Married... with Children

Married... with Children
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Michael G. Moye Ron Leavitt
Starring	Ed O'Neill Katey Sagal Christina Applegate David Faustino Amanda Bearse David Garrison Ted McGinley
Theme music composer	Sammy Cahn Jimmy Van Heusen
Opening theme	"Love and Marriage" Performed by Frank Sinatra
Ending theme	"Love and Marriage" (instrumental)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	11
No. of episodes	259 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michael G. Moye (1987–92 and 1993–94) Ron Leavitt (1987–93) Katherine Green (1994–95) Richard Gurman Kim Weiskopf (both; 1994–96) Pamela Eells O'Connell (1996–97)
Producer(s)	Barbara Blachut Cramer (1987–92) John Maxwell Anderson (1992–97)
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Embassy Communications (1987-1988) ELP Communications (1988–97) Columbia Pictures Television (1988–97)
Distributor	Columbia Pictures Television (1991–96) Columbia TriStar Television (1996–2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002–present)
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	April 5, 1987 (1987-04-05) – June 9, 1997 (1997-06-09)
External links
Website

Married... with Children is an American sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created by Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt. The show was known for handling non-standard topics for the time period, which garnered the then-fledgling Fox network a standing among the Big Three television networks.

The series' 11-season, 259-episode run makes it the longest-lasting live-action sitcom on the Fox network. The show's famous theme song is "Love and Marriage" by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, performed by Frank Sinatra from the 1955 television production Our Town.

The first season of the series was videotaped at ABC Television Center in Hollywood. From season two to season eight, the show was taped at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood and the remaining three seasons were taped at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. The series was produced by Embassy Communications on its first season and the remaining seasons by ELP Communications under the studio Columbia Pictures Television (and eventually Columbia TriStar Television).

In 2007, it was listed as one of Time Magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-Time."

Synopsis

The show follows the lives of Al Bundy, a once-glorious high school football player (who scored four touchdowns in a single game for Polk High School) turned hard luck salesman of women's shoes; his tartish, obnoxious wife Peg; their attractive but dimwitted and promiscuous daughter Kelly; and Bud, their unpopular, girl crazy, oily but comparatively smart son (and the only Bundy who ever attended college). Their neighbors are the upwardly mobile Steve Rhoades and his wife Marcy, who later gets remarried to Jefferson D'Arcy, a white-collar criminal who becomes Marcy's "trophy husband" and Al's sidekick. Most storylines involve a scheming Al being foiled by his cartoonish dim wit and bad luck. His rivalry with and loathing for Marcy play a significant role in most episodes.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of characters in Married... with Children

• Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) – The head of the Bundy household; afflicted by the "Bundy curse" that consigns him to an unrewarding career selling women's shoes and a life with a family that mocks and disrespects him but who still enjoys the simple things in life. He constantly attempts to relive his high school Big Man On Campus days, when he was the star running back. His most noted achievement was having scored four touchdowns in a single game.

• Peggy Bundy (Katey Sagal) – is Al's wife who is always on his case about money and refuses to clean or cook around the house. She is a lazy, big-haired, red-head who spends most of her time parked in front of the TV watching talk shows such as Oprah or robbing Al blind to go shopping; a famously inattentive mother and nagging wife who uses every opportunity to humiliate Al about his job, his meager earnings and even sexual abilities. Her big taste for things like clothes and male strippers have run Al into debt on numerous occasions. A recurring joke in the series is Al's regret of having married Peg in the first place, which was a union forced upon him at the point of a shotgun. Peggy's best friend is Marcy, with whom she occasionally colludes to conspire against Al. Her family is a stereotypical backwoods clan of degenerates whom she forces the other Bundys to put up with from time to time, especially her morbidly obese mother whom Al finds intolerable.

• Kelly Bundy (Christina Applegate) – The older child of the Bundy clan; a stereotypical dumb blonde who is often derided as promiscuous and dates men who get under Al's skin to the point of him physically assaulting them. Her stupidity manifests in many ways, from forgetting ideas on the spot to mispronouncing/misspelling simple words. Like her mother, she is quick to steal Al's money for expensive things. Her favorite hobby is belittling her lonely and sexless brother, though she stands up for Bud against anyone outside of the family.

