The episodes that zoom in on Kelly's clueless savvy generate the most laughs.
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"Married . . . with Children" debuted on April 5, 1987, but for TV audiences it must have felt like an April Fool´s joke. Fox, the brand-new network that would later give us such freaky fare as "When Good Animals Go Bad," had just launched their version of "When Good Family Sitcoms Go Bad." The Bundys were the anti-Cosbys, as dysfunctional a family as television had ever seen, and it´s no coincidence that their name just happened to be the same as serial killer Ted Bundy. Adding insult to injury for some viewers was that the show aired on Sunday evenings, right after Bill Cosby and his model TV family. During the 1988-89 season, angry housewives actually launched a letter-writing campaign urging a boycott of the show, but the Bundys rolled on. Though they never made it as many seasons as some of the top comedies, in sheer number of episodes aired "Married . . . with Children" ranks sixth on the list, ahead of "Happy Days," "The Andy Griffith Show," "All in the Family," and, yes, "The Cosby Show."
The Cosbys managed 201 episodes, while the Bundys generated 262. But while "The Cosby Show" was often rated the #1 show in full-year Nielsen surveys, "Married . . . with Children" never made it into the top 25 shows going head-to-head against that wholesome program. It had a dedicated audience, but a relatively small one. And at the risk of offending that dedicated audience, let me speculate why. For one thing, it´s played over-the-top, like bad dinner theater, exaggerated with raunchy flair. And just as the Bundys aren´t exactly the brightest bulbs in the marquee, the show itself can be as dumb and uncomplicated as some of the worst "Three´s Company" or "Gilligan´s Island" episodes. Even co-star Christina Applegate said she thought the show was so "trashy" that her initial response was to turn down the part, we learned on an earlier season DVD release. Yet, there are laugh-out-loud lines in just about every episode, and Applegate admits that when she actually watched the show, she cracked up.
The family patriarch, Al (Ed O´Neill), worked by day in women´s shoes, but by night? He carved a bigger butt-niche in the furniture facing the television than Archie Bunker did years earlier. Al sees himself as a larger-than-life breadwinner whose family doesn´t appreciate him. What´s to appreciate? his wife would sneer. Peggy (Katey Sagal) sports tight pants, flashy jewelry, big hair, and a bigger attitude. She and daughter Kelly (Applegate) are the oversexed ones in the family, while Al and son Bud (David Faustino) are the big talkers. The rest of the small cast is filled out by neighbors Jefferson (Ted McGinley) and Marcy (Amanda Bearse) D´Arcy. And compared to the Bundys, they look like regular Rhodes scholars.
This season the Rhoades play a bigger part in the Bundy fiascos, and young Bud isn´t so young anymore. He´s sporting a beard, but still zinging his sister for her slutty (and implied prostitute-like) behavior. But the show is as uneven as ever, and you can´t judge an episode by its title. Sometimes the good-sounding ones are entertaining, while other times they´re disappointing. The season opener, for example, has Peg