Sally Struthers says the move from her quiet upbringing in Oregon to the bold, often provocative world of All in the Family in Los Angeles was a major culture shock.
Reflecting on her breakout role as Gloria Stivic — a performance that earned her two Emmy Awards — the 78-year-old actress told Fox News that she was stunned by some of the language her TV father, Archie Bunker, used on set.
“Well, I was very young when I started on that show,” Struthers shared. “I was young when I finished it. And I grew up in Portland, Oregon, with a Lutheran Norwegian family who didn’t have a trace of bigotry in their words or in their hearts.” 
For the first couple of years, she recalled, table reads were eye-opening. On the first day of rehearsal each week, the cast, producers, writers, and network executives would gather to read through the script — and some of the biggest debates centered around what Archie could or couldn’t say.
“People would track how many times Archie said ‘Geez,’ because they considered it shorthand for ‘Jesus’ and therefore swearing,” she explained. “They would negotiate with Norman Lear over how many of those words had to be removed.”
Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton played Archie and Edith Bunker, with Struthers as their daughter, Gloria, and Rob Reiner as their son-in-law, Mike — though Archie famously insisted on calling him “Meathead.”
Struthers said she was often unfamiliar with the harsh terms the scripts included. “Something would come out of somebody’s mouth — usually Archie’s — and I’d turn to whoever was next to me and ask, ‘What does that mean?’” she said. “I didn’t grow up hearing racial slurs or negative epithets. I had no idea that kind of ugliness existed. It was a big learning curve.”
All in the Family aired on CBS from 1971 to 1979, with Struthers appearing in 182 episodes. She later reprised her role in the spinoff Archie Bunker’s Place and starred in her own short-lived series, Gloria.
When asked whether the show’s language would be acceptable to audiences today, Struthers wasn’t sure — but believes society hasn’t changed as much as people think.
“I guess that’s just the rhythm of life, the cycles we go through as human beings,” she said. “Everything that disappears eventually comes back, maybe with a new twist or a little sparkle. Very little is truly new unless it’s some kind of technology no one saw coming.”
Still, she’s grateful for the era that allowed All in the Family to exist. “I’m just glad there was that brief moment in time when our show got to be on the air,” she said.