• Bud Bundy (David Faustino) – The younger of Al and Peggy's children, and the most intelligent member of the family. His awkwardness and preoccupation with sex leads to inevitable failures with women. Despite his flaws Bud is the only Bundy to attend college. In an attempt to improve his success with girls, Bud often uses his alternate persona, "Grandmaster B", a bad boy rapper from New York. When using the "Grandmaster B" persona, Bud usually wears dark sunglasses and a backwards Los Angeles Raiders hat. His mistreatment at the hands of Kelly is returned in kind, making jokes at her expense regarding her promiscuity and stupidity, but when she is in a legitimate bind, Bud will stand up for Kelly.

• Marcy D'Arcy (Amanda Bearse) – The Bundys' next-door neighbor; Peggy's best friend and Al's nemesis; an educated banker and Republican, but also a feminist and environmentalist who often protests Al's schemes with his NO MA'AM group. Marcy is chauvinistic and the founder and leader of an anti-man support group called "F.A.N.G." (Feminists Against Neanderthal Guys). Despite her political correctness and structured life, Marcy harbors a dark, somewhat sexually deviant side, which comes up when she reminisces over events in her past. Al is repulsed by Marcy and frequently belittles her, likening her to a chicken, and mockingly confusing her for a male. At the outset of the show, Marcy is married to Steve Rhoades. After Steve is written off the show during the fourth season, he is replaced by Jefferson D'Arcy.

• Steve Rhoades (David Garrison) is Marcy's first husband. A nerdy banker who is dragged into Al's schemes, such as going to strip clubs, chasing after girls, watching sports when Marcy disapproves and reading "nudie" magazines. Steve's most prized possession is his Mercedes, which he does not even let Marcy drive. Growing increasingly tired of Marcy's controlling behavior, Steve eventually leaves her during the fourth season to become a forest ranger at Yosemite National Park.

• Jefferson D'Arcy (Ted McGinley), a pretty-boy and scam-artist with whom Marcy wakes up one morning and discovers she is married. Unlike Steve, Jefferson is an unemployed, lazy dimwit who takes advantage of Marcy. When he gets caught, he distracts her by working his pretty-boy charm and resorting to sexual bartering.

• Buck (portrayed by Buck Bundy, originally named "Mike", voiced by Cheech Marin, Kevin Curran, and Kim Weiskopf) – The Bundys' wisecracking dog, who insults his family and is punished upon his death by being reincarnated as Lucky, the dog the Bundys acquire to replace Buck.

Recurring characters

Main article: List of Married... with Children recurring characters

Fox broadcast history

Date	Time slot
April 1987 – October 1987	Sunday, 8:00 p.m.
October 1987 – July 1989	Sunday, 8:30 p.m.
July 1989 – August 1996	Sunday, 9:00 p.m.
September 1996 – October 1996	Saturday, 9:00 p.m.
November 1996 – June 1997	Sunday, 7:30 p.m.

Episodes

Main article: List of Married... with Children episodes

During its eleven-season run on the Fox network, Married... with Children aired 259 episodes. There were also three specials that aired following the series' cancellation, including a cast reunion.

Season		Episodes	Originally aired		DVD release date
			Season premiere	Season finale	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	1	13	April 5, 1987 (1987-04-05)	June 28, 1987 (1987-06-28)	October 28, 2003 (2003-10-28)	N/A	N/A
	2	22	September 27, 1987 (1987-09-27)	May 1, 1988 (1988-05-01)	March 16, 2004 (2004-03-16)	N/A	N/A
	3	22	November 6, 1988 (1988-11-06)	August 27, 1989 (1989-08-27)	January 25, 2005 (2005-01-25)	N/A	N/A
	4	23	September 3, 1989 (1989-09-03)	May 13, 1990 (1990-05-13)	August 30, 2005 (2005-08-30)	N/A	N/A
	5	25	September 23, 1990 (1990-09-23)	May 19, 1991 (1991-05-19)	June 20, 2006 (2006-06-20)	N/A	N/A
	6	26	September 8, 1991 (1991-09-08)	May 17, 1992 (1992-05-17)	December 19, 2006 (2006-12-19)	N/A	N/A
	7	26	September 13, 1992 (1992-09-13)	May 23, 1993 (1993-05-23)	September 18, 2007 (2007-09-18)	N/A	N/A
	8	26	September 5, 1993 (1993-09-05)	May 22, 1994 (1994-05-22)	March 18, 2008 (2008-03-18)	N/A	N/A
	9	26	September 4, 1994 (1994-09-04)	May 21, 1995 (1995-05-21)	August 19, 2008 (2008-08-19)	N/A	N/A
	10	26	September 17, 1995 (1995-09-17)	May 26, 1996 (1996-05-26)	March 17, 2009 (2009-03-17)	N/A	N/A
	11	24	September 29, 1996 (1996-09-29)	June 9, 1997 (1997-06-09)	October 13, 2009 (2009-10-13)	N/A	N/A
Total		259	April 5, 1987 (1987-04-05) – June 9, 1997 (1997-06-09)		September 27, 2011 (2011-09-27)	N/A	N/A

