Writing the President

This episode was produced as a second pilot with the permanent cast. When the show was finally picked up, CBS wanted this one to be the show's opening episode (since it contained fewer racial epithets than "Meet the Bunkers", as well as the network execs being nervous about the previous episode's blatant implication that the Stivics are about to have sex at the episode's start), but Norman Lear insisted that "Meet the Bunkers" had been written to show "360 degrees" of Archie Bunker and should be shown first. A fierce debate ensued minutes before the airing of the first show of the series; Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin threatening the CBS executives that they would do no further work on the show if "Writing the President" were shown first. CBS finally relented, literally at the last minute.