Cutting-Edge Facts You Don’t Know About ‘All in the Family’

Television is a place where history can happen. All in the Family is certainly one of the most popular and enduring classic TV shows of all time. The program aired from 1971 and lasted until 1979, grabbing a ton of awards and critical acclaim along the way! Today we are digging deep in order to shower you with stunning facts about the hit show!

Based on British TV.

By now we are used to seeing American shows based off of U.K. counterparts, but back in the time All in the Family was unique! It wouldn’t be charity to say that All in the Family quickly outshone the U.K. based version, Till Death Do Us Part. Recycling TV show ideas likely won’t make its way into an environmental education course, but Hollywood definitely took notice.

Mickey Rooney almost starred in the show!

It’s almost impossible to see Archie Bunker as anyone but Carroll O’Connor, but it almost happened. In fact, Archie Bunker was once pegged to be played by Hollywood legend, Mickey Rooney! Rooney declined the role, saying that it was too controversial for TV.

The show saw TWO pilot pitches.

Typically a TV show will get a pilot filmed to pitch to major networks. All in the Family had three such episodes filmed. Both times the pilot was turned down by ABC. We’re pretty sure they regret turning down the program, but what do we know? It’s not like you could fuel the sustainable development of a new broadcast with their crazy ratings.

An iconic kissing sequence!

If you could run sustainable cities on laughter then Sammy Davis’ kiss, delivered to the bigoted Archie Bunker, would be the primary fuel. The interracial kissing scene pulled in the biggest laugh of the show’s history — and that’s saying something.

Head to the museum!

We tend to look at sitcoms as an entertaining way to kill some time, but they often make history! Moreover if you head to the Smithsonian Museum you will see Archie and Edith’s own easy chairs on display.

The Rural Purge made room for All in the Family.

There was a period of time where CBS was dominated by old southern TV shows. When all of these programs were canceled, nicknamed the Rural Purge, new programming was ordered up.

Harrison Ford almost joined the show!

The role of Michael Stivic, Archie’s brutish song, almost went to Harrison Ford! Ford would end up declining the role and he’d go on to do pretty well of his own accord.

The series was based in reality!

Norman Lear, the developer of the show, based the entire Bunker family off of his own childhood. Norm’s father, Lear, was the entire basis for Archie – albeit in a much funnier way.

CBS tried to regulate the screenwriters.

When Norman Lear was developing the initial 13 episodes he would keep receiving memos from CBS as to what words to use and not use. They wanted ‘edgy’ but not too edgy. Lear ignored the memos.

An NFL player almost starred in the show!

Back during the pilot phase, Norman Lear had cast Oakland Raider linebacker Chip Oliver to play Michael Stivic. However, the networks did not love these pilots.

Rob Reiner was the key to production!

As we stated above, All in the Family struggled to get greenlit by CBS. Only after Rob Reiner was cast would the show finally be greenlit!

Carroll O’Connor wrote lyrics for the show.

O’Connor, who played Archie Bunker, wrote the lyrics for the closing song on the TV show. As a result, the closing theme was titled ‘Remembering You’.

All in the Family initially had another name.

Did you know that the original title for the series was Those Were the Days? However, a song got popular on the radio with the same name causing the production team to re-title the show.

The show never had their expected backlash.

Many members of the production anticipated huge public backlash due to the nature of Archie Bunker. Although that never actually happened and Bunker ended up hugely popular instead!

The Bunker family initially had a different name.

When the show was being shot as a pilot the Bunker family was initially known as the Justice family. During this time the pilot was being called, ‘Justice For All’.

Harrison Ford had been turned off by Archie Bunker.

We mentioned Ford almost getting cast. The reason he passed on the role? He was personally offended by the Archie Bunker character. Furthermore, he even thought that audiences would loathe Archie and the show would fail.

Sally Struthers ended her run on the show negatively.

To say that Sally Struthers ended her role on the show negatively is actually putting it lightly. She had to actually sue the production company to get out of her contract.

Archie Bunker almost got killed off.

