In an early episode of AITF, Edith makes a reference to Mabel Hefner, Barney's wife. In the later episodes, Barney is married to a woman named Blanche, whom we see several times. I always thought there was a continuity problem with the scripts.

But, I recently saw the episode where Blanche runs off with the exterminator. When Barney tells Archie that his wife left him, Archie says, "Mabel?" And Barney, irritated, replies, "No, Blanche!" Anyone know if they ever mentioned what happened to Mabel?

He could've divorced Mabel, or Mabel could've died. I've taken notice to that, myself, how his wife was Mabel in the early seasons, and Blanche, in the later seasons

Did you know that ALLAN MELVIN(Barney)played a Polish police sergeant, in a much earlier episode(it was the first episode Melvin appeared in, before he was Barney), and he was named SERGEANT POLASKI, and Archie mistakenly called him POLL-OCK

I think at one point he was appearing occasionally on both All in the Family and the Brady Bunch. I thought that was kinda cool.
Sam was a little different from Barney, I thought so anyway.

In an early episode of AITF, Edith makes a reference to Mabel Hefner, Barney's wife. In the later episodes, Barney is married to a woman named Blanche, whom we see several times. I always thought there was a continuity problem with the scripts.

But, I recently saw the episode where Blanche runs off with the exterminator. When Barney tells Archie that his wife left him, Archie says, "Mabel?" And Barney, irritated, replies, "No, Blanche!" Anyone know if they ever mentioned what happened to Mabel?


I was wondering about this myself! I recently started watching All in the family on Get TV ! A couple of time Barney's wife , Mabel was mentioned ! I was just assuming the name was changed to Blanche when Estelle Parson's played her and Mrs. Hefner was actually seen not just spoken about! I just researched this and on TV Fandom it says Mabel was Barney's first wife and she died, and Blanche was his second wife !;)

Copy and paste :


Barney Hefner was Archie's best friend and a regular at Kelsey's Bar.

The part of Barney, which was played by veteran character actor Allan Melvin (who is known for his part as Sgt. Hacker on Gomer Pyle, USMC), would gain a more significant role in the series after the departure of Sally Struthers, who played Gloria, and Rob Reiner, who played Mike, and an even greater one when the show was spun-off by CBS-TV into the continuation series Archie Bunker's Place for the 1979-80 television season.
About Barney

Their friendship was first established in 1972 during an episode of All in the Family. Barney was then married to a woman named Mabel but Mabel died (somewhere around the 1975-1976 season) and then Barney married Blanche (played by Estelle Parsons, who was a longtime friend of Edith's, and who Archie and Edith set up on a blind date, some time around 1977. Blanche left Barney numerous times. Barney divorced her in 1979 and was ordered to pay alimony.

I was wondering about this myself! I recently started watching All in the family on Get TV ! A couple of time Barney's wife , Mabel was mentioned ! I was just assuming the name was changed to Blanche when Estelle Parson's played her and Mrs. Hefner was actually seen not just spoken about! I just researched this and on TV Fandom it says Mabel was Barney's first wife and she died, and Blanche was his second wife !;)

Copy and paste :


Barney Hefner was Archie's best friend and a regular at Kelsey's Bar.

The part of Barney, which was played by veteran character actor Allan Melvin (who is known for his part as Sgt. Hacker on Gomer Pyle, USMC), would gain a more significant role in the series after the departure of Sally Struthers, who played Gloria, and Rob Reiner, who played Mike, and an even greater one when the show was spun-off by CBS-TV into the continuation series Archie Bunker's Place for the 1979-80 television season.
About Barney

Their friendship was first established in 1972 during an episode of All in the Family. Barney was then married to a woman named Mabel but Mabel died (somewhere around the 1975-1976 season) and then Barney married Blanche (played by Estelle Parsons, who was a longtime friend of Edith's, and who Archie and Edith set up on a blind date, some time around 1977. Blanche left Barney numerous times. Barney divorced her in 1979 and was ordered to pay alimony.

This is odd, something doesn't add up here. It seems to me that the writers were trying to pull a fast one. How could Archie not know Mable had died? She was his good buddie's wife and neighbor. It seems like they were trying to write a poor storyline because they had forgot in storyline continuity that her name was originally Mable, but I could be wrong.

Was that Mabel Hefner who dropped in late at night at the Bunkers when everyone was still up and a drunk kept calling up and Archie invited him to the house. I believe there was a cop there. Anyway this neighbor comes over after having a bad date and she really wasn't funny. Anyone know who she was?

Did you know that ALLAN MELVIN(Barney)played a Polish police sergeant, in a much earlier episode(it was the first episode Melvin appeared in, before he was Barney), and he was named SERGEANT POLASKI, and Archie mistakenly called him POLL-OCK

Estelle Parsons also played Dolores Mancheney Fencel (wife of Bummie Fencel) in an earlier episode, next thing we knew, she lost the afro & was Blanche Hefner!