Married… with Children

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Married... with Children

Screenshot from the first season of Married... with Children
Genre Sitcom
Creator(s) Michael G. Moye
Ron Leavitt
Starring Ed O'Neill
Katey Sagal
Christina Applegate
David Faustino
David Garrison
Amanda Bearse
Ted McGinley
Opening theme Love and Marriage
(Vocals by Frank Sinatra)
Ending theme Love and Marriage
(instrumental)
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 262 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel FOX
Original run April 5, 1987 – June 9, 1997
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Married… with Children was a long-running American sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago. It was the first-ever primetime television series to air on the FOX Network as a midseason replacement, debuting on April 5, 1987 and concluding June 9, 1997. The series was created by Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt. For its time, it pushed the envelope on racy topics, but this garnered the fledgling FOX network a standing among the original Three (ABC, NBC, and CBS). Its 11-season run and 262-episode total make it the second-longest-lasting sitcom on the FOX network (second only to The Simpsons) and the network's longest live-action sitcom. The show's theme song, "Love and Marriage," was sung by Frank Sinatra. Its working title was Not the Cosbys, a reference to the popular NBC sitcom The Cosby Show.

The show follows the lives of Al Bundy, a former glory high school football player turned hard-luck salesman of women's shoes; his wife, Peggy, a tartish, uneducated housewife known for her large red bouffant hairdo, 1960s clothes and her funny walk due to her always wearing high heels; and their two children: Kelly, their very attractive, promiscuous, dim-witted daughter, and Bud, their unpopular and girl-crazy but highly intelligent son (the only Bundy who ever attended college). Their neighbors are the upwardly mobile Steve and Marcy Rhoades (Marcy later married second husband Jefferson D'Arcy). Most storylines involve the ever-scheming Al being foiled by his cartoonish dim wit and bad luck. The family lives at 9764 Jeopardy Lane in Chicago.

Contents

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Characters

see also List of Married... with Children cast members

[edit] The Bundy family

  • The creators of the show named the "Bundy" family after their favorite wrestler King Kong Bundy, though some fans mistakenly believed that it was from serial killer Ted Bundy. King Kong Bundy once made an appearance on the show as Peg's hick inbred uncle Irwin. He also was on the show as his wrestling persona, since NO MA'AM were big fans of King Kong Bundy.

[edit] Al Bundy

Main article: Al Bundy
Al Bundy's classic couch pose.
Al Bundy's classic couch pose.

The head of the Bundy family, Al (Ed O'Neill) is practically doomed to fail in everything he does because of the 'Bundy curse'. Once a promising fullback for fictional Polk High School (his proudest moment in life was running for four touchdowns in a single game), he was on his way to college on a scholarship—until he got his girlfriend pregnant, married her, broke his leg, and ended up a shoe salesman at Gary's Shoes in the New Market Mall. Al spends most of his time trying to recapture old glory, but is usually foiled in spectacular fashion by his bad luck and poor judgment just as things seem to be going his way. He considers his family to be the root cause of his failures, and his resentment of them (and fear of having sex with his wife) provides for much of the humor in the show. However, Al is still attached to them, given that he constantly beats up Kelly's boyfriends, once threatened a male stripper that "if my wife loses anything down your pants, so will you", once gave his entire paycheck to Bud to enjoy at the nudie bar on his 18th birthday, and generally putting up with a miserable job to put food on the table. Despite his yearning for "the touch of a beautiful woman", he always passes on the rare occasions he is tempted by one, explaining once that "I actually kinda like my family." He constantly visits "nudie bars" and strip joints with his friends. However, the only thing that seems to consistently put him in the mood for his wife is watching her do manual labor, which practically never happens. Al has extremely severe foot odor, prefers the escapism of television and bowling over his dysfunctional family and life of drudgery and starvation (Peg refuses to cook), and is often seen in his trademark couch-potato pose — seated on the sofa with one hand stuck under the waistband of his pants.

The producers originally wanted to cast comedian Sam Kinison as Al Bundy. However, they ultimately chose not to, due to the profane nature of Kinison's comedy routines. Kinison would later play Al's guardian angel in the episode "It's A Bundyful Life", spoofing Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. The producers also considered Michael Richards for the role.

[edit] Peggy Bundy

Margaret "Peggy" Bundy (Katey Sagal) (born ca. 1950) is Al's very lazy, high school drop-out house wife. She refuses to cook for the family or to clean the house. She prefers shopping for new clothes over washing them and does not even think of having a job. During the day, she likes to watch all the daytime talk shows, sitting on the beloved family couch and eating tons of bonbons (amazingly, without getting fat). Her favorite TV shows are Oprah and The Phil Donahue Show, but she also likes the Home Shopping Network. Peggy is a red-head with the bouffant hairdo and usually wears 1960s-styled fashion with tight pants and stiletto heels, which makes her walk in a unique way. Despite her impolite behavior, she generally appeals to men, including Al when she does work. Like Al, she would never cheat on her partner. But unlike Al, she loves to have sex with her spouse. She enjoys going to women's strip joints and watching male dancers, causing some of them to establish the "Bundy rule" where women can no longer go into the back rooms to meet the dancers personally. Her maiden name is Wanker, and her family is from the fictitious rural Wanker County, Wisconsin, "where everyone is relative." What is never made clear is how she managed to go to high school with Al, when apparently her parents never left Wanker County. Given the racy nature of the show, it would seem that Peggy's maiden name was chosen by the creators as a reference to the British slang term. She was known as "The Big Easy" in high school, behavior which she has passed on to Kelly.

