Married . . . with Children [TV Series] (DVD)

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Here's the rundown on the 23 episodes, contained on three discs:

1) "Hot off the Grill"—Marcy's aunt's ashes and Al's Labor Day picnic converge.

2) "Dead Men Don't Do Aerobics"—Peg wins a week with fitness guru and male eye candy Jim Jupiter, and the two give each other different "workouts."

3) "Buck Saves the Day"—Kelly's enterprise is to raise money to buy tickets for a rock concert, so she stages a poker game while the men are away camping.

4) "Tooth or Consequences"—It's Al's toothache and Peg's cooking that take center stage.

5) "He Ain't Much But He's Mine"—Peg overhears a trashing blonde talking about an affair and instantly suspects Al.

6) "Fair Exchange"—Kelly meets her match with a French exchange student the Bundys take in, in order to earn a little extra household cash.

7) "Desperately Seeking Miss October"—Al gets a shoe-store visit from a Playboy centerfold, which sends him scurrying to retrieve his magazine collection to see more of her.

8) "976-Shoe"—Steve's bank makes a big mistake when they loan Al big money for a big gamble: a shoe hotline.

9) "Oh, What a Feeling"—Al's car breaks down, but repairs won't happen because Peg spent the family's savings.

10) "At the Zoo"—Steve gets fired from his job (thanks, Al) and spends the day at the zoo with the Bundys.

11) and 12) "It's a Bundyful Life, Parts 1 & 2"—Christmas cheer was never so tawdry as Al schemes to get money for presents and runs up against a guardian angel as abrasive as he is.

13) "Who'll Stop the Rain"—When a rainstorm causes the roof to leak, Al decides to save money and repair it himself.

14) "A Taxing Problem"—Al's scheming again, this time trying to come up with some money to cover a shortfall before he's audited by the IRS.

15) "Rock and Roll Girl"—This one was for all the adolescent boys. Kelly becomes a minor rock star after landing the lead in a sexy music video.

16) and 17) "You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em, Parts 1 & 2"—Marcy tags along with Al and Pet on a Las Vegas vacation, and when the two women lose every cent, it's up to Al to win it back—by getting into the ring with a professional female wrestler.

18) "What Goes Around Came Around"—Bud decides to pay back a girl who humiliated him years ago. Bad move.

19) "Peggy Turns 300"—Al takes Peg bowling on her birthday, but the plan backfires when she breaks the Bowl-a-Rama record instead of him.

20) "Peggy Made a Little Lamb"—Peggy joins Kelly in Home Ec class en route to earning a degree. One of the more humorous episodes.

21) "Rain Girl"—Another entertaining one finds Kelly landing a job as a weather girl.

22) "The Agony of De Feet"—A nightmare episode finds Al freaking out about having to judge a beauty pageant at the store and Marcy freaking that she may have slept with Bud.

23) "Yard Sale"—Al's answer to shopaholic Peg is to hold a garage sale and try to sell off all the stuff she's bought.

Video: The video quality is no great shakes. Especially with the 1.33:1 picture stretched to fit a widescreen television, it's slightly blurred (though your eyes get used to it pretty quickly) and slightly grainy.

Audio: The audio is a notch better, with what appears to be Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo effects that make the dialogue sound fairly natural instead of overly rich or distortedly flat.

Extras: There are no extras.

Bottom Line: There's only so many shots of Al's foot-long exaggerated armpit stains that you can take—same with the other simple and crass running jokes in this in-your-face show. If Jerry Springer made a sitcom, it'd be something like the fourth season of "Married with Children"—more pathetic and tiresome than interesting or funny.

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