Married... with Children

"Married With Children" redirects here. For the Oasis song, see Married with Children (song).

Married... with Children
File:MWC 1.JPG Screenshot from the second season of Married... with Children.
Created by	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	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	259 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 22 minutes
Original release
Network	FOX
Release	April 5, 1987 – June 9, 1997

Married… with Children is a popular completed American sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago that lasted 11 seasons over a span of 10 years. It was the first-ever prime time television series to air on the FOX network, debuting on April 5, 1987, and airing its final first-run broadcast on June 9, 1997. The series was created by Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt. The show featured various racy topics which garnered the fledgling FOX network a standing among the Big Three Television Networks (i.e., ABC, CBS and NBC).

The show's 259 episodes over 11 seasons make it the second-longest-lasting sitcom on the FOX network (second only to The Simpsons). The show's theme song is "Love and Marriage" by Frank Sinatra.

Synopsis

The show follows the lives of Al Bundy, a once-glorious 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 funny walk due to always wearing high heels, and their two children: Kelly, their attractive, promiscuous, dim-witted daughter, and Bud, their unpopular and girl-crazy but intelligent son (as the only Bundy who ever attended college). Their neighbors are the upwardly mobile Steve and Marcy Rhoades. (Marcy later marries second husband Jefferson D'Arcy.) Most storylines involve a scheming Al being foiled by his cartoonish dim wit and bad luck. His rivalry and loathing of Marcy also play a significant role in most episodes.

Characters

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

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 the name was derived from serial killer Ted Bundy. King Kong Bundy once appeared on the show as Peg's hick inbred uncle Irwin, and again appeared as his wrestling persona, since "NO MA'AM" (a fictional club depicted on the show) were big fans of King Kong Bundy.

Al Bundy

Main article: Al Bundy

The head of the Bundy family, Al (Ed O'Neill) is doomed to fail in all aspirations 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 impregnated his girlfriend, married her, broke his leg, and ended up a shoe salesman at Gary's Shoes in the New Market Mall. Al often spends time attempting to recapture his glory days but is usually undermined in spectacular fashion by bad luck and poor judgment. He considers his family to be the cause of his failures, and his resentment of them (and fear of having sex with his wife) provides much of the show's humor. However, Al is still devoted to them, given that he protectively 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 his eighteenth birthday at the nudie bar, and holds down a lousy job to put food on the table. Despite his yearning for "the touch of a beautiful woman," he always passes on those rare temptations, once explaining, "I actually kinda like my family." He frequents "nudie bars" and strip joints with his friends. The only thing that seems to consistently put him in the mood for his wife is watching her do manual labor, which virtually never happens. It is mentioned in a Season 5 episode, aired in 1990, that Al is 43, which means his age pays homage to his real-life self, Ed O'Neill, who was also 43 at the time. Al has extremely severe foot odor, prefers the escapism of television and bowling over his dysfunctional family and life of drudgery and starvation (as Peg refuses to cook, she claims that she is allergic to fire, despite the fact that she smokes.), 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 foot odor is not his only health problem, for once in 1983 he had a bad case of dandruff. He also has terrible teeth, as noted in the episode "Tooth or Consequences" where his extremely poor dental hygiene (green, black, bleeding and loose teeth amongst them) leads to a trip to the dentist with typical bad luck results.

Al's favorite television series, the fictional Psycho Dad, was a source of joy and entertainment that Al seemingly at times wanted to emulate. He would hum the words to the theme song and pretend to "shoot" his fictional gun while watching the show. Much like Al's family, "Psycho Dad" was tormented by his family and was stated to kill his wife and get revenge on his children in the opening credits and during various fictional "airings" of the episode though no video was ever shown. His other joys were Westerns, often John Wayne films, most notably "Hondo" where Peg's family ruined his recording of the movie by taping over it with a song dedicated to Peg. He has also referenced "Shane" where the Wanker clan ruined his enjoyment of that movie.

Al also has his "faithful" Dodge that invariably had bad brakes, no brakes, constant break-downs and numerous other problems associated with its age. At the time of the fourth season at least, Al was still paying it off, despite it being over 20 years old and by the eighth season, had passed one million miles.

