acting (on O'Connor's and Stapleton's parts), and honesty about political, social and moral issues — those are things that made AITF so great. Even when Sammy Davis Jr. appeared, it didn't feel like a gimmick because the writing was so sharp and the moments between Archie and Sammie were so well done.

And then there's this episode, "Everybody Tells the Truth." They use this unnecessary gimmick of replaying the same scenes from different characters' perspectives. It's full of bizarre overacting, eerie close-ups of actor's mouths, and the kind of forced "socially relevant" moments you'd expect from a bad AITF imitator. It's clear the producers and writers were trying something "different" with this episode, but the result is painful. I felt embarrassed for everyone involved with the show.