The producers originally wanted Roseanne Barr for the part of Peggy Bundy, but she declined and the producers cast Katey Sagal.

[edit] Kelly Bundy

Kelly (Christina Applegate) is the oldest child in the Bundy family, born in approximately 1972 or 1973. "Pumpkin," as Al often calls her, is a promiscuous bimbo and stereotypical "dumb blonde." She may have inherited her behavior from her mother, known as "The Big Easy" in high school, and Peg has attempted to pass on some of her other "values" to Kelly, most notably advice on how to avoid having to work.

A flashback to her childhood reveals that she was once a prodigious reader and bookworm, until she banged her head during a road trip, instantly changing her personality to prefer focusing on her "shiny, shiny shoes." The show hints that she has an amazing intrinsic intellectual ability, which only exhibits itself on the rare occasions when she is not preoccupied with her social standing or the opposite sex. An amazing example of this phenomenon is her unique ability to predict the next number to be called on a roulette wheel, but only if she first lets her mind go blank. Or when she showed her father how to perform a home pregnancy test. When properly motivated, she is able to solve complex math equations, such as when she calculates an exact trajectory to shoot garbage bags into the Darcys' yard from a self-built catapult. Once was proven that she can absorb information very well, but only a limited amount. When that amount is met and she learns something new, she will forget something she learned in the past. She is also known to occasionally display excellent hand-eye coordination when playing pool or doing archery.

Kelly's comedic contribution to the show is often in her blatant displays of naïvete and ignorance, and the typical response by the rest of the Bundy family of willfully allowing her to remain ignorant. Bud, in particular, goes so far as to implant further misconceptions and fallacies in her mind. For example, she asked her brother to help her with her book report on Robinson Crusoe and ended up reviewing Gilligan's Island instead. (While yelling at her brother for tricking her, she says, "I had a meeting with the principal. A three-hour meeting. A three-hour meeting!") Due to Kelly's stupidity, it was a shock to her entire family when she earned her high school diploma in 1990; when she received her diploma through the mail after completing summer school, she had to ask Peg to read it to her. She then worked as a model and as a waitress. She became a bottle-blonde at an early age, after a boy at school liked a natural blonde more than he did Kelly, and mom Peggy promptly came to the rescue with a bottle of peroxide. (Years later, neither can remember their own natural hair-color.) She is in love with boys, hair bleach, and the telephone. Kelly wasn't allowed to have sleepovers or birthday parties from age eight to age sixteen, since after the one she had at eight, "the judge wanted to try you as an adult!"

Though she often pokes fun at her younger brother Bud for being an underdeveloped, pubescent horndog, she usually seems to be proud of him whenever he manages to get an attractive date. On at least one occasion, she has also avenged Bud by humiliating a girl that humiliated him. For a short time, Bud is her official agent, entitled to 80% of her earnings. Kelly is very fond of her pets, even when she can't take care of them well enough. Buck, the family dog, was generally considered to be hers and she was the most devastated when he died. However, when Buck was to be neutered, Al (not wanting to have Buck fixed) says "Buck is Bud's dog and we have to get Bud's permission." But Peg asks Bud if it is ok to neuter "his" dog, Bud doesn't even seem to care and and simply says "sure." Of course, this fits in line with other jokes, such as when Peg mistook Bud as the older child, among other "...oh" styled moments.

Her favorite comic strip is Garfield. Her less-than-stellar reading skills led to many comedic situations in which she would read the Garfield comic aloud, mispronouncing lasagna as "luh-SAG-nee." She also watches cartoons such as Looney Tunes under the impression that they are real animals in a nature show.

[edit] Bud Bundy

Budrick Franklin "Bud" Bundy (David Faustino) is the second child of the family and was born around 1975. He was named after Al's favorite beer, Budweiser. The first word Bud spoke was "hooters". He believes himself to be attractive, sexy, and smooth, but often proves not to be as he is typically caught in sexually humiliating scenarios. He is also very short, even shorter than his sister, and a lot shorter than his mother. He doesn't appear to know how to impress women upon meeting them and is often rejected. It is unclear when he lost his virginity, as the audience is led to believe that he may have bedded women as far back as age 14, but as late as the fourth season mentions of his virginity were still commonplace between characters. Later on, he often manages to have one-night-stands, including one with his cousin's fiancee, played by Joey Lauren Adams. He tries to get girls with the help of his various alter-egos, including Street Rapper Grandmaster B - a rapper who is perpetually ridiculed by the rest of the family, e.g. Bed-wetter B, Cross-Dresser B, Grandma B, Grand Marshall B More Examples. (David Faustino has actually been featured in a few rap albums, and he manages a night club.) Another alter-ego is 'Cool Bud', Bud's sexual, suave side that Bud eventually 'merges' with, prompting him to become more 'cool'. Bud generally fails in his attempts to get with women, and unfortunately for him the only people who develop attractions to him are usually people Bud himself has no interest in (fat hotel guests, dowdy college librarians, and male hotel workers). Bud also takes an interest in Mrs Rhoades; when Steve leaves her, he actively pursues her. After playing a trick on Kelly proving how dumb she is, Kelly proves she isn't so stupid by making Bud and Mrs. Rhoades believe they spent the night together, which they didn't. Bud asks Mrs. Rhoades "You are on the pill right?" Mrs. Rhoades looks nervous.