The producers originally wanted to cast comedian Sam Kinison as Al Bundy. However, they ultimately chose not to, due to the profaneness 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.

Peggy Bundy

Margaret "Peggy" Bundy (Katey Sagal) is Al's very lazy high school drop-out housewife. She refuses to cook or to clean the house, and prefers shopping for new clothes to 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 (without getting fat, amazingly enough). Her favorite TV shows are Oprah and The Phil Donahue Show, but also enjoys watching 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. Peg is also cigarette smoker as well.

Despite her inappropriate behavior, she generally appeals to men, including Al whenever she does work. Like Al, she would never cheat on her partner -- but unlike Al, enjoys marital sex. She does not seem to mind her husband ogling other women, reading pornographic magazines, or going to strip joints-most likely because she does the same things herself with other men. Her enthusiasm has caused some of the male strip joints she visits to establish the "Bundy rule" -- where women can no longer go into the back rooms to meet the dancers. Her maiden name is Wanker, and her family hails from the fictitious rural Wanker County, Wisconsin, where "As Einstein put it, everyone's relative" and the most famous person is the "man who met Andy Griffith." At Peg and Al's high school reunion one rival muttered "Peg, Peggy Wanker don't bother to thank her." What is never made clear is how she managed to go to high school with Al when her parents apparently never left Wanker County. During Season 6, Katey Sagal got pregnant in real-life so it was written into the show. Sadly, Katey delivered a stillborn child so in true 'Dallas' fashion, the writers made the whole storyline into one of Al's nightmares. Katey was pregnant again twice in the series' run, but instead of writing her pregnancies into the show, the producers either used camera shots from above the stomach or wrote episodes without the character of Peggy, explaining her absence by having her set out in search of her missing father and only occasionally calling home.

The producers originally wanted Roseanne Barr to play Peggy Bundy, but she declined and the producers cast Katey Sagal.

Kelly Bundy

Kelly (Christina Applegate) is the oldest child in the Bundy family, born in approximately 1972 or 1973 on November 27 or sometime before February 19 as noted in "Peggy Turns 300," where Kelly says her birthday is in February but erroneously refers to herself as an "Aquarium" instead of Aquarius. "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. Peg has attempted to convey some of her other "values" to Kelly, most notably advice on how to avoid working.

During the series' run, Kelly got progressively more stupid. Intially, she was not the stereotypical dumb blonde bimbo she eventually becomes known for. In one episode, a flashback to Kelly's childhood reveals her to once be a prodigious reader until she banged her head during a road trip, instantly changing her personality to prefer focusing on her "shiny, shiny shoes." The show hints to her amazing intrinsic intellectual ability, which only exhibits itself on those rare occasions when she is not preoccupied with her social standing or the opposite sex. For instance, she can predict the next number drawn on a roulette wheel, but only after letting her mind go blank. When properly motivated, she is able to solve complex mathematical equations, such as her calculation of the trajectory to shoot garbage bags into the D'Arcys' yard from a self-built catapult. It has been demonstrated that she can absorb a limited amount of information very well, but will forget something that she learned in the past once her limit is reached. She is also known to display excellent hand-eye coordination when playing pool or performing archery.

Kelly's comedic function tends to include blatant displays of naïvete and ignorance, with the typical response by the family of willfully allowing her to remain ignorant. Bud in particular likes to sow misconceptions in her mind. For example, she asks Bud to help her with her book report on Robinson Crusoe but ends up reviewing Gilligan's Island instead. Her family is surprised to learn that she earned her high school diploma in 1990 -- but when she receives her diploma through the mail after finishing summer school, she asks her mother to read it to her. She then worked as a model and waitress. She had become a bottle-blonde at an early age at her mother's encouragement after a boy at school liked a natural blonde more than Kelly. (Years afterward, neither can remember their own natural hair-color). She is obsessed with boys, hair bleach and the telephone. Kelly was not allowed to have sleepovers or birthday parties from age eight to age sixteen, thanks to an experience she had at age eight, where "the judge wanted to trial [her] 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 unable to sufficiently care for them. Buck, the family dog, was generally considered to be hers, and she was the most upset 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 does not seem to care and simply says "sure".

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 it is a nature show.

The show, and specifically Christina Applegate's character, is referenced in the movie Donnie Darko.

