All in the Family was the story of a working-class man and his family experiencing changing times in 1970s New York. The series ran for nine seasons and never shied away from controversial topics but CBS executives got so nervous about one All in the Family episode that they censored it before it even hit the airwaves. So what was the most controversial episode of a controversial show? Which All in the Family episodes were censored and who played the draft dodger on the series?
Now Archie Bunker was the quintessential curmudgeon pushing back against social reform, and his long-suffering wife Edith became an unlikely hero in the fight for women’s liberation. Plenty of viewers thought the show took things too far but just as many said they did not go far enough. You won’t want to miss this shocking tale of the All in the Family episode that was too hot for TV, so without further ado, it’s time to stroll back down memory lane.
An all-American family
When Norman Lear read an article in TV Guide about the popular British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, he instantly recognized similarities to his own family. CBS was interested in buying the show’s rights as a starting vehicle for Jackie Gleason, but Lear beat them to it and offered the show to ABC. Norman shot two pilots starring Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton but the network brass didn’t pick the show up.
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ABC had just canceled the sketch show Turn On after one episode and was hesitant to take a chance on a show with a foul mouth bigoted lead. All in the Family was TV’s 34th most-watched show during its inaugural season but climbed to the top of the Nielsen ratings during summer reruns and it remained there for an unprecedented five seasons.
Unlike CBS’s rural comedies, the series focused on controversial topics previously considered taboo on network series – stuff like racism, homosexuality, women’s liberation, abortion, and the ongoing war in Vietnam. In the Watergate tapes former President Nixon discussed the season one episode “Judging Books by Covers,” in which Archie discovers that one of his best friends is gay. Tricky dick believed the show was trying to downgrade him and make the square hard hat out to be bad; he also feared the show would corrupt children just as Socrates once did in ancient Greece. Nixon’s domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman responded that Socrates “never had the influence that television had.”
What was the most controversial episode of ‘All in the Family?’
Picking the most controversial or best episode of any long-running series is tough but we found plenty of bloggers willing to give it a shot. The writers at Gold Derby ranked “Sammy’s Visit” number one. The episode featured the legendary Sammy Davis Jr. stopping by 704 Hower Street to retrieve the briefcase he left in Archie’s cab. When Sammy surprises Archie with a kiss on the cheek at the end of the episode it received one of the longest laughs in TV history.
Voters on the website Episode Ninja ranked “The Bunkers and the Swingers” number one. Edith answers a personal ad from a couple seeking new friends and hilarity ensues as she gradually figures out why they are so friendly: “I don’t want no creepos, weirdos or sexos in my house, come on.”
Meanwhile Nathan Sharp at Screen Rant ranked “Weekend in the Country” from season nine as the show’s worst episode. In this one, Jean Stapleton had already announced her intention to leave the show, believing the series had run its course and viewers weren’t crazy about the episode’s played-out storyline, which revolved around a heated argument over a Monopoly game during a camping trip.
‘All in the Family’ censored none of the deodorized bigotry, by order of Norman Lear
Norman Lear’s father frequently told his mother to stifle herself and referred to him as “the laziest white man I ever saw.” Of course, both became Archyisms that found their way onto the show and Lear aspired to purge bigotry by helping viewers recognize it in their own lives. A disclaimer ran before each episode that said the show “seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns by making them a source of laughter. We hope to show in a mature fashion just how absurd they are.”
A novel about anti-Semitism entitled Gentleman’s Agreement was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1947 and author Laura Z. Hobson came out of retirement in 1971 to publish a 5,000-word critique of All in the Family. Her specific complaint about the bigotry was “there’s not enough of it.” Hopson argues that despite Archie’s frequent use of racial and ethnic slurs throughout the show he doesn’t actually use the preferred nomenclature of American bigots. Well, the only answer to that is she concludes the article by mentioning that Norman Lear refused to speak to her on the telephone but his assistant informed her he’d be happy to meet with her in person to discuss the show.
Lear responded with a New York Times essay of his own entitled As I Read How Laura Saw Archie. Lear claimed that Archie wasn’t motivated by hatred but by fear and the slurs she didn’t hear were from another decade. He also disagreed with her statement that bigots can’t be lovable and said “If you have not known lovable bigots of different stripes and attitudes and in varying degrees we are obviously aging in different Wine cellars.
Were any ‘All in the Family’ episodes censored?
Norman Lear partnered with Jimmy Kimmel to produce live in front of a studio audience on ABC to commemorate All the Family‘s 50th Anniversary. The special starred Woody Harelson as Archie and Jamie Fox as George Jefferson and they restaged Henry’s farewell from season four and the pilot episode of The Jeffersons. They used the original scripts with almost no revisions but bleeped out a racial slur during the broadcast – but that wasn’t the first time an episode was censored before it hit the airwaves.
The 1976 Christmas episode “The Draft Dodger” was written by Jay Moriarty but his agent never submitted the script and simply told him that Lear passed. But after Jimmy Carter announced his intention to pardon all Vietnam draft dodgers if he was elected, Moriarty brought the script up again and the episode was finally produced. During the episode, the Bunkers are hosting Archie’s friend Pinky Peterson at Christmas dinner when a friend of Mike’s unexpectedly drops by. Mike warns his friend David, portrayed by Renny Temple, not to mention he is a draft dodger and a fugitive.
Archie loses his temper and assumes that since Pinky lost his son in Vietnam he’ll take his side but to Archie’s astonishment Pinky sides with David and wishes him a Merry Christmas. Archie then takes the Lord’s name in vain in the episode and the network suits forced Lear to overdub the line with “I ain’t talking about that War, I don’t want to talk about that rotten […] no more,” a decision that angered and confused many fans. Less than a month later, a newly inaugurated President Carter made good on his campaign promise issuing an executive pardon for all deserters and draft Dodgers during his first full day in office
The legacy of ‘All in the Family’
In a 2009 interview, Norman Lear said, “We would go after the most controversial topic of the day. That was our stock in trade to make trouble.” Norman Lear received Kennedy Center Honors in 2017 and celebrated his 101st birthday in 2022 and even then refused to slow down; he teamed up with Lin Manuel Miranda to produce the 2021 documentary Rita Moreno Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, and most recently produced a revival of Good Times that’s currently in post-production.
Sadly, Lear’s brilliant, blinding light went out on December 5, 2023, at that monumental age of 101, but he left quite a lot of dazzling television history for us to celebrate for ages to come.
Now we need to hear from you. What’s your all-time favorite episode of All in the Family? Should more have been censored from All in the Family? Who was your favorite character and was this show ahead of its time or simply subversive trash? I think I know the answer to that last one but get in the comments and let us know!