Nielsen ratings

Despite the show's enduring popularity and loyal fanbase, Married... with Children never was a true ratings winner. Part of the reason was the simple fact that Fox, being a new start-up network, did not have the affiliate base of the Big Three television networks, thus preventing the series from reaching the entire country. In an interview for a special commemorating the series' 20-year anniversary in 2007, Katey Sagal stated that part of the problem the series faced was that many areas of the country were only able to get Fox through low quality UHF channels well into the early 1990s while some areas of the country did not receive the new network at all.

Another problem lay in the fact that many of the newly developed series on Fox were unsuccessful, which kept the network from building a popular lineup to draw in a larger audience. In its original airing debut, Married... with Children was part of a Sunday lineup which competed with the popular Murder, She Wrote and Sunday night movie on CBS. Fellow freshman series included The Garry Shandling Show, Duet, and The Tracey Ullman Show, all of which were canceled in 1988, 1989, and 1990 respectively. The success of The Simpsons, which debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, helped draw some viewers over to Fox allowing Married... with Children to sneak into the Top 50 of television shows for seasons four through eight doing its best overall rating at number 29 for its sixth season. Although these ratings were small in comparison to the other three networks, they were good enough for Fox to keep renewing the show.

Ratings data for some seasons courtesy of TVTango.com.

• 1986-1987 Season: #142
• 1987-1988 Season: #116 (4.70 rating)
• 1988-1989 Season: #58 (10.45 rating)
• 1989-1990 Season: #50 (12.90 rating)
• 1990-1991 Season: #50 (11.80 rating)
• 1991-1992 Season: #29 (13.36 rating)
• 1992-1993 Season: #37 (11.97 rating)
• 1993-1994 Season: #46 (10.77 rating)
• 1994-1995 Season: #64 (9.50 rating)
• 1995-1996 Season: #78 (8.20 rating)
• 1996-1997 Season: #97 (6.70 rating)

Awards

Casting Society of America:

• 1987: Best Casting for TV – Episodic Comedy (nominated)

Emmy Awards:

• 1987: Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Series (for "But I Didn't Shoot the Deputy", nominated)
• 1988: Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Comedy Series (for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", nominated)
• 1989: Outstanding Editing – Multi-Camera Production (for "Requiem for a Dead Barber", nominated)
• 1990: Outstanding Costuming for a Series (for "Raingirl", nominated)
• 1990: Outstanding Editing – Multi-Camera Production (for "Who'll Stop the Rain", nominated)
• 1991: Outstanding Costuming for a Series (for "Married... with Aliens", nominated)
• 1994: Outstanding Costuming for a Series (for "Take My Wife, Please", nominated)

Golden Globe Awards:

• 1990: Best Actress – Musical or Comedy Series (Katey Sagal for playing "Peggy Bundy", nominated - lost to Kirstie Alley)
• 1990: Best Series – Musical or Comedy (nominated - lost to Cheers)
• 1991: Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series (Ed O'Neill for playing "Al Bundy", nominated - lost to Burt Reynolds)
• 1991: Best Actress – Musical or Comedy Series (Sagal, nominated - lost to Candice Bergen)
• 1992: Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series (O'Neill, nominated - lost to John Goodman)
• 1992: Best Actress – Musical or Comedy Series (Sagal, nominated - lost to Roseanne Barr)
• 1993: Best Actress – Musical or Comedy Series (Sagal, nominated - lost to Helen Hunt)

Other:

• 2009: TV Land Awards – Innovator Award (entire cast)

Controversy and edited content

Rakolta boycott

In 1989, Terry Rakolta, a housewife from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, led a boycott against Married... with Children after viewing the episode "Her Cups Runneth Over". Offended by the images of an old man wearing a woman's garter and stockings, the scene where Steve touches the panties 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 half-nude woman who takes off her bra in front of Al (and is shown with her arms covering her bare 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 demanding the show's cancellation, Fox executives refused to air the episode titled "I'll See You in Court". This episode would become known as the "Lost Episode" and was aired on Fox on June 18, 2002, with some parts cut. 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 restored.