Out of the Bundys, Bud seems to be the most ashamed of the family as he often pretends to never have met Al or claims to have a different last name. He is also, arguably, the most academically intelligent. He ridicules Kelly as a promiscuous dimwit, and although he quite frequently uses her ignorance to his benefit, he occasionally feels obliged to defend her when others mock or take advantage of her lack of intelligence. He can be shown as lecherous and scheming, even against his own family. Despite his dysfunctional family background, Bud is the best-educated Bundy. He makes honor roll throughout high school, and manages to get himself through college (even earning scholarship money which his family spent without his consent). During his college years, Bud is portrayed as the leader in his circle of friends (most of which are stereotypical "losers"), as he appears to be the only one with the least bit of self-confidence. He is also Kelly's agent, receiving 80% of everything she makes.

Although he is occasionally bullied and beaten up by bigger men, Bud has inherited his father's talents for fistfighting, once teaming up with Al to singlehandedly beat up an entire gang of teenage punks while helping Peg's father find a bear from Wanker County on the loose in Chicago. He has also assisted his fellow Bundys when they get into a brawl with another family-Al beating up the father, Peg beating up the mother, Kelly beating up the daughter and Bud beating up the son. Bud also helped Al when they got into a bar fight at a strip club on his 18th birthday.

[edit] Buck

Buck (voiceover by writer Kevin Curran; on special episodes Buck is voiced by Cheech Marin) is the family dog. He is often "heard" by the audience through voice-overs that tell what is going through his mind at the moment. He is just as disgusted with the family as the rest of them are. Peggy dotes on him, sometimes even cooking for him. Though extremely lazy, Buck has a huge, insatible sexual appitite. He died at one point in the series to allow the ten-year-old Briard that portrayed him to retire, although he was immediately reincarnated as Lucky.

[edit] Lucky

The spaniel that the family gets after Buck dies. He is the reincarnation of Buck, but no one in the family ever finds this out. Lucky's voiceovers were performed by writer Kevin Curran. In "Lez Be Friends," the Bundy kids had difficulty entertaining a depressed Lucky. In the end of the episode, it was shared that Lucky was gay, with a leather-clad pit bull.

[edit] Seven

Seven-year-old Seven (Shane Sweet) is adopted by the Bundy family after being abandoned by his own parents, cousins of Peggy from Wanker County (Linda Blair, Bob Goldthwait). True to the Bundy name, he quickly proves himself to be manipulative, conniving, and good in a fist fight. Although the character was introduced to generate fresh storylines for the series, the writers ultimately found it difficult to work the boy into the show’s adult-themed scripts. He was abruptly dropped from the series, to the delight of the viewers (a poll showed that more than 80% of the viewers didn't like that character). His final appearance was in the episode "Peggy And The Pirates" where Peggy sends him off to bed so that she can make love to Al. Never to be mentioned again, except on two occasions in season 8 episodes. The first in which his face appears on the side of a milk carton over the words, “Have you seen me?” The second in which he appears in episode 0823 ("Kelly knows Something"), when Al is teaching sports trivia to Kelly we see numerous (many essential) facts leaving her brain as she is learning. A picture of Seven flows out of her brain, indicating that she will no longer remember him. See also: Jumping the Shark.

[edit] Peggy's mother

Heard only in frightening voiceovers by Kathleen Freeman and ground-shaking gags (making her an unseen character), she comes to live with the Bundys in later seasons. There are vague and comical references to her gigantic weight. This woman is mostly the victim of Al's abrasive, behind the back, and hatred-filled insults. She was set to be played by Divine, but he had died before production. She works a phone sex line under the name "Butter."

[edit] Peggy's father

Efrem Wanker, Peggy's father, was played by Tim Conway, appearing occasionally in the last three seasons. It is implied that he was drunk and held a shotgun to Al's head at the altar of Al's and Peggy's wedding. He calls Peggy "Margaret". Unlike many other sitcoms, where the father-in-law usually disapproves of the husband having married his daughter, Peg's father approves of Al - so much so that he held a gun to Al's head to force him to follow through on the marriage Al had mistakenly proposed to Peg while drunk.

[edit] The neighbors

[edit] Marcy Rhoades-D'Arcy

Marcy (Amanda Bearse) (date of birth unknown) is Peggy's best friend, Al's nemesis, and the family's next-door neighbor. Though she considers herself to be above the ways of the Bundy family, she often sinks to their level. Marcy originally worked as a loan officer at the city bank (with a higher job title than her husband, Steve), and then as the manager of the Kyoto National Bank from the second season on. However, for a short time, she was demoted to drive-up window teller as punishment for approving a loan Al was not in a position to pay back. She got her old job back after frugging on her boss's desk for 20 minutes, clad only in her slip, while the other drive-up window tellers tossed quarters at her.