Bud Bundy

Budrick Franklin "Bud" Bundy (David Faustino) is the second child, born around 1974. 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 is typically caught in sexually humiliating scenarios. He is also shorter in stature than his sister, and a lot shorter than his mother. He does not appear to know how to impress women upon meeting them and is often rejected. It is unclear when he actually lost his virginity, as it was depicted that he may have bedded women as far back as age 14, but in the fourth season it is mentioned that he is still a virgin. Later in the series, he 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 various alter-egos, including street rapper 'Grandmaster B' -- a persona often ridiculed by his family with the epithets 'Bed-wetter B', 'Cross-Dresser B', 'Grandma B', 'Grand bastard', 'Grand Marshall B', "Buderace", etc. (Interestingly, David Faustino has actually been featured in a few rap albums in real life, and manages a nightclub.) Another alter-ego is 'Cool Bud', Bud's sexual, suave side with which he eventually 'merges', prompting him to become more 'cool'. Bud has been known to fail at romance, as those attracted to him are often undesirable (such as fat hotel guests, dowdy college librarians, and male hotel workers). Bud also takes an interest in Marcy; when Steve leaves her, he actively pursues her. After playing a trick on Kelly to prove her stupidity, Kelly proves not to be so foolish by making Bud and Mrs Rhoades falsely believe they spent the night together. (Bud asks Marcy, "You are on the pill right?" In response, Marcy looks nervous).

Out of the Bundys, Bud seems to be the most ashamed of the family as he often pretends to not know them. 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 exploit her foolishness -- but he is known to scheme against his own family. He makes honor roll throughout high school, and gets himself through college (and even earns scholarship money which his family spends without his consent). During his college years, Bud is portrayed as the leader in his social circle (most of whom 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 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. In two episodes, he has also assisted his fellow Bundys when they brawl with another family -- Al beats up the father, Peg beats up the mother, Kelly beats up the daughter and Bud beats up the son. On his eighteenth birthday, Bud also helped Al at a strip club brawl. He is not above fighting dirty by smashing his opponents over the head with chairs or bottles.

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 voiceovers that tell what is on his mind. He is just as disgusted with the family as the others. Peggy dotes on him, sometimes even cooking for him. Though extremely lazy, Buck has a huge, insatible sexual appetite, having at one point impregnating all the female dogs in the neighborhood. 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.

Lucky

A character whose voiceovers were performed by writer Kevin Curran, Lucky is the spaniel that the family gets after Buck dies. He is the reincarnation of Buck, but no one in the family ever realizes this. In the episode "Lez Be Friends", the Bundy kids have difficulty entertaining a depressed Lucky; it is revealed that Lucky is gay, with a leather-clad pit bull as a companion.

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 intended to generate fresh storylines, the show's writers ultimately found it difficult to work the boy into the show’s adult-themed scripts. The character was abruptly dropped to the delight of the viewers. (A poll showed that more than 80% of the viewers did not 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. The character was never to be mentioned again, except for three occasions in Season 8. one in which his face appears on the side of a milk carton over the words, “Have you seen me?” Another instance is when Marcy and Jefferson comes over to inform the family that Seven has been staying with them, and has learned to chant "Kill the Bundys" with the neighborhood. 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. During Seven's time on the show the title was changed to "Married... With More Children." See also: Jumping the Shark.

Peggy's mother

Heard only in frightening voiceovers by Kathleen Freeman and ground-shaking gags (making her an unseen character), she lives 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, who died before production. She works a phone sex line under the moniker "Butter."

Peggy's father

Ephraim 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 Al's and Peggy's wedding. (He calls Peggy by her true name "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 drunkenly proposed to Peg, although Ephraim implied in "The Joke's on Al" that the gun wasn't loaded at the time.

The neighbors

Marcy D'Arcy

Marcy D'Arcy (Marcy Rhoades from Episodes 0101-0512, played by Amanda Bearse) is Peggy's best friend, Al's nemesis, and the family's next-door neighbor. Though she considers herself to be better than the Bundy family, Marcy often sinks to their level. She originally worked as a loan officer at the city bank (in a higher position than her husband Steve), and then as the manager of the Kyoto National Bank since the second season. But for a brief time, she was demoted to drive-up window teller as punishment for approving a loan Al could not repay. She wins back her old job after frugging on her boss's desk for 20 minutes, clad only in a slip, while the other drive-up window tellers toss quarters at her.