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

DVD releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released all eleven seasons of Married... with Children on DVD in Regions 1, 2, & 4. On December 12, 2010, Sony released a complete series set on DVD in Region 1.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete First Season	13	October 28, 2003	April 7, 2004	October 25, 2005
The Complete Second Season	22	March 16, 2004	October 26, 2004	September 22, 2008
The Complete Third Season	22	January 25, 2005	February 10, 2005	September 22, 2008
The Complete Fourth Season	23	August 30, 2005	December 22, 2005	September 22, 2008
The Complete Fifth Season	25	June 20, 2006	June 27, 2006	September 22, 2008
The Complete Sixth Season	26	December 19, 2006	August 17, 2006	September 22, 2008
The Complete Seventh Season	26	September 18, 2007	October 5, 2006	September 22, 2008
The Complete Eighth Season	26	March 18, 2008	December 19, 2006	October 22, 2008
The Complete Ninth Season	26	August 19, 2008	February 20, 2007	October 22, 2008
The Complete Tenth Season	27	March 17, 2009	March 20, 2007	March 11, 2009
The Complete Eleventh Season	24	October 13, 2009	May 8, 2007	March 11, 2009

DVD Special Features:

Season 1: Married With Children Reunion Special Season 2: Clips From The Married With Children Reunion Special Season 3: Clips From The Married With Children Reunion Special Season 4: None Season 5: Trailers for other TV Shows Season 6: Trailers for other TV Shows Season 7: None Season 8: None Season 9: None Season 10: None Season 11: Trailers for other TV Shows

(Note: The Big Bundy Box set only Special Featueres is interviews with Bud and Peggy)

Married with Children – The Complete First Season DVD cover.

The DVD box sets from Season 3 onward do not feature the original "Love and Marriage" theme song in the opening sequence. This was done because Sony 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.

In the German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) all seasons have already been released (region 2). In December 2007 the Big Bundy Box—a special collection box with all seasons plus new interviews with Sagal and David Faustino—was released. This boxset was released in Australia (Region 4) on November 23, 2009.

The DVD box set is rated  PG  for Parental Guidance in Australia and  PG  in New Zealand for sexual references.

International remakes

Argentina

An Argentine remake was made in 2005, called Casados con Hijos. The success of the series trascended the borders of Argentina, being also issued by local channels in Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru. It only had two seasons (2005 and 2006), but thanks to the incredible success of the sitcom, still airs Monday through Friday at 2pm by Telefe.

Armenia

In Armenia a remake made in 2009, with the name Բնակարան N2 (Bnakaran N2) (Apartment #2).

Germany

In Germany, the 1992 remake "Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt ", broadcast in the prime time, reached double the audience than the original (broadcast in the early fringe time). This, however, was not enough to maintain the series, so it was cancelled after one season. The remake used the exact translated scripts of the original series (which already substituted localised humour and in-jokes for incomprehensible references to American TV shows not shown in Germany, as well as some totally different jokes) and just renamed place and person names according to the new setting.

Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt was aired from March to December 1993 for 26 episodes.

Hungary

In 2006, Hungarian TV network TV2 purchased 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 gruesomely decent family in Budapest). The main story began with the new family called the Bándis inherit an outskirt house from their American relatives the Bundys. They filmed a whole season of 26 episodes, all of them being remade versions of the plots of the original first seasons. 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 ER, then placed to Wednesday nights. The remake lost its viewers, but stayed on the air due to the contract between Sony and TV2.

Russia

The Original Married... With Children ran on DTV for almost three years, on a daily basis, broadcasting the episodes from seasons 1–10. The show later aired on Domashniy TV. However, for unknown reasons, most episodes from season 11 were not shown. A Russian adaptation, titled Счастливы вместе (Sсhastlivy Vmeste) (Happy Together), is now airing on TNT channel across the country.