So O’Connor entered into a contract dispute with Tandem Productions where he demanded 12 weeks of vacation and $64K in backpay. Norman Lear responded by filming three episodes without Archie while threatening to kill the character off.

Edith’s voice was a byproduct of stage theater.

Edith’s iconic nasally voice came about while Stapleton was performing on stage in Damn Yankees. She loved the voice so much that she kept it for the show.

Rob Reiner had to wear a wig.

Rob Reiner unfortunately started to go bald early and the production team had to keep a slew of wigs on hand for the actor. Yikes.

Scott Brady was almost a part of the show.

In fact, Brady turned down the role of Archie Bunker. But that didn’t stop the actor from appearing in a later episode as a different character, however, as Joe Foley.

All in the Family was almost filmed in black and white.

Norman Lear initially wanted to air the show in black and white as a nod to how Archie Bunker viewed the world. CBS balked on the idea and the show would be produced in color.

All in the Family broke through some boundaries.

Would you believe that this program was one of the first to air full frontal male nudity? The nudity in question was, of course, the three week old infant Joey Stivic.

There have been seven spin off shows!

All in the Family definitely branched out over the years! Seven different spin off shows would be produced spanning 15 years of production, including Maude, The Jeffersons, Gloria, Archie Bunker’s Place, and 704 Hauser.

Archie Bunker predicted the 1980 election.

During an argument with Meathead, Archie Bunker accurately predicted the 1980 Presidential election – where Ronald Reagan would be elected.

The famous sock and shoe debate was a true story.

Rob Reiner and Carroll O’Connor once got into a debate while in their dressing rooms about the proper way to put on socks and shoes. Reiner relayed the story to Norman Lear and the rest is history. Hilarious!

Carroll O’Connor fought for equal billing in the credits.

When Norman Lear told O’Connor that his name would get first billing in the second season, O’Connor actually made Lear change it. O’Connor wanted Stapleton to get co-lead billing.

Norman Lear held the role of George Jefferson for Sherman Hemsley.

When the Jefferson’s were first introduced you didn’t see George – just Louise. Sherman Hemsley was apparently stuck on another production. Rather than re-casting, Lear held the role for Hemsley when he returned.

The first toilet flush in TV history.

Toilets used to be considered taboo on television! All in the Family was the first network television show to actually air the sound of a toilet flushing.

Edith was never killed off.

Fans around the country seem to remember an episode where Edith died off and Archie mourned her. This never happened and producers aren’t sure where the idea comes from.

Carroll O’Connor lived in Italy when he was cast.

Yup, O’Connor was living in Italy when he was told that he landed the role of Archie Bunker. The producers paid O’Connor’s way to live back in the States during filming. Not bad, eh?

Jean Stapleton passed on a huge product for All in the Family.

Stapleton had been cast in the hit film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory but she passed on the project in order to do All in the Family. Worked out in the end, though.

First TV show to be shot before a studio audience since the ‘50s.

Production teams were phasing out live studio audiences before All in the Family came around. As a result the show would be aired before an audience, setting the stage for essentially every comedic sitcom to follow.

First comedy series filmed on videotape.

The technology in TV is always changing and this was the first comedic series to be filmed on videotape, transitioning away from film. We told you that All in the Family broke through a bunch of barriers.

Jean Stapleton is actually an incredible singer.

Despite consistently portraying Edith Bunker as a terrible singer, Jean Stapleton is actually a wonderful vocalist. She started off her entertainment career on Broadway singing in the shows Damn Yankees as well as Funny Girl.

Three Minutes

Turns out that back in 1975, CBS actually cut old episodes of All in the Family by a whopping three minutes in order to allow for more time for commercials. Norman Lear attempted to haggle with CBS to keep those three minutes, and even offered the network more money for those minutes! However CBS declined the offer.

Home Sweet Home

Numerous times within the show it’s repeated that the Bunkers live at 704 Hauser Street in the Astoria area of Queens, however that is a fictional location. In fact the exterior of their cute home from the opening credits is very real and you can skedaddle on over there to see it with your own eyes: 89-76 Cooper Avenue in the Glendale section of Queens.