At first, Marcy was a sweet, wholesome newlywed, but years of living next to the Bundys apparently warped her into a character almost as outrageous as the Bundys themselves. She dislikes Al, often argues with him and thoroughly enjoys laughing at his misery. Marcy enjoys sharing her past memories of her life with Peg, but often tends to get lost in them. At various points in the series she is identified as Republican, who looks down on the lower class Bundy clan, but at other times she is portrayed as a man-hating feminist and environmentalist. Al's most frequent targets are Marcy's tiny chest and her chicken-like stance when she is annoyed.

One of the running gags in the series has Marcy often mistaken for a young boy; when she reminisces about her first training bra, Al asks "How old were you then - twenty-five?!". Her cousin Mandy (also played by Bearse) is a lesbian (Bearse is a lesbian in real life). Despite wanting to appear prudish, Marcy is shown to be a very sexual person, and it is revealed throughout the show that she has a sordid sexual history, such as the "Little Bo Peep and the Cop" game.

Although Marcy and Al are usually adversaries, they often unite in common causes, e.g. after Steve loses his job and later when Jefferson comes into the series. This is due to both Marcy and Al being the breadwinners, it gives them a common cause and a level of understanding between them that doesn't last, but keeps appearing from time to time.

[edit] Steve Rhoades

Steven "Steve" Bartholomew Rhoades (David Garrison) is Marcy's first husband. He is a banker who was actually at a lower position than Marcy at the city bank but was not fazed by it. When Marcy moved up to a high position at another bank, he received her job. Steve sees himself as a better person than the Bundy family but over time becomes more like them, and indeed it is generally Al to whom Steve turns when in need of male bonding. Steve was written out of the show in the middle of the fourth season; Garrison had decided he no longer wanted to be tied down to a weekly television series, preferring to avoid being typecast into one role, and to be able to devote more time to his first love: stage acting. He reached an agreement with Fox to buy out the remainder of his contract. In preparation for his departure, in the final episode shot (though confusingly, not the final episode aired) in which he was a regular, we see Steve becoming disenchanted with his and Marcy's yuppie lifestyle and taking an increasing interest in nature and in becoming an outdoorsman (a real-life interest of Garrison's). He then disappears, with it being explained that he has left Marcy to become a forest ranger at Yosemite National Park. During later seasons, Garrison would reprise the Steve Rhoades character on four occasions, returning to guest star in individual episodes (Steve having pursued whole other careers in the meantime), as he eventually returns to professional life to become the Dean of the college Bud is attending. This episode was to be the pilot of a spin-off series that never happened.

[edit] Jefferson D'Arcy

Jefferson Milhouse D'Arcy (Ted McGinley) is Marcy's second husband (age unknown but younger than Steve Rhoades), a prettyboy who marries her for money. Self-centered and lazy, he is a male equivalent of Peggy. Marcy met Jefferson (originally a bartender) at his bar after a bankers' convention, where she got drunk and found herself married to him the next morning; she was horrified to find out that her name was now Marcy D'Arcy. He is a close friend of Al's and often angers Marcy in his bonding with him; unlike Steve Rhoades, who was more of a foil or straight man to Al, Jefferson tends to be more encouraging and intuned to Al's behavior. Marcy constantly bosses Jefferson around and keeps him in check. However, behind her back, Jefferson commonly insults Marcy and ignores her orders. When Marcy's favorite squirrel Zippy dies, Jefferson tells her that they'll give it a proper burial, only to punt it out of his sight when Marcy turns around.

Jefferson is a member of NO MA'AM along with Al, wearing the trademark T-shirt, but he always keeps a clean "YES MA'AM" T-shirt on underneath, which he quickly reveals if Marcy is about to bust one of NO MA'AM's activities. He seems very afraid of provoking his wife's anger, and his fear is justified-in one episode after he angered Marcy, she kicked him in the behind so hard he had to go to the hospital to get her boot removed from his nether regions.

He claims that he was a CIA agent in the past (code-named Bullwinkle), and it is later revealed that he has a commission as a 1st Lieutenant in the National Guard. His ties to the CIA are never conclusively proven, although it is strongly hinted they are real; it is proven he has some powerful friends in Washington when he is able to get an audience with Congress on short notice, and members of the United States Secret Service recognize him as an old colleague and speak to him in code. But perhaps the most conclusive evidence comes in Episode 0820 ("The D'Arcy Files"), when the new part-owner of the Chicago Cubs is a former CIA target named "Walter Traugott" who is out to get revenge on his erstwhile captors. Jefferson privately reveals his history to Marcy and never retracts it; moreover, Traugott comes into the shoe store and presents Al a number of pictures of Jefferson with Castro, Arafat and other world leaders, saying Jefferson is a villain and offering a reward for turning him in. Al waffles, but the point becomes moot when Jefferson is in the room, watching the Cubs game, and the stadium announcer says that "El Bundy" is paging Walter Traugott. Jefferson pretends that he is going to have to kill Al for selling him out, but then laughs and dismisses the whole thing as an "April Fool's" prank on Al, asking, "If I was really a spy, couldn't I have just made a call and had Walter killed?" Laughing himself now, Al leaves for a party, but as Jefferson turns to watch the TV, the announcer incredulously notes that Traugott has just fallen out of the luxury box to his doom. Jefferson just smiles and blows quietly into a kazoo, a shot which became his trademark in the opening credits of later seasons. Jefferson claims that his last mission for the CIA was a failed attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro. It is hinted that the reason he cannot get a job is because he is in hiding since Castro has put a price on his head; although at one point they met face to face later in the show.

