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

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On Sunday nights during the 1989-90 television season, viewers had a choice between movies and "Married with Children." And most of the viewers opted to tune in flicks on ABC, CBS, and NBC, rather than spend time with the Bundys—whom, you may recall, were the Fox Network's flipside and flippant answer to the wholesome family that people warmed to on "The Cosby Show."

There's nothing heartwarming or endearing about this blue-collar Chicago family, whose last name was not-so-coincidentally the same as serial killer Ted Bundy. And forget realism. These characters couldn't have been played more over-the-top if they each had jet-packs strapped to their backs. Al Bundy ( Ed O'Neill) was a sniveling shoe salesmen with legendary armpit odor and lecherous tendencies. Lazy as the day is long, he saw himself as The Breadwinner and felt no need to do anything else around the house. His wife, the equally lazy, big-hair, Lycra-pants wearing wife, felt the same way—but without the job. Peg (Katey Sagal) didn't "do" housework, didn't cook, and didn't tend to her brood. What she did do was sit around all day in her stretch pants and tight faux-leopard tops and spike heels, doing her nails, eating chocolates, watching television, and gossiping with next-door neighbor Marcy Rhoades (Amanda Bearse).

Fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, and Kelly (Christina Applegate) was the trampy teen who was a chip off mom's block. With an IQ lower than a limbo bar and a libido that could rival sailors, she had one thing on her mind . . . and yet she still didn't have much of a life, which left her hanging out at the house far more than anyone wanted. Rounding out the family was the ultra-square Bud (David Faustino), who fancied himself a hip ladies' man and couldn't have been more off-base than someone who's never gotten to first, let alone home.

The Fox Network chose this anti-family show to launch its sitcom programming back in April of 1987, and if the math doesn't factor out right to hit four seasons by 1989-90, Fox made its own seasons. Early on, it was the most successful show of the new network, but it was also super-controversial. A Michigan housewife led a letter-writing movement urging audiences to boycott the show, but that made viewers even more curious. You want wholesome? Tune into Cosby—who is frequently mentioned on this show as the ideal parent, compared to the "real" parenting the Bundys do. Or watch "The Wonder Years," which aired around the same time. Christina Applegate became a pin-up icon, and that drew yet another audience of testosterone-driven boys to the show. The show is significant in sitcom history because of its anti-family attitudes that paved the way for less outrageous "bad parenting" in such shows as "Roseanne."

"Married with Children" remained a virtual underground success, lasting ten years, but it never cracked the Nielsen Top-30, never drew wide audiences, and never won an Emmy. It was trash TV before Jerry Springer had a bare lightbulb go off in his head. By the fourth season, though, the same shallow gags about Al's armpits, Peg's sex drive, Kelly's trampiness, and Bud's imagined studliness had gotten pretty stale. The writers tried to shake things up by having Al's next-door foil, Steve (David Garrison) leave the show, leaving Marcy divorced and looking.

While the first few seasons were in-your-face funny and fresh, the show never moved beyond those gags and situations, and season four can be tiresome to watch if you're not a diehard fan of the show. The humor is as simple and crass as the Bundys themselves, and you can see the jokes coming a mile away. But the fourth season elevated Applegate to a minor sex symbol, and that will be attractive to some viewers.