All in the Family was a groundbreaking sitcom that became one of the most influential shows in television history. Created by Norman Lear, it took on controversial issues like racism, sexism, and the political changes of the 1970s through its iconic characters, including the infamous Archie Bunker. Played by Carroll O’Connor, Archie was a hard-edged, often bigoted patriarch who provided the perfect foil to his more liberal family members. However, while the show was a massive success, its production wasn’t without its problems.
During the show’s early years, O’Connor grew increasingly frustrated with the behind-the-scenes working conditions, ultimately leading him to go on strike in 1974. He filed a lawsuit against the production company, Tandem Productions, for $64,000 in unpaid dues and demanded more time off for vacation. This strike left the show without its main character for several episodes, forcing Norman Lear and the production team to come up with a plan to continue without Archie Bunker.
For several episodes, O’Connor’s absence was written into the plot. The story arc began with the episode titled “Where’s Archie?”, where the character mysteriously disappears, leaving his family members to worry about his whereabouts. This continued with the episode “Archie is Missing”, where the family spends the episode trying to figure out what happened to him. The arc concluded with “The Longest Kiss”, in which it is revealed that Archie had simply forgotten to call because he was enjoying his time away.
However, during the hiatus, Norman Lear considered the possibility that O’Connor might not return. He even devised a backup plan: to kill off Archie Bunker and replace him with Stretch Cunningham (played by James Cromwell), a character who had been introduced earlier in the series. Stretch was going to move into the Bunker household to fill the gap left by Archie’s tragic death in an accident.
In a twist of fate, O’Connor returned to the show, and the plan to kill off Archie was scrapped. Ironically, just two seasons later, James Cromwell’s character, Stretch, was written out of the show, allegedly due to O’Connor’s dissatisfaction with the character receiving too much attention. Cromwell himself later admitted that O’Connor’s actions helped him avoid being typecast into a single role, likening the situation to actors who get stuck with iconic roles like “Fonzie” from Happy Days.
Ultimately, O’Connor’s return solidified Archie Bunker’s place in television history, and he continued to portray the character for the remaining seasons of All in the Family as well as in the spinoff Archie Bunker’s Place. The on-set tensions, though serious at the time, never detracted from the show’s cultural impact, and All in the Family remains a landmark in sitcom history.