The character names are: Gena Bukin (based on Al, played by Viktor Loginov), Dasha Bukina (based on Peggy, played by Natalya Bochkareva), Sveta Bukina (based on Kelly, played by Darya Sagalova), Roma Bukin (based on Bud, played by Aleksandr Yakin), Elena and Anatoliy Poleno (based on Marcy and Jefferson D'Arcy, played by Yulia Zaharova and Pavel Savinkov), Evgeniy Stepanov (based on Steve Rhoades, played by Aleksey Sekirin), Sema Bukin (based on Seven, played by Ilya Butkovskiy), Baron Bukin (based on Buck and Lucky, played by Bayra).

Instead of living in a house, the Bukins live in an apartment on the top floor of a small building, and the Stepanovs/Polenos live in the apartment in front of theirs. Prior to the series' beginning, the Bukins could buy off a part of the building's attic for extra rooms, so apart from the lack of a cellar, the lack of a backdoor, a garage in a separate building instead of being adjacent to the house, and a balcony used instead of the yard, the layout of Bukins' flat looks like the Bundys' house. The apartment is in a mess from some fixes in the house which were never finished, and in the show's early episodes an unfortunately placed construction site outside allowed people (and Baron, the family dog) to go in and out the Bukins' apartment by the balcony.

As a major change, instead of disappearing like Seven after a few episodes, Sema stays with the Bukins until the end of the series, and the often bizarre explanations for his absence from events the whole family should attend became a running gag. Also, the family dog Baron doesn't die and reincarnate, he remains the same until the end of the series. The episode Requiem For The Dead Briard was however adapted, with Baron being sold to a rich person by Sema instead of dying.

In April 2008, the producers announced all episodes of Married... With Children have been adapted as Schastlivy Vmeste (including all the episodes from the seldom seen 11th season) and an online contest was started where fans could submit new ideas for episodes. Starting from the 31 December 2009, the show resumed its run with an initial order of 60 new episodes, the order might be doubled based on the viewers' response. According to the episodes' opening credits, some of the new episodes are co-written by original Married... With Children writers, mostly Richard Gurman and Katherine Green.

United Kingdom

In 1996, the UK production company Carlton Television produced Married For Life a seven part sitcom that lasted one series. The Bundy's were renamed as the Butler's, Russ Abbott played Ted/Al, Susan Kydd was Pam/Peggy, Lucy Blakely played Lucy/Kelly and Peter England was Lee/Bud. The D'Arcy's were renamed Hollingsworth and the Steve character was recast with Hugh Bonneville and Marcy was renamed Judy and played by Julie Dawn Cole. The series featured an early performance from Rob Brydon

Episode List 1. For Whom The Bell Tolls (5 Mar) 2. If I Were A Rich Man (12 Mar) 3. Sixteen Years And What Do You Get? (19 Mar) 4. Where's The Boss? (26 Mar) 5. Whose Room Is It Anyway? (2 Apr) 6. My Mum, The Mum (9 Apr) 7. Eating Out (16 Apr)

Spin-offs

• Married... with Children was adapted into a comic book series by NOW Comics in 1990.
• 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 dated Kelly Bundy, and Charlie was introduced as 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. However, the show didn't last long and was ultimately cancelled. It had its own spin-off/sequel called "Vinnie & Bobby" a year later, which was also canceled.
  • 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. The episode co-starred Keri Russell.
  • Enemies was a Friends clone, featuring Alan Thicke, based on Kelly Bundy's social circle.
• In addition to those three spin-offs, a spin-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. Also, series co-creator Michael G. Moye proposed a NO MA'AM spin-off, but got turned down mainly due to Fox's fears of alienating much of the female demographic.

U.S. syndication and international airings

The series ran on Fox for its eleven year run but it has also appeared in syndication reruns on other channels.

Married... with Children originally debuted in off-network syndication distributed by Columbia Pictures Television Distribution (now Sony Pictures Television Distribution) starting in the fall of 1991. The series later began airing on cable on FX from September 1998 until 2007. In June 2002, FX became the first television network to air the controversial, previously banned episode "I'll See You in Court", albeit in an edited format. The fully uncensored version of "I'll See You in Court" can only be seen on the DVD release Married... with Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes Volume 1. The version found on the Third Season DVD set is edited. In 2008, the Spike network reportedly paid US$12 million for broadcast rights to every episode including the unedited version of the infamous episode, "I'll See You in Court".