Initially, 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. She contemptuously bickers with Al, and revels at his misery. Marcy seems to have a disturbing dark side and enjoys sharing her past memories 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 radical feminist and environmentalist. Al's most frequent targets are Marcy's tiny chest and her chickenlike stance when 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 real-life lesbian Bearse) is a lesbian. Despite wanting to appear prudish, Marcy is shown to be a very sexual person, and it is revealed to have a rather 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 such as when Steve loses his job and later when Jefferson comes into the series. Their teamwork is attributable to the fact that they are both breadwinners, giving them occasional moments of mutual understanding.

Steve Rhoades

Steven "Steve" Bartholomew Rhoades (David Garrison) is Marcy's first husband. He is a banker who seems unfazed by his lower position than Marcy at the city bank. (When Marcy moves up to a high position at another bank, he gets her former job). Steve initially condescends to the Bundys but eventually becomes more like them, and generally turns to Al for male bonding. Marcy was initially attracted to him because of his self-centered materialism.

Steve seemed to be a fairly demure and buttoned-down character, compared to his wife and the Bundys, although he did show a dark side. As a banker, Steve took sadistic pleasure in humiliating people who bullied him in high school by making his former tormentors (many of whom were stuck in poor, dead-end jobs similar to Al's) grovel for bank loans, which he flatly refused. Steve also got his job as Dean of Bud's college by blackmailing the man who employed him as a chauffeur.

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 in one role, and 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 the final episode shot (though confusingly, not the final episode aired) in which he was a regular character, Steve is disenchanted with his and Marcy's yuppie lifestyle and is increasingly interested in becoming an outdoorsman (a real-life interest of Garrison's). He then disappears, with the explanation that he left Marcy to become a forest ranger at Yosemite National Park. Prior to disappearing, his last job was as a "pooper scooper" at an exotic pet shop. In later seasons, Garrison would reprise the Steve Rhoades character on four occasions, returning to guest star in individual episodes (with Steve having pursued other careers in the meantime), as he eventually returns to professional life to become the Dean of Bud's college. This episode was to be the pilot of a spin-off series that never happened.

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 (a bartender) at his workplace 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 the closest friend of Al and often angers Marcy when bonding with him; unlike Steve Rhoades, who was more of a foil or straight man to Al, Jefferson tends to be very encouraging and attuned to Al's behavior. Marcy constantly bosses around Jefferson to keep him in check. However, behind her back, Jefferson often insults Marcy and ignores her orders. When Marcy's favorite squirrel Zippy dies, Jefferson tells her that he would 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.

Marcy constantly hounds Jefferson to get a job. However, on the rare occasions when he actually gets one (working at the shoe store, being cast as an actor in a commercial, working as an aerobics instructor) he usually ends up working with beautiful women, which prompts a jealous Marcy to make him quit and return to his de facto job as her gigolo. This tendency runs in the D'Arcy family, as Jefferson's father also worked as a gigolo and his mother worked as an exotic dancer before she was eaten by her snake at an airport.

He is easily the most financially scheming character of the show -- even more than the Bundys. Often, when Al stumbles into a unique lucrative opportunity, Jefferson typically persuades Al to take advantage of it. When Al was robbed in his shoe store, Jefferson convinced him to sue the mall while feigning psychological trauma. When Al discovered hidden shoes that he stocked away in the 1970s, Jefferson convinced him to use the shoes as a new gimmick for the store by taking 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 the (surprising to the characters, female) Gary (played by Janet Carroll), 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. During a rare time in which Al is struck with good luck, Jefferson persuades him into a high-stakes poker game with a group of criminals. Jefferson also convinced Al to go home to have sex with his wife so Al could win a radio contest cash prize.

During the course of the series, it is revealed that Jefferson spent time in prison (for selling contaminated land as a vacation spot to several people, including Al) and used to be in the CIA.

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.

