Mike and Gloria's wedding seems to be a classic in TV trivia history.

Anyone who watched All In The Family's earlier episodes knows that Mike and Gloria got married at home with only Gloria's parents and the judge watching. I think that Mike's dad was at the wedding too.

It is interesting how the characters are depicted as not caring to have a big fancy wedding with lots of people invited. Usually the female character wants such a thing because she thinks of it as the most important ceremony she will ever have and it has to be memorable.
I guess that Mike preferred to save money for his education and Gloria went along with it or Archie thought it was enough to pay for Mike's education so they did not want to pay for a big wedding besides.

It was never mentioned on the show that I recall.

Why did Mike and Gloria have such a small obscure ceremony?

Gloria was sort-of spoiled and childish. WHy did she not ask for a big wedding? That would have made a good topic for an episode.

The only other TV show that I can immediately recall in which the characters married in a small wedding was in Diff'rent Strokes when Mr Drummond married a woman who already had a young son (who became a new regular character in the series). I forgot the name of the woman Mr Drummond married and that of her son.

Has it more-often been depicted that characters have small at-home weddings like Mike and Gloria's or big elaborate show-offy types of weddings?
I can't recall a TV show that depicted the characters as having had a big wedding party.
I know that for budget reasons, a TV show cannot merely depict a lot of people and a big party (etc) but has it sometimes been at least indicated?

Mike and Gloria's wedding seems to be a classic in TV trivia history.

Anyone who watched All In The Family's earlier episodes knows that Mike and Gloria got married at home with only Gloria's parents and the judge watching. I think that Mike's dad was at the wedding too.

It is interesting how the characters are depicted as not caring to have a big fancy wedding with lots of people invited. Usually the female character wants such a thing because she thinks of it as the most important ceremony she will ever have and it has to be memorable.
I guess that Mike preferred to save money for his education and Gloria went along with it or Archie thought it was enough to pay for Mike's education so they did not want to pay for a big wedding besides.

It was never mentioned on the show that I recall.

Why did Mike and Gloria have such a small obscure ceremony?

Gloria was sort-of spoiled and childish. WHy did she not ask for a big wedding? That would have made a good topic for an episode.

The only other TV show that I can immediately recall in which the characters married in a small wedding was in Diff'rent Strokes when Mr Drummond married a woman who already had a young son (who became a new regular character in the series). I forgot the name of the woman Mr Drummond married and that of her son.

Has it more-often been depicted that characters have small at-home weddings like Mike and Gloria's or big elaborate show-offy types of weddings?
I can't recall a TV show that depicted the characters as having had a big wedding party.
I know that for budget reasons, a TV show cannot merely depict a lot of people and a big party (etc) but has it sometimes been at least indicated?

Mike's dad was dead before he married Gloria; his uncle Casmir stood up for him.

As to the wedding expense, Mike was undoubtedly dead broke. And I cannot imagine that Archie could have afforded any kind of "fancy" wedding on a dock worker's wages.

Also, I don't think Archie paid for Mike's college; didn't make get a scholarship? I know that Archie was paying for his room and board for five years; when they had their big blow up about Mike needing to pay Archie back, tuition was never mentioned, just room and board for five years.

Mike's dad was dead before he married Gloria; his uncle Casmir stood up for him.

I cold have sworn that there were some episodes with Mike's dad in them, at least one episode, but maybe I am mistaken. I think I recall Mike mentioning his dad in the episode in which Mike and Archie were stuck in the basement together. I think that might have been after Archie bought Kelsy's Bar. Mike briefly mentioned that there were times in which he thought his dad was wrong.

As to the wedding expense, Mike was undoubtedly dead broke. And I cannot imagine that Archie could have afforded any kind of "fancy" wedding on a dock worker's wages.

I guess that is right, but also it seems Mike and Gloria were depicted as being Hippie-like and they did not care for the materialism and traditions of older generations. But then it is a bit strange that they believed in getting married.


Also, I don't think Archie paid for Mike's college; didn't make get a scholarship? I know that Archie was paying for his room and board for five years; when they had their big blow up about Mike needing to pay Archie back, tuition was never mentioned, just room and board for five years.

In more than one episode I think I have heard Archie say, or indicate, that he was paying for Mike's education, not just room and board. Also Gloria had a job and was helping him pay for his education. Of course it could be that common thing in TV-show episodes in which what is said or what is depicted in one episode is a little different than what is said or depicted in an other episode because of the plot. I am not sure if it was the episode in which Archie and the Jeffersons and Mike were arguing over a phony twenty dollar bill in which Archie said that he put Mike through school, but Archie did once directly say that he put Mike through school. I guess it was in one of the later episodes after Mike was depicted as having had finished school.