The series started airing on Spike TV on September 29, 2008 with a weeklong marathon. TBS also began airing the show shortly after, acquiring the show in fall 2008 to run in the early morning hours, it currently runs for two to three hours on TBS during the early morning hours (depending on the length of overnight programming). TV Land picked up the rights to broadcast the show from its MTV Networks sister Spike in August 2009. Comedy Central began airing the show on February 8, 2010; Comedy Central acquired rights to air the series from TV Land, who in turn, had earlier acquired the rights to the series from Spike, though Comedy Central dropped the rights to the series in April 2010. Spike picked up the rights to series again, and began airing the series for the second time on July 10, 2010, airing on weekend mornings only. All three cable channels are owned by Viacom. The comedy began aring on Nick at Nite on July 6, 2011.

Married...with Children has also been a ratings success in other countries around the world.

Country	Foreign title	Translation	Network(s)	Notes
Australia	Married...with Children	None	Network Ten Nine Network GO! TV1	Reruns of the show run four times during week at 10pm and three episodes are shown from 9am Sunday on the cable network TV1. DVD episodes (omitting the original theme music) currently (August 2011) air on GO!
Argentina	Married... with Children	Subtitled	Sony Entertainment Television
Austria	Eine schrecklich nette Familie (An Awfully Nice Family)	Dubbed	ORF
Brazil	Um amor de Família (A Lovely Family)	Dubbed Subtitled	Sony Entertainment Television PlayTV	The show runs on Sony Entertainment Television and Comedy Central Brasil (since 2012 February) with original sound and subtitles (source: http://www.comedycentral.com.br/programas/married-with-children)/ , the dubbed version runs on PlayTV.
Bulgaria	Женени с деца (Married with Children)	Dubbed	bTV Fox life Diema	Currently airing on bTV Comedy.
Canada	Married...with Children		CMT Global Spike TVtropolis YTV	Currently broadcasting on Spike.
Chile	Casado con hijos	Subtitled	Sony Entertainment Television	Today the show runs on Sony Entertainment Television.
Colombia	Casado con hijos	Subtitled	Sony Entertainment Television	Airs on Teleantioquia.
Croatia	Bračne vode (Marriage Waters)	Subtitled	HRT RTL Televizija Nova TV Fox Life	The show runs on Nova TV and Fox Life.
Denmark	Vore værste år (Our Worst Years)	Subtitled	TV3
Dominican Republic	Casado con Hijos (Married with Children)	Dubbed	Telesistema 11
Estonia	Tuvikesed (Lovebirds)	Subtitled	Kanal 2	Broadcast after midnight on Kanal 2
Finland	Pulmuset (Loveydoves)	Subtitled	MTV3 Nelonen	Currently being rerun on Nelonen.
France	Mariés, deux enfants (Married, Two Children)	Dubbed	M6 Comédie!	Currently runs on the cable channel Comédie!.
Germany	Eine schrecklich nette Familie (An Awfully Nice Family)	Dubbed	RTL ProSieben Kabel1 Comedy Central	It first ran from 1992 on RTL ("RTLplus" at that time), moving to ProSieben for the final 51 episodes, ending in 1997. It currently airs two episodes a day Monday-Friday on Kabel1.
Greece	Παντρεμένοι με παιδιά (Married with Children)	Subtitled	ANT1 Mega Channel Makedonia TV	Currently airing from Macedonia TV.
Hungary	Egy rém rendes család (A gruesomely decent family)	Dubbed	TV3 RTL Klub Viasat 3 CoolTV	A cable television called CoolTV airs 3 episodes and PrizmaTV 2 episodes each day.
Israel	נשואים פלוס (Married Plus)	Subtitled	Yes Comedy	It is currently on the air, on satellite yes, Channel yes comedy. The show can be seen on HOT cable television, in the channel Bip, channel 6. A shoe store in Herzliya named itself Bundy Shoes (though the shop in the series is Gary's). An Israeli made Russian language version is currently being produced and can be seen on channel 9.
Italy	Sposati ... Con Figli (Married ... With Children)	Dubbed	FX	It is currently on the air, on satellite Sky, Channel FX.
Kazakhstan	Счастливы вместе (Happy Together)		NTK	The Russian remake of the show, Счастливы вместе, is currently being shown on NTK (Independent Television Channel) every weekday night from 8:00–9:00.
