During the show's heyday Ed O'Neill would fulfill requests to make birthday and holiday telephone calls to fans as Al Bundy on the condition that he could call them collect (in character with Al's cheapskate nature).
Ed O'Neill said in an interview that when he found out about the cancellation, he talked to a FOX executive about making an episode to finish the show, where the Bundys won the lottery and were demolished by a tornado during their celebration.
One of the show's creators said the reason Ed O'Neill was cast was that when he was auditioning for the pilot, he was required to simply walk through the front door into the Bundy home. Right before he opened the door, O'Neill let out a deep breath and slumped his shoulders, as if going home was a defeat. Producers said when they saw that, they knew O'Neill understood the show.
This series, and the fledgling FOX Network were little known until the season three, episode six, "Her Cups Runneth Over," which Michigan housewife, and "family values" activist Terry Rakolta, found so offensive, that she began a letter writing campaign to the show's sponsors to try to get them to withdraw their sponsorship, and for FOX to drop the show. A few sponsors did cancel their commercials, but her efforts had exactly the opposite effect. The story spread like wildfire and resulted in a huge jump in the ratings for the show. It made this show a major hit and put FOX on the map. The show's cast and crew sent Rakolta flowers every year that it was renewed, while the whole controversy was spoofed in season nine, episode nine, "No Pot to Pease In," the Bundy family learns that there is a show based on their lives, which subsequently gets cancelled because "a housewife in Michigan didn't like it."