Carroll O'Connor was creating for ABC called "Justice For All", with O'Connor playing Archie Justice, a lovable yet controversial bigot. After three pilots done between 1968 and 1970, a network change to CBS, and the last name of the character changed to Bunker, the new sitcom was renamed "All in the Family". The show was based on the BBC's "Till Death Us Do Part", with Bunker based on Alf Garnett, albeit somewhat less abrasive than the original. O'Connor's Queens background and New York accent is said to have influenced Lear to set the show in Queens. Wanting a well-known actor to play
Archie Bunker most white ethnic groups as well, including the English, Germans, Irish, and Polish. Archie, a Christian belonging to the Episcopalian denomination, often misquotes the Bible. He takes pride in being religious, although he rarely attends church services and constantly mispronounces the name of his minister, Reverend Felcher, as "Reverend Fletcher". (When Edith inevitably corrects him, he dismisses the error with "Whatever".) He is a compulsive gambler, who, in earlier years, frequently lost his entire weekly paycheck in poker games, as related by Edith in 1973 episode "Archie the Gambler"; he quit only when Edith threatened to leave him, taking then