Lithuania	Vedęs ir turi vaikų (Married and has children)	Voice-over	TV3 TV6 Lithuania	The show periodically runs on TV3 and TV6 Lithuania.
Mexico	Married...with Children		Sony Entertainment Television TV Azteca	Runs on Sony Entertainment Television.
Netherlands	Married...with Children	Subtitled	Veronica RTL7 Comedy Central	Originally aired on Veronica, RTL7. The show is currently being broadcast on Comedy Central.
New Zealand	Married...with Children	None	TV2 Sky TV	Ran for many years on TV2, now on Sky TV.
Norway	Bundy (Bundy)	Subtitled	TV3 Viasat 4	The show is called Bundy and is currently in reruns after midnight every day except weekends on TV3. Is also shown daily on Viasat 4.
Peru	Matrimonio con Hijos (Marriage with Children)		TV 13 – RED GLOBAL Sony Entertainment Television	The show runs on TV 13 – RED GLOBAL from Monday to Friday at 8:00 p.m.
Poland	Świat według Bundych (The World According to Bundys)	Voice-over	Polsat	The show was aired many times on Polsat, and it is still on air there today.
Romania	Familia Bundy (The Bundy Family)	Subtitled	PRO TV PRO Cinema Antena 1 Antena 2	It runs weekly, from Monday to Friday on Antena 1.
Serbia	Брачне воде / Bračne vode (Marriage Waters)	Subtitled Dubbed (Season 1)	Fox televizija Fox Life	The show airs on Fox Life, all seasons with subtitles only.
Singapore	Married with Children	None	Star World	Married with Children is currently on air every Monday to Friday during the minisodes.
Slovenia	Družina za umret (Family to die for)	Subtitled	Kanal A
Slovakia	Married...with Children	Dubbed	TV Markíza	The show is being run with the Czech dubbing on TV Markíza.
South Africa	Married...with Children		M-Net	The original series ran on the pay channel, M-Net.
Spain	Matrimonio con hijos (Marriage with Children)	Dubbed	TVE2 Canal 300 SET en VEO	The original series were a classic that ran for a decade in the public national channel TVE2. Recently the Spanish TV channel Cuatro did a remake of the original series under the name Matrimonio con Hijos. In Catalonia, the show is currently running on the DTT channels Canal 300 and Sony Entertainment Television en VEO.
Sweden	Våra värsta år (Our Worst Years)	Subtitled	TV3 ZTV TV6
Turkey	Evli ve Çocuklu (Married...with Children)		Star TV aTV CNBC-e	Currently on e2 in 2000s (decade).
Ukraine	Щасливі разом (Happy Together)		Novij Kanal STB	The Russian remake of the show, Счастливы вместе, is currently being shown on Novij Kanal (New Channel) every weekday night from 9:30–10:30.
United Kingdom	Married...with Children	None	ITV Sky One
Uruguay	Matrimonio con hijos (Marriage with children)	Dubbed	Canal 12
Latvia	Precējies, ir bērni	Dubbed	TV3 TV6 (Latvia)	(EVERY DAY.)
Venezuela	Casado... con Hijos (Married...with Children)		Venevision, Sony

Locations

The opening footage comprises views of Chicago, opening with a shot of Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. The aerial downtown shot was taken from the Lake Shore Drive section north of the Loop. The expressway entrance shot was taken from the 1983 movie National Lampoon's Vacation featuring the Griswolds' green family truckster. Both the downtown view and the highway entrance shot were omitted from Season 4 onwards, but the remaining fountain shot included an "In Stereo Where Available" note. Non-English versions might differ, e.g. the dubbed German version always includes the expressway shot. The house exterior seen in the opening sequence is located on 641 Castlewood Lane, Deerfield, IL.

See also

• Unhappily Ever After, another show created by Ron Leavitt, treating similar themes.
• Star-ving, a web series created by David Faustino, where the original cast was reunited.
• Modern Family, a show where Ed O'Neill also plays a family man.

External links

• Official site from Sony Pictures Television
• UK Official site from Sony Pictures Television
• Married with Children at the Internet Movie Database
• Married with Children at TV.com
• Married with Children
• Text scripts of many episodes
• Bundyology: floor plans, complete history
• The Married... with Children set in QuickTime VR
• Spike brings back Married
• http://www.russabbot.co.uk/html/married_for_life.html