He is wanted for running an investment scam wherein he sold useless plots of Lake Chicamicamico; the lake area was in fact a toxic waste dump, and Al had actually bought shares for his retirement. Much like his felony would suggest, he is easily the most financially scheming character of the show; even more so than the Bundys. Often, when Al stumbles into a unique (whether negative or positive) scenario, Jefferson typically is the one to persuade Al to take advantage of the lucrative possibilities. When Al was robbed in his shoe store, Jefferson convinced him to sue the mall and pretend he was traumatized from the incident. When Al discovered hidden shoes that he stocked away in the 70's, Jefferson convinced him to use the shoes as a new gimmick for the store and take advantage of the old trend's popularity. When discovering Al's boss Gary was using illegal sweatshops to manufacture the shoes, Jefferson assists Al in a search for incriminating evidence. When Bud was involved in a romantic relationship with Gary, Jefferson convinced Al to permit the relationship so Al can milk Gary out for her money through his son. After discovering that they were in possession of private pictures of Shannon Tweed in sexually provocative manners, Jefferson convinced Al to sell it to the media. Jefferson also convinced Al to go home to have sex with his wife so Al could win a radio contest cash prize.

Ted McGinley had appeared previously as Peggy's husband, Mr. Norman Jablonski, in the second part of "It's a Bundyful Life", where Al's guardian angel (Sam Kinison) shows Al what his family would have become if he was never born. The episode lightly parodies Capra's It's a Wonderful Life.

[edit] Amber

Amber (Juliet Tablak) is Marcy's niece. Amber's mother sent her to Marcy to get her out of the bad L.A. neighborhood where she grew up. Bud keeps on trying to get her into his bed, but he only succeeds once (0904) — and that may have been a dream, as his fantasies about her became a central issue in the later episode 0923. After season nine, Amber disappears without an explanation. Like most females of the sitcom, she is typically repulsed by his objectifying views towards women. However, she does appear to demonstrate an attraction to Bud (remarking to Kelly in private that she thinks he is cute), and actually kisses him of her own free will as a way of saying goodbye.

[edit] Recurring characters

  • Griff (Harold Sylvester) – First appears early in Season 9 and is a friend of Al and co-worker at the shoe store. He is also a member of Al's NO MA'AM organization. A divorcee, he shares many of Al's characteristics as far as work ethic and views on women go. However, Griff isn't quite as impolite and outspoken to their customers nor to their boss, Gary. He is also less callous; occasionally he feels uneasy when going along with one of Al or Jefferson's many schemes. Griff is also a loser because he drives a GEO Metro, which is one of the worst cars ever manufactured. However, Griff is happy because it still more reliable than Al's 1970's Dodge.
  • Bob Rooney (E.E. Bell) – One of Al's friends from the neighborhood and treasurer of NO MA'AM. He works as a butcher, has a wife named Louise who is a friend of Peggy, and played on the same football team as Al, at Polk High. He is always called by both first and last name, and it is even spelled as one word on his bowling shirt. Producer Tim Weiskopff had a theory that "in every neighborhood in the midwest of the U.S. there is one guy all the people in the neighborhood refer to with both his names" (e.g. "Charlie Brown"). E.E. Bell was the only member of the extended cast to spend a lot of time on the Usenet newsgroups fielding questions from viewers.
  • Officer Dan (Dan Tullis Jr.) – A friend of Al's who is in NO MA'AM. Surprisingly, though he is part of NO MA'AM, he often arrests them for their illegal antics. However, he does admit to his friends that he is a corrupt officer, which indicates he does help out the group now and then.
  • Ike (Tom McCleister) – Another member of NO MA'AM. He is virtually the most forgotten character of the show. Sergant of Arms of No Ma'am. Believes Elvis lives.
  • Miranda Veracruz de la Jolla Cardinal (Teresa Parente) – Hispanic local news reporter typically assigned to cover the pathetic news stories in which the Bundys inevitably involve themselves. She often laments the sad state of her career on-air. In spite of the fact that she only appears in a handful of episodes throughout the series, Miranda is apparently quite popular among fans of the show.
  • The Wankers – The parents of Peggy, living in Wanker County ("The home of the gassy beaver"). They are more often mentioned than seen on camera. Peggy's mother is never shown (though she is heard in several episodes, voiced by Kathleen Freeman), but her father (Tim Conway) appears in a few episodes. Mrs. Wanker's unbelievable obesity is the subject of many jokes, including one in which Al goes blind after accidentally walking in on her bathing. Although not widely known in the US, in the UK the word 'wanker' is a slang insult meaning someone who masturbates. It is not known whether the producers knew this and included is as an injoke for the benefit of British audiences, or whether the name is just a coincidence.
  • Gary (Janet Carroll) – The female owner of Gary's Shoes and employer of Al. Gary's first appearance in the series came after Al turned her women's shoe store into a men's, assuming Gary was male and therefore wouldn't mind. Gary is fantastically rich (she would have been in the Forbes 400, but only reached #401 because of the shoe store--her only failing business venture). Over the course of the series she makes several more appearances, always to the chagrin of Al, and in one episode even becomes the Sugar Momma of Bud, much to the chagrin of those who still thought she was a man.
  • Luke Ventura (Ritch Shydner) – A co-worker at the shoe store early in the series. He was a sly womanizer who was always seducing beautiful women and stealing Al's sales. Peg hated him while Al tolerated him. He disappears from the show after the first season, but is mentioned again in the 9th season episode "Pump Fiction", when Al learns from the shoe industry publication "Shoe News" that Luke is being given an award. Though he was portrayed to be a friend of Al's in the beginning of the series, after his disappearance, he had been spoken of as if he had since become Al's rival.
  • Aaron Mitchell (Hill Harper) – Another co-worker of Al's at the shoe store. A young football star at Polk High, he is on the verge of marrying a wonderful woman and going to college, achieving everything that Al ever wanted. Al chooses to live his life vicariously through Aaron, until his misguided attempts to help accidentally drive the boy to a shrewish woman named "Meg" (a young, black copy of Peg) and the same dismal fate which had befallen Al. Aaron appeared only in the 8th season (5 episodes).
  • Dexter (Chi McBride) – He was the first black co-worker with Al in Garry's Shoes. He was killed off when a fat woman fell on him during an Earthquake that was ironically caused by fat women.
  • Ariel (Jennifer Lyons) – One of Bud's love interests. She is the quintessential dumb blonde, sporting blonde hair, big boobs, skimpy outfits and a high-pitched voice. She is not very smart and Bud is constantly thinking of new ways to con her into having sex with him.
  • Jaclyn (Melissa De Sousa)