Nope-Nope-Nope

Lucille Ball was a massive television icon at the time but she went ahead and absolutely slammed CBS for airing All in the Family on the same network as her classic show, I Love Lucy. She even publicly spoke out against the show, especially its offensive language, and Ball even called the program, “un-American.”

The Future Mrs. Reiner Almost Played Mrs. Stivic

Rob Reiner’s girlfriend and then eventual wife Penny Marshall was a finalist to play the role of Gloria, as was Sally Struthers. Now Reiner and Marshall were already living together at the time and Struthers felt that Reiner would most likely work better with Penny, therefore she went into that final audition without any nerves and just gave it her all. While Penny had a better reading, she looked too much like Jean Stapleton and Struthers well – as she was brutally told by the producer had “a fat face and blue eyes like Carroll O’Connor.”

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Viewers did phone and write the producers a TON in the show’s first and second season because they all had ONE important question, “What is the second to last line of the opening theme song?” No one seemed to understand that the line was, “Gee, our old LaSalle ran great”. Therefore O’Connor and Stapleton had to re-record before season three and made sure to carefully enunciate the mysterious lyric.

Controversial Topics

No doubt about it but the show made its mark when it addressed numerous controversial issues, which were often considered unsuitable for U.S. network television at the time. Topics such as racism, women’s liberation, homosexuality, religion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, and menopause were topics on the show.

My Opinion

Once Carroll O’Connor read an article known as Till Death Us Do Part (1965), before he was involved with the show. After he read the article, O’Connor actually told his wife that no one in the states would ever get away with executing such a series like this.

“Archie Bunker for President”

Remember how we said the producers were sure people would be insulted by the show but they weren’t? Well, looks like they definitely loved Archie Bunker, so much so that some even created “Archie Bunker for President” bumper stickers and campaign buttons. Furthermore, there was even a bestseller paperback that took the world by storm, The Wit and Wisdom of Archie Bunker.

Budgetry Concerns

Originally the plan was for the theme tune to be played by an orchestra. Although there were some budgetary concerns so they producers were ahead with Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton playing the song at the piano. Good choice in the end, we’d say!

Provisions

After Sally Struthers had sued, the producers added a provision in her contract which prevented her from ever appearing as her character anywhere other than the show itself.

The Life of Politics

Carroll O’Connor’s own personal views on the world of politics and social issues were quite liberal, and definitely the opposite of his character.

Who You? Yeah Me.

If Archie had actually been killed off because of the whole contract dispute, the show planned to divert attention to Archie’s bestie, Stretch Cunningham, who was played by James Cromwell. However, after the O’Connor contract dispute was resolved, Stretch’s character ended up getting killed off. Oh.

With This Ring…

Good ol’ Archie Bunker always, always wore his wedding ring but ON his middle finger. Why we don’t know but it is pretty darn interesting.

Winners All Around

All In The Family was actually the very first television program where all of its main cast members won Emmys. Nice job, team!

Debatable

Writers once considered quite a different direction for the story line. They contemplated that Archie should have an affair with the next door neighbor, Irene Lorenzo, but they didn’t go through with it as it seemed totally out of character for Archie and Irene.

The Cut

Mike Evans first ever acting role was on the show when he auditioned for the great role of Lionel Jefferson. Director John Rich believed that Evans’ acting audition was rather poor but he still really felt that Evans would be great in the role. So he cast him! Good choice!

See Yah Later Alligator

Both Frank and Irene Lorenzo, the Bunkers’ neighbors, just disappeared without explanation. Vincent Gardenia, a.k.a. Frank, quit the series because of personal disputes with Norman Lear. Whereas Betty Garrett carried on playing the part as Irene until she joined the cast of Laverne & Shirley.

Line!

Archie’s famous line “Stifle, Edith!” went on to get ranked as #12 in good ol’ TV Guide’s list of “TV’s 20 Top Catchphrases”. How crazy!

Once, Twice

Rob Reiner did audition for the original pilot of All in the Family but he did not get chosen for the role! It wasn’t until Normal Lear saw him on another show that he decided to give Reiner another chance.

