Wednesday, June 26, 2013

All In The Family Before It Was All In The Family

Norman Lear filmed a pilot for ABC in 1968, the show was called "Justice For All".  Starring Carroll O'Connor as Archie Justice, it was based on the british tv show "Till Death Us Do Part".   There was Jean Stapleton as Edith Justice and daughter Gloria played by Kelly Jean Peters and her Irish-American liberal husband Richard and his black friend Lionel Jefferson played by D'Urville Martin.
ABC didnt pick up the show for the 1968 season and the pilot never aired.  Norman Lear did a pilot for with basically the same script but this time it was called "Those Were The Days", Archie and Edith were the same but different actors played Gloria and Richard .  Also not picked up by any network, Lear reworked the script a third time with "Justice" gone and "Archie and Edith Bunker" in with 2 other actors as Gloria and renamed husband Michael Stivic (now polish-american) and Lionel Jefferson was played by Mike Evans.  This pilot would be picked up and ultimately aired as the debut of "All In the Family" on CBS in January 1971.

Here is the original "Justice For All" 




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