Did You Know?

Notoriously, the first toilet flush in prime time television was heard on this show.

With all of its spin-offs included, save 704 Hauser, All in the Family ran for 15 straight years: All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker's Place, Checking In, Gloria.

Sally Struthers sued to get out of her contract in 1974.

Producer Norman Lear's original choice for Archie was Mickey Rooney.

In 1979, the series was reformatted as Archie Bunker's Place.

The role of Mike Stivic was offered to Harrison Ford who turned down the part because he felt Archie Bunker's bigotry was too offensive.

In one episode, Archie Bunker, without knowing it, issued what turned out to be a correct prophecy: During an argument with the "Meathead" in Kelsey's Bar, the latter walks out at the end, with Archie yelling out the door after him: "You're gonna get Ree-gan in 1980, wise guy!"

Mike was originally from Chicago.

The name of George Jefferson's brother, who was living with George and Louise, was Henry. In fact Henry once posed as George because George, who was as big a bigot as Archie, didn't want to set foot in the Bunker's house.

Jean Stapleton decided to do the series over starring in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. She would have played Mrs. Teevee.

For each episode, two performances were taped and the broadcast version combined the best takes from the two, which is how almost all comedy series are shot today. This was also the first comedy series shot on videotape rather than film.

When the initial furor after the premiere died down, ratings were so low that the show was about to be cancelled. Then, to the genuine surprise of many connected with the show, it started building a substantial audience during the 1971 summer re-run season. In August of that year, less than a month before the 1971-72 season was scheduled to begin, CBS announced that the series would be renewed.

In one episode Jean Stapleton played not only Edith Bunker but the dour, grumpy girlfriend of a local butcher who was in love with Edith, and found a girlfriend who looked exactly like Edith but was completely the opposite of her personality-wise.

This was the first television program to earn Emmys for all of its principal cast members.

Archie's line "Stifle, Edith!" was ranked #12 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 20 Top Catchphrases" (21-27 August 2005 issue).

At one point, during the opening credits, when "Edith" hits the (very) off notes on "And you knew where you were then", there was a laugh track that followed.

Archie's favorite baseball team was the NY Mets.

The penultimate line of the theme song is "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great." Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton slurred the line some, and the LaSalle - a lower-priced version of the Cadillac that was made by General Motors in the 1930s - was not much remembered, so few people could make sense of this line. In later seasons the opening theme was re-shot and Stapleton pronounced the line phonetically "Gee..our..old..La Salle..ran..great" so that people could understand it easier.

According to actress Danielle Brisebois, during the series run from 1970-1978 it was taped in front of a live studio audience. However, when the show entered its ninth season, 1978-1979, the producers abandoned the studio audience and began taping the show without them. However, after each episode was taped it would be shown to a studio audience and their laughter would be recorded. After the taping of Norman Lear's One Day at a Time, Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton would appear and play "Those Were The Days" live, followed by showing an episode of "All In The Family" played for live audience response. This would explain the change in the voiceover heard during the end credits of the 1978-19879 season, with Carroll O'Connor now saying "All In The Family was played to a studio audience for live responses".

Tom Bosley, Jack Warden and Jackie Gleason were all considered for the role of Archie Bunker. In fact, CBS wanted to buy the rights to the original British show and retool it specifically for Gleason, who was under contract to them, but producer Norman Lear beat out CBS for the rights and offered the show to ABC.

For the second season, Norman Lear advised Carroll O'Connor that his name would appear first in the credit scroll before the title of the show. O'Connor insisted that Jean Stapleton's name also be put before the credits and pressed Lear on it, who finally agreed, thereby giving both stars top billing.

In 1972 Jean Stapleton appeared on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and took part in a parody of All in the Family. Although she played the Edith Bunker role in the parody, she refused to speak in the distinctive voice she used on All in the Family. Stapleton instead used her normal speaking voice, which sounded nothing like Edith Bunker.

Gloria worked at the cosmetics counter at Kressler's department store.

Archie Bunker always wore his wedding ring on his middle finger.

Norman Lear planned to end the show with season 8; All in the Family: The Stivics Go West would have been the finale; there was even a goodbye party after the taping and a People Magazine cover commemorating the supposed finale. However, Carroll O'Connor and CBS wanted the show to continue, so Lear and Tandem Productions relented, and Jean Stapleton was convinced to return, while Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers were not.

Penny Marshall was considered for the part of Gloria. At the time of the series she was married to Rob Reiner.

Sometime prior to becoming involved in the show, Carroll O'Connor read an article about 'Til Death Do Us Part, the British Sitcom All in the Family would be based on. After reading the article, O'Connor commented to his wife how no one would ever be able get away with doing such a series in the US.

Rob Reiner grew his mustache to appear older as producers initially felt he looked too young for the part.

Of the show's spin-offs, The Jeffersons was the longest running, airing for 11 seasons, two more seasons than All In The Family would run for.

Carroll O'Connor was living in Italy when he was offered the role of Archie Bunker. He accepted the role only on the condition that the producers would pay for his flight back to Italy if the pilot was not picked up.