Mirror Image

There was a certain episode where Jean Stapleton played TWO characters: Edith, and the girlfriend of a butcher who was madly in love with Edith, and who found this girlfriend who looks identical but with drastically different personalities.

Another Ride

Carol O’Connor once suggested a revival of All in the Family where Archie drives a cab full time and depicts his interesting interactions with passengers. However Norman Lear did not take to the idea at all and focused on other works.

Still Relevant

In 2013, the Writers Guild of America went ahead and ranked All in the Family as the fourth-best written television series ever, while TV Guide ranked it the fourth-greatest show of all time!

Papi

If you remember the character Theresa Betancourt then you’ll know she was played by Liz Torres, who joined the cast in fall of 1976. However not many viewers liked her character therefore she was phased out by the end of the season.

Change Up

During the show’s final ever season, the traditional practice of being taped before a live audience was changed to play an already taped and edited show to an audience while they recorded their laughter to the original sound track. As a result, the end credits voice over was changed from Rob Reiner’s “All in the Family was recorded on tape before a live audience” to Carroll O’Connor’s saying, “All in the Family was played to a studio audience for live responses”.

Consistent

All in the Family is just one of three television shows, with The Cosby Show and American Idol as the others, to have placed as number one in the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive television seasons. The show went on to remain in the top 10 for seven out of its nine seasons.

Decisions

So Stapleton remained with the show through to the original series run, but then decided to leave before the first season of Archie Bunker’s Place had wrapped up. At that point, Edith had been written out due to a stroke and died off-camera. As such Stapleton appeared in all but four episodes and had a recurring role during the first season of Archie Bunker’s Place. She commented that she wanted to leave as “she had had enough of the weekly series and was anxious to leave it to resume her career on the stage and in movies.”

Writer

Rob Reiner A.K.A. Michael Stivic is even credited with having written three of the series’ episodes.

Pilot

Bunkers’ daughter and son-in-law which were then named “Dickie”, had initially been cast to Candice Azzara and Chip Oliver. However, once ABC saw the show’s pilot, they immediately requested a second pilot as they were dissatisfied with both actors.

Slip Up

“The First and Last Supper” episode, during the closing credits, Mel Stewart is incorrectly credited with the role of George Jefferson. In reality, Stewart played George’s brother, Henry Jefferson, who was actually pretending to be George for most of the episode.

It’s You!

CBS tried to purchase the rights to the original show and then to retool it specifically for Gleason, who at the time was under contract to them, but the producer Lear beat out CBS for the rights and thus offered the show to ABC.

The Best of “All in the Family”

On December 21, 1974, Henry Fonda held a special one-hour retrospective of “All in the Family” and the impact the show had on American television. There were even clips from the show’s most memorable episodes, up to that point of course.

Nixon Speaks

While the show was on air, the then President of the United States, Nixon, can be heard on the Watergate tapes, talking about the show! Especially the 1971 episodes “Writing the President” and “Judging Books by Covers”.

Conditions

Donna McCrohan said that Carroll O’Connor actually had requested to Lear that he provide him with a return ticket to Rome on the condition he accept the role. So this way he could “return to Italy when the show failed”.

Maude

Bea Arthur played Edith’s cousin Maude and she may have only appeared in two episodes, “Cousin Maude’s Visit” and “Maude”. However that didn’t stop her from getting her own spin-off series, Maude, which began in fall 1972.

Bestie

Allan Melvin was Archie’s neighbor and best friend on the show, Barney Hefner. Barney did first appear in 1972 as a rather minor character. However his role expanded towards the end of the show, after Reiner and Struthers left. He was a series regular for all four seasons of Archie Bunker’s Place.

‘Ello

James Cromwell was in the episode titled “Archie in the Cellar”, where Billy Sands is referred to as Stretch Cunningham, who is the voice on the tape recorder telling jokes. Sands then also appeared as various other characters on the show, usually in Kelsey’s Bar.

Double

Cousin Amelia was actually played by two different actresses within the very first few seasons of the show. Those actresses were Rae Allen and Elizabeth Wilson.

Mister Justin

From 1971 to 1976, Burt Mustin appeared in five episodes where his first appearance was as a night watchman, and then he did an additional four appearances as Justin Quigley, a feisty octogenarian.

