Ellie Kemper is the star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and voices Katie in The Secret Life of Pets. (Getty)
Tonight, ABC is bringing audiences a special reboot of two classic sitcoms. Wednesday night’s special, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons,” will reprise some of America’s most beloved series.
Kemper will play Archie and Edith Bunker’s daughter, Gloria Stivic. Gloria is an only child who often gets stuck in the middle of arguments between her conservative father and liberal husband, Michael.
The role was originally played by Sally Struthers. Wikipedia describes Gloria as the college-aged daughter who “has the generally kind nature of her mother but the stubbornness of her father.” While she is certainly known for originating the role of Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, Sally Struthers is also famous for playing Babette on Gilmore Girls. She was also the voice of Charlene Sinclair on ABC’s Dinosaurs and Rebecca Cunningham on Disney’s animated series TaleSpin.
What else has Ellie Kemper been up to lately? The 39-year-old actress, who first rose to fame as Erin Hannon on The Office, grew her starmeter with the hit Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She’s since appeared in critically-acclaimed movies like Bridesmaids and 21 Jump Street.
This year, she’s slated to appear in At Home with Amy Sedaris, the TV series, The Secret Life of Pets 2, and The Stand-In.
What else do we know about tonight’s Jimmy Kimmel/Normal Lear ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons’ remake special?
During a recent taping of his show, Kimmel told audiences, “[Lear] did so much for freedom of speech and inclusivity. We’d be way behind without him.”
The special will take place 90 minutes, and according to Variety, it will feel a bit like time travel, “giving audiences a chance to revisit some old friends, but with a different sheen.” And this time, it’s all live.
Recently, Lear sat down with the New York Post to discuss tonight’s exciting event. Asked why he chose to do re-enactments of both shows instead of trying to revive them as an ongoing series, he said, “I didn’t choose to do a live re-enactment of those shows. It was Jimmy Kimmel’s idea. He phoned my partner, Brent Miller, and collectively, with ABC and Sony, they came to me and said “Can we?” and I said, “Yes, please.” I had no intention of reviving the shows and Jimmy Kimmel wanted to do it. Also, it was his notion to do it live.”
He also teased, “Audiences will have to tune in to see if there are some surprises.”