Amber

Amber (Juliet Tablak) is Marcy's niece. Amber's mother sent her to Marcy to get her out of her bad L.A. neighborhood. Bud keeps on trying to bed her, but succeeds only 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 explanation. Like most females on the sitcom, she is typically repulsed by his objectifying views of females. However, she does appear to demonstrate an attraction to Bud (remarking to Kelly in private that she thinks he is cute), and freely kisses him as a way of saying goodbye.

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 drives a GEO Metro and is often mocked for this. However, Griff is happy because it still more reliable than Al's 1970s 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, even by his wife, and it is 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. Sergant of Arms of No Ma'am. Believes Elvis is still alive.
• Miranda Veracruz de la Hoya Cardinale (Teresa Parente) – Latina 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. While she only appears in a handful of episodes throughout the series, the character seems to be quite popular with fans.
• The Wankers – Peggy's family, 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. In the UK and Australia 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/Australian audiences, or whether the name is just a coincidence.
• Gary (Janet Carroll) – The 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 notice. Gary is incredibly wealthy (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 ninth 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) – The third 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 advice accidentally drive the boy to a shrewish woman named "Meg" (a young copy of Peg) and the same dismal fate which had befallen Al. Aaron appeared only in the eighth season (5 episodes).
• Dexter (Chi McBride) – He was the second co-worker with Al in Gary'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, large breasts, 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)

FOX broadcast history

Date	Time slot
April - 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 - June 1997	Saturday, 9:00 p.m.

Nielsen ratings

1994-1995 Season: #64

1995-1996 Season: #78

1996-1997 Season: #97

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. Another edited episode involved Al 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 1993 World Trade Center attacks. The unedited version of this episode is still re-run in full on the Canadian network TVtropolis, and some syndicated versions of the episode in the U.S. still contain the sequence.

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". Offended by the images of an old man wearing a 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 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 - 0310". 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 first boycott, ratings for Married... with Children ironically 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," when a newscaster mentioned the city Bloomfield Hills, and "No Pot To Pease In - 0909," 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."

DVD releases

Region 1 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	September 18, 2007 [2]	26	Bonus Previews.
The Complete Eighth Season	EARLY 2008	26
The Complete Ninth Season	LATE 2008	26
The Complete Tenth Season	EARLY 2009	26
The Complete Eleventh Season	LATE 2009	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 noticeable in Season 4, where 8 of the 22 episodes have some type of edit. The German region 2 Season 4 set uses non-syndicated versions of these episodes, although the Dutch and French sets have the syndicated versions.

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 4, 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. The final four season is expected to be released soon.

Remakes

Argentina

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 second season has been done for 2006. The characters are Pepe (Guillermo Francella), Moni (Florencia Peña), Coqui (Darío Lopilato) and Paola (Luisana Lopilato), all under the 'Argento' surname. It should be noted that the show's reruns had higher ratings than when the episodes were first aired.

Brazil

A Guerra dos Pintos (War of the Pintos) was the title of the Brazilian remake. It ran for a short time on BAND before it got cancelled in 1999 due to poor ratings. Many episodes were left unaired. The Brazilian Bundys were called "Pintos" (hence the name of the series). Pinto translates to dick in Portuguese, and as in the United States, it's also a common Brazilian surname. The Pintos lived in Rio de Janeiro. Al's equivalent, "Zé Pinto", was a shoe salesman just like Al, and he was a former soccer player as Al was a former football player. Peggy equivalent was named "Neide Pinto", Kelly named "Kelly Pinto" and Bud was "Joca Pinto" in the series. They also had a dog named Cachorro (which means dog in portuguese). Their neighbours, the "Fialho's", were based on the Rhoades, not the D'Arcys. The storyline was exactly the same as in the early original version.

Chile

In Chile, a remake was made in 2006 and 2007, 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). Their neighbors are Marcia Durán (Marcy) and Pablo Pinto (both Steve Rhodes and Jefferson D'Arcy).

Colombia

In Colombia a remake named Casados con Hijos was made on 2005. The characters are "Paco" Rocha (Al), "Lola" (Peggy), Willy (Bud), and Kelly (Kelly).

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 1993. Even though it had twice the views of the dub of the original show, they were under the expected number so the show got canceled quickly.

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 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 American Emergency Room, then placed to Wednesday nights. The remake lost its viewers, but stayed on the air due to the contract between Sony and TV2. ()

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).