[edit] Running gags

See List of Runnings Gags on Married... with Children

[edit] Controversy and edited content

One episode of Married... with Children was "lost" due to the efforts of a Michigan housewife (see below); it did, however, air outside the U.S. ever since the show went into syndication. The episode in which Al was trying to sell his Dodge before he is contacted by a Dodge representative wanting to record the moment when the odometer on the Dodge reaches all-zeros (1 million miles) was also the source of controversy. After meeting various people, Al is approached by two men dressed in all white tunics, holding a bundle of dynamite attached to an alarm clock. The men declare, "Look, we have no time to haggle; we need car and directions to Sears Tower." This sequence was edited because of the 1996 World Trade Center attacks.

[edit] Rakolta boycott

In 1989 Terry Rakolta, a homemaker from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, led a boycott against Married... with Children after viewing the episode "Her Cups Runneth Over - 0306"[1]. Offended by the images of an old man wearing a garter and stockings, the scene where Steve touches the pasties of a mannequin dressed in S&M gear, a homosexual man wearing a tiara on his head (and Al's line, "And they wonder why we call them 'queens,'"), and a woman who takes off her bra in front of Al (and is shown with her arms covering her chest in the next shot), Rakolta began a letter-writing campaign to advertisers, demanding they boycott the show.

After advertisers began dropping their support for the show and while Rakolta made several appearances on television talk shows, Fox executives refused to air the episode titled "I'll See You In Court - 0308"[2]. This episode would become known as the "Lost Episode" and was aired on FX on June 18, 2002, with some parts cut for time reasons. The episode was packaged with the rest of the third season in the January 2005 DVD release (and in the first volume of the Married...With Children Most Outrageous episode DVD set) with the parts cut from syndication put back in.

During the boycott, ratings for Married... with Children rose due to interest in the show caused by Rakolta's crusade to have the show canceled. The increased number of viewers kept the show on the air until 1997. According to sources on the set, the producers sent Rakolta a fruit basket every Christmas as a way of saying "Thank you."

Rakolta has been referenced twice on the show: "Rock and Roll Girl - 0414,"[3] when a newscaster mentioned the city Bloomfield Hills, and "No Pot To Pease In - 0909,"[4] when a television show was made about the Bundy family and then was canceled because (according to Marcy) "some woman in Michigan didn't like it."

[edit] DVD releases

Season Releases

DVD Name Release Date Ep # Additional Information
The Complete First Season October 28, 2003 13 Reunion special and Bonus trailers.
The Complete Second Season March 16, 2004 22 13 Hidden Easter Eggs Featuring Interviews With the Cast.
The Complete Third Season January 25, 2005 23 Easter Eggs and Previews.
The Complete Fourth Season August 30, 2005 23 Bonus Previews.
The Complete Fifth Season June 20, 2006 25 Bonus Previews.
The Complete Sixth Season December 19, 2006 26 Bonus Previews.
The Complete Seventh Season TBA 26 Bonus Previews.
The Complete Eighth Season TBA 26 Bonus Previews.
The Complete Ninth Season TBA 26 'My Favorite Married...' and 'The Best o'Bundy: Married... with Children's 200th Episode'
The Complete Tenth Season TBA 26 Bonus Previews.
The Complete Eleventh Season TBA 24

For the most part the episodes on the North American DVD box sets are the unedited versions as seen on the FOX network, however there are some instances where scenes have been cut or the syndicated version of an episode was placed on the DVD instead. This is most noticable in Season 4, where 7 of the 22 episodes have some type of edit. The region 2 season 4 set uses non-syndicated versions of these episodes.