I always thought it a bit poignant that Uncle Casimir stood up for Mike at the wedding and was praised for RAISING Mike after the early deaths of Mike's parents (which he indicated that happened when he was so young that he only seemed to relate one or two memories of them during the entire show).
However; WHERE was Uncle Casimir after all that? I would have thought had Uncle Casimir died, Mike would have mentioned that or been upset but there never was any indication and I don't recall any further visits or even mentions of Uncle Casimir not even when his great-nephew Joey was born!

I always thought it a bit poignant that Uncle Casimir stood up for Mike at the wedding and was praised for RAISING Mike after the early deaths of Mike's parents (which he indicated that happened when he was so young that he only seemed to relate one or two memories of them during the entire show).
However; WHERE was Uncle Casimir after all that? I would have thought had Uncle Casimir died, Mike would have mentioned that or been upset but there never was any indication and I don't recall any further visits or even mentions of Uncle Casimir not even when his great-nephew Joey was born!

I thought they mentioned him once or twice afterward, but I'm not sure. Either way, yeah, it was odd and really a head scratcher.

Mike's whole past and family life was ripe for exploration, and they pretty much never did anything with it. We saw friends from his past, but we barely got a hint of what Mike's life was like while he was young.

In the episode where Archie and Mike are locked in the freezer, Mike talks about Archie's father's racism, saying "my father said the same things, and he was wrong," so I guess we can assume Mike has SOME memories of his dad, at least?

Yes, Mike's own family, and his childhood was never really mentioned and it would have made for some interesting episodes.
I did not know that Mike's parents died when he was very young and only his uncle raised him. I never heard anything to that effect. I do recall Mike mentioning his father when he got stuck in the basement with Archie.

And yes, you would think that Mike's only relative, his uncle, would have been
in some episodes.

Perhaps the producers and writers thought that it would be too much to have Mike's parents be alive and there would be two feuding families, Archie arguing with Mike's father, Edith possibly arguing with Mike's mother or she and Mike's mother trying to keep Archie and Mike's dad from arguing.
The focus was on Archie's disdain for Mike.

One thing to keep in mind of the first season, which was really just a half season, that the scripts were adapted from the britcom "Til Death Do Us Part."

However, there were 4 pilot episodes filmed, and a 3 year gap between the pilots and the first real episode. Many changes to the characters occurred. It is best to ignore the first season.

...Mike's finances are one of those things that's completely out of sync with reality of the time. While an undergrad, Mike would have been eligible for Social Security educational death benefits from his parents. These were pretty generous at that time, would have covered all the direct costs plus a stipend for housing and such.


Maybe he got the benefits, but gave the monies away to the McGovern campaign! :)

Also, Mike generally got along with his mother-in-law Edith and there weren't many episodes regarding their relationship. There was only one major episode in which Edith told him off. It was the one in which Mike, Gloria, Lionel, Irene and her husband, and I think Edith were playing a certain game in which each takes turns revealing their innermost feelings about certain things and the rest have to guess if the statements are true or false, and in this episode basically , Mike was so big headed about his political and personal ideas that he thought everyone would agree with him but it turned out that the others found fault in him and did not agree with him and they told him that he is not really being honest about his own smugness as is required of the game they were playing, and even Lionel said to Mike that Archie's bigotry is forgivable in the sense that he is ignorant about it but Mike is trying to deny that he can be very self righteous too, and Edith told Mike that he gets angry because of his own attitude, not Archie's words. Then Edith took Mike aside and told him that he ought not be mad that everyone pointed out his faults, and that Archie actually yells at him not because he hates him but because Archie actually feels a self-consciousness about never going to college like Mike got to do.

Then in another episode Edith was very depressed because her friend, Beverly the female impersonator, died, and Edith was beginning to feel that there isn't a god, and by the end of the episode, Edith walks away from the kitchen table not wanting to say grace but Mike takes her aside and tells her not to lose her faith and that if there is a God maybe he just has plans that cannot be understood and she (Edith) just has to keep up their courage and believe. Then Edith came back to the table and said a prayer aloud thanking God for her son-in-law and the rest of her family.

Mike also once mentioned having a brother-in-law who is a lawyer, which meant Mike had a sister.