Russia

Russian remake Счастливы вместе (Sсhastlivy Vmeste) (Happy Together) is now airing on TNT channel across the country.

The character names are: Gennadij Bukin (Al), Dasha (Peggy), Sveta (Kelly), Roma (Bud).

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).

United Kingdom

Married... with Children is one of a handful of U.S. comedies that have been remade for Britain. It was shown on ITV, and 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 on the same channel, albeit in a late-evening slot. Also, this version was considerably toned down from the original, despite the fact that 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, in order to distinguish it from the original, which already had a cult following in the UK.

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 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. The episode co-starred Keri Russel.
  • "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. 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.

Trivia

• The street address the Bundy's live at is 9764 Jeopardy Lane.
• The Bundys and Rhoades were both named, according to Moye, after pro wrestlers: Dusty Rhodes and King Kong Bundy.

Worldwide

• United States: It ran on Fox television for its ten year run but it has also appeared in reruns on other channels. Sony Pictures Television picked it up and Sony has only released it on DVD but never aired it on any channel. It is currently showing on Fox television sub channel FX Network.

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

• Australia: Reruns of the show run four times during week at 10pm and three episodes are shown from 9am Sunday on the cable network TV1. Original episodes aired on the Nine Network and later on the Ten Network.
• Austria: The show aired from March 6, 1995 until March 18, 1998 under the name Eine Schrecklich nette Familie meaning A Terribly Nice Family on the Pubcaster ORF. It started airing again on July 13 2007, weekdays on 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 with original sound and subtitles, the dubbed version runs on PlayTV.
• 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: Original episodes aired on the Global Television Network. The show is currently being run on the channels TVtropolis and 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.
• 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.
• Denmark: The show is called Vore værste år (Our Worst Years), and it is seen on TV3. (See also Sweden)
• Dominican Republic: The show is called Casado con Hijos (Married with Children), and it is seen on Telesistema 11.
• 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. It also runs on the cable channel Comédie! since 2002.
• Germany:It ran from 1992 on RTL ("RTLplus" at that time) as Eine schrecklich nette Familie, which roughly translates as 'A Terribly Nice Family' (the same title is used). It aired also on ProSieben. It now currently airs two episodes a day Monday-Friday on Kabel1 . The show runs in a constant loop. It runs Season 1-11 and then starts all over again.
• 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 Comedy.In the 90'S it aired on the UK's Sky One.It disappeared in the early 2000s.Very recently on RTE One it appeared early January 2007 on a Late Thursday Night/Early Friday Morning at 4am and showed two episodes each time.It disappeared off of the schedule Late April 2007.Not Currently Showing on Irish Television.
• Israel: Called "נשואים פלוס" (Neshuim Plus - Married plus[Children]). 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 1990s 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 and ran on and off on TV Azteca.
• 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 p.m. local time. (See also Sweden)
• Netherlands: The show is currently being broadcast on RTL7.
• New Zealand: Ran for many years on TV2, now on Sky TV.
• South Africa: The original series ran on the pay channel, M-Net.
• 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. In Catalonia, the show also ran in Catalan as Casats... i amb fills on TV3 and is currently running on the DTT channel Canal 300.
• 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 Kiepscy).
• Peru: The show runs on TV 13 - RED GLOBAL. The show is entitled almost correctly Matrimonio con Hijos (Marriage with Children). It runs from Monday to Friday at 20.00 p.m.
• 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 since the start of the show and with repeated re-runs. 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.
• Ukraine: 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.
• UK: The show recently could be seen on ITV4 and also could have on cable comedy channel Paramount where has been since 1999. The show previously aired on ITV between 1988 and 1996. From 1996 to 1997 Sky One and aired on ITV2 from 2004 to 2006.The Show does not currently air on UK Television.

See also

• List of Married... with Children episodes

External links

• Official site from Sony Pictures Television
• UK Official site from Sony Pictures Television
• Married... with Children at IMDb
• Text scripts of all episodes
• Bundyology, a fan's website
• Al Bundy Site, a fan's website (infos, making ofs, forum,..)
• Jump The Shark - Married... with Children
• Full episodes of Married...With Children on AOL Video