The DVD Box sets from Season 3 onward do not feature the original "Love and Marriage" theme song in the opening sequence. Instead both the opening sequence and ending credits feature a new instrumental theme song. This was done because Columbia Tri-star was unable to obtain the rights to the theme song. It is highly unlikely that the theme song will return in any yet to be released DVD box set.

The replaced theme song was the cause of the syndicated versions of seven episodes in season four, as Sony did not have access to the original masters of these episodes, and had to use syndicated prints. As the end credits had to be altered to credit the new theme song, certain scenes that originally ran during the end credits had to be replaced with a freezeframe. In most episodes affected, the original audio plays in the background while you see a freezeframe, however in a few cases a freezeframe is used, but the original audio is replaced with the theme song.

It is expected that the remaining 5 seasons will be released soon.

In Germany and Holland, Season 7 , 8 and 9 are already out on region 2 in English and dubbed French and German. Season 10 was released on March 20. Since Season 5 a new season is released once per two months. This is due to the huge success of the series on DVD in Germany and Holland.

[edit] Remakes

[edit] Argentina

Also, in Argentina a remake has been done under the name of Casados con hijos. The show aired in 2005 and although it wasn't successful at first, it was aired again during summer and it got one of the highest ratings of the year and because of that, a 2nd season has been done for 2006. The characters are Pepe, Moni, Coqui and Paola, all under the 'Argento' surname.

[edit] Chile

Finally, in Chile, a remake was made in 2006, with the name Casado con Hijos, and it has been getting higher ratings, beating soap operas broadcasting in the same hour. The show is broadcasted daily and because of higher ratings, it is now being shown three times a day and it has been renewed for a third season. The characters are Alberto "Tito" Larraín (Al), Quena Gómez de Larraín (Peggy), Nacho (Bud), and Titi (Kelly).

[edit] Germany

The German sitcom Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt (Help, my family is crazy), showing the family Strunk, is a remake of the 26 early episodes of "Married... with Children". The show first aired in 1992.

[edit] Hungary

In 2006 Hungarian TV network TV2 brought the license rights including scripts and hired the original producers from Sony Pictures for a remake show placed in Hungarian environment. It was entitled Egy rém rendes család Budapesten (in English : Married with children in Budapest, loan translation : A horribly nice family in Budapest). The main story began with the new family called the Bándis inherit an outskirt house from their American relatives the Bundys. The filmed a whole season of 26 episodes, all of them being remade versions of the plots of the original first season. It was the highest budget sitcom ever made in Hungary. First it was aired on Tuesday nights, but was beaten by a new season of American Emergency Room, then placed to Wednesday nights and finally closing the airing after about 10 episodes by 2007. ([1][2][3])

[edit] Israel

The show was and still is aired in Israel with Hebrew subtitles. It is called Nesu'im Plus (נְשׂוּאִים פְּלוּס), "Married Plus", which is the Israeli way of saying "Married with children".

[edit] Poland

There is a sitcom called Świat według Kiepskich (The World According to the Kiepscy), which is loosely based on Married... with Children (in Poland entitled Świat według Bundych).

[edit] Spain

Originally it was aired at public channel "La 2". The Spanish TV network Cuatro is currently showing a Spanish version called Matrimonio con Hijos"(Marriage with children).

[edit] United Kingdom

Married... with Children is one of a handful of US comedies that have been remade for Britain.[citation needed] The show made no great impact, perhaps because of the questionable use of wholesome family comedian Russ Abbott in the lead role, or perhaps because the original had already been shown, albeit in a late-evening slot. Also, British TV is in general more risque than American, and the BBC had already been showing shows like Married for years. The show was called Married for Life for the UK market.

[edit] Possible spin-offs

  • The episodes "Top of the Heap", "Radio Free Trumaine", and "Enemies" were meant to be spin-offs.
    • "Top of the Heap" was the only episode of the three to get its own show. It was notable as an early sitcom starring Matt LeBlanc. The show was about Vinnie Verducci (played by LeBlanc) and his father Charlie (played by Joseph Bologna) always trying get rich quick schemes. The Verduccis were introduced in an earlier episode where Vinnie played Kelly Bundy's boyfriend and Charlie played an old friend of Al Bundy's. The end of the pilot episode shows Al breaking into their apartment and stealing their TV to replace the one he lost betting on Vinnie in a boxing match.
    • "Radio Free Trumaine" was to be about Bud Bundy's time in college with the campus radio station, with Steve Rhoades as the antagonistic Dean.
    • "Enemies" was a Friends clone, featuring Alan Thicke, based around Kelly Bundy's social circle.
  • In addition to those three spin-offs, a Frasier-type spin-off (i.e., picking up from where the show it spun-off from left off) about Kelly Bundy was planned but never made for two reasons: Christina Applegate turned it down, and Fox's contract stated that the two Bundy children couldn't get spin-offs.