Meathead

In the show, Archie often refers to Michael by the nickname “Meathead”, but there is a later episode where Archie Bunker himself was known as “Meathead” in his youth.

Grandniece

Danielle Brisebois played Edith’s cute nine year old grandniece, Stephanie Mills and in 1980, Brisebois was nominated Young Artist Award – Best Juvenile Actress in a TV Series or Special.

O’Connor and Stapleton’s reunion

Now it wasn’t until 1991 that O’Connor and Stapleton would reunite, and it took place on the Donny and Marie talk show. “It was the first time they had gotten together on screen since ‘All In The Family,’and also Donny and Marie asked if they would do their Archie and Edith voices but refused.”

Farewell

As the show was approaching the end, Norman Lear talked with Jean Stapleton (who grew weary of playing her role as Edith Bunker) about how to respectfully kill Edith of. She replied with, “Just have her die off, she’s only fiction.” Lear paused and then said, “Not to me, she isn’t.”

Inspiration

Norman Lear admitted that most of the show’s catch phrases which include”Meat Head”, “Dingbat”, and “Stifle” were actually inspired by the exact same words that he heard from his father as a kid.

Goodby-

Initially Lear had planned to end the show after season 8 and All in the Family: The Stivics Go West would have served as the finale. Moreover there was even a goodbye party after that episode taping and a People Magazine cover to commemorate the supposed finale. However, Carroll O’Connor and CBS wanted the show to continue! So in the end, Lear and Tandem Productions relented while Jean Stapleton was convinced to return, but Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers were not.

Arc

So the clever story arc of Gloria’s pregnancy and birth of Baby Joey was originally meant for season five. However those plans were quickly put on pause because of Carroll O’Connor’s holdout to begin that season, which thus resulted in newer scripts to start the season to explain Archie’s unexpected absence.

Ann Romano

So the book titled “Archie and Edith, Mike and Gloria: The Tumultuous History of All In The Family”, it claims that the episode titled “Edith’s 50th Birthday”, where Edith is held prisoner in her home and gets tormented by a would-be rapist, was actually intended for an episode of One Day at a Time , with Ann Romano as the victim.

Revelation

In the episode titled “Gloria’s False Alarm”, Edith tells Gloria that she is an only child because after she was born, there were “some problems” although not caused by Gloria, and Edith’s doctor recommended to her not to have any more children.

Nope.

So back in 1972 Jean Stapleton was on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and she took part in a parody of All in the Family. While she played the tole of Edith Bunker in the parody, she actually refused to speak in the distinctive voice that she had used on the show. Stapleton instead just used her normal speaking voice, which sounds nothing like Edith Bunker.

What A Fella

Yup, that’s right the character of Archie Bunker was actually ranked at #24 in TV Guide’s list of the “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time”. Huh.

Voice Game

Carroll O’Connor had developed the voice of Archie by indeed drawing on and combining the myriad New York accents that he had heard growing up in Queens, NY, and also during his years spent on New York City stage work.

Mustache You A Question

Rob Reiner grew his epic mustache so that he would appear older, as producers had initially felt that he looked far too young for the part.

So Close

So it turns out that Tom Bosley, Jack Warden, and Jackie Gleason were all actually considered for the role of Archie Bunker. In fact, CBS even wanted to buy the rights to the original British show! So that they could fix it up just for Gleason, who was under contract to them. However Norman Lear beat them to the punch.

Tidbit Or Two

Aww, Edith’s maiden name used to be Baines and Gloria was employed at the cosmetics counter at Kressler’s department store.

Clash

So Carroll O’Connor would fight constantly and brutally with Norman Lear during production and even resulted in a few boycotts and contract holdouts. O’Connor would argue with Lear about the direction that the show was taking. As he was a writer himself he would often rewrite Archie’s dialogue, sometimes he had Lear’s approval, sometimes not.

Original

Gavin MacLeod had read for the part of Archie, but rather reluctantly. Personally he was opposed to bigotry of any kind, and therefore felt that the subject matter was inappropriate.