Movies - TV
An Unaired All In The Family Episode Cost ABC $250K
By SANDY SCHAEFER
Legend has it that the first two attempts at the "All in the Family" pilot, titled "Justice for All" and "Those Were the Days," didn't work on ABC due to the casting.
However, according to Norman Lear, despite having already spent $250,000 making it and the studio audience “roaring with laughter,” ABC didn’t want to air “Those Were The Days.”
"It wasn't a question of whether it was funny or not," Lear claimed. "They peed in their pants. But they were afraid." CBS, however, was willing to take the gamble.
CBS was comically skittish about the whole thing, too, and threw on a long-winded disclaimer at the start of its reconfigured "All in the Family" pilot, "Meet the Bunkers."
"All in the Family" proved that television viewers were ready to move away from "safe" sitcom depictions of modern Americans. ABC's loss was CBS' gain.