[edit] International

Married...with Children is also popular in other countries around the world.

Australia: The show runs five times a week on the cable network TV1.

Austria: The show aired from 03/06/95 until 03/18/98 under the name "Eine Schrecklich nette Familie" meaning "a terribly nice Family" on the Pubcaster ORF.

Belgium: The show still periodically runs on the commercial network VT4.

Brazil: Has been running (on and off) since 1991 under the name "Um amor de Família" meaning "A lovely Family" on different national channels. Today the show runs on Sony Entertainment Television.

Bulgaria: The show ran its all seasons on bTV and is currently airing on Fox life and is translated as "Женени с деца" ("Zheneni s detsa" - "Married... with children").

Canada: The show is being run on the channel TVtropolis . It also airs on Country-music oriented channel, CMT.

Chile: The show is being run on the channel Megavision .

Croatia: The show runs on RTL Televizija as "Bračne vode", translated as 'Marriage waters'. It was originally aired on Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) in late 1990s.

the Czech Republic: The show is entitled Ženatý se závazky which is the literal translation of the show title. First it was aired on TV Nova and then re-run on Prima TV several times. Currently the show is on air on TV Nova from 2nd January, 2007.

Denmark: The show is called Vore værste år (Our worst years), and it is seen on TV3. (See also Sweden)

Estonia: The show is called "Tuvikesed" ("lovebirds") and runs on Kanal 2.

Finland: The show is called "Pulmuset" ("loveydoves") and runs on Nelonen. (Formerly on MTV3)

France : The show has been seen on M6 as "Mariés, deux enfants" ("Married, two children") since 1989.

Germany: Has been running since 1992 on RTL ("RTLplus" at that time) as "Eine schrecklich nette Familie", which roughly translates as 'a terribly nice family'. It aired also on ProSieben, currently airs on Kabel1 and Sat.1 Comedy.

Greece: Has been on and off the air in ANT1 channel from the nineties onwards, entitled "Παντρεμένοι με παιδιά", a literal translation of the English original. The show has seen many re-runs.

Hungary: The show is entitled Egy rém rendes család (meaning circa "A gruesomely decent family", which is a translation from the German title) and has ventured from channel to channel over the years, from the now-defunct TV3 through RTL Klub to Viasat 3, where it is occasionally repeated. A cable television called CoolTV airs 3 episodes each day.

Ireland:Shown on RTE 2 and on the UK's Paramount

Israel:The show can usually be seen on HOT cable television, in the channel Bip, channel 4. A shoe store in Herzliya named itself Bundy Shoes (though the shop in the series is Gary's). In the past Played on channel 2 channel 3 and channel 6 in the 90's and on Bip channel since 2006.

Latin America: The show runs on Sony Entertainment Television

Lithuania:The show periodically runs on TV3

Mexico: Runs on Sony Entertainment Television

The Middle East: The shows entire seasons have been repeated on the Paramount Comedy Channel for three years.

Norway: Originally (some ten years ago on TV3) aired as Våre verste år (Our worst years), the show is now called Bundy and is currently in re-runs after midnight every day except weekends on TV3. Is also shown on ZTV Norway weekdays at 5:30 PM local time.

Netherlands: The show periodically runs on RTL 7 and Veronica.

New Zealand: Ran for many years on TV2, now on Sky TV.

Spain: The original series were a classic that ran for a decade in the public national channel TVE 2. Recently the Spanish TV channel Cuatro did a remake of the original series under the name Matrimonio con Hijos.[5]

Poland: The show is entitled Świat według Bundych (The world according to Bundys). It was aired many times on Polsat, and it is still on air there today. Its popularity spanned a sitcom with similar premise made by Polsat - Świat według Kiepskich (The world according to the Kiepskis).

Peru The show runs on TV 13 - RED GLOBAL. The show is entitled correctly "Matrimonio con Hijos" (Married with Children). It runs from Monday to Friday 20.00 pm

Romania: Runs periodically as Familia Bundy (The Bundy Family) on a commercial network PRO TV.

Russia: The show is entiled Женаты... с детьми (Zhenaty... s det'mi) runs on the Domashny channel. TNT Network made a Russian version of the sitcom called Счастливы вместе (Schastlivy vmeste, Happy together)

Sweden: The show is entitled Våra värsta år, translated to "Our worst years". Meant as a pun on the title for the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives called Våra bästa år which is "Our best years". It has been shown repeatedly on the Kinnevik-owned channels TV3 and ZTV. After several years off the air, it returned in 2006 as a part of TV6's launch schedule.

Turkey: The show still runs on CNBC-E with subtitles.

UK: The show can currently be seen on ITV4 and also on cable comedy channel Paramount.

[edit] See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Index.hu In Hungarian
  2. ^ Index.hu In Hungarian
  3. ^ Index.hu In Hungarian

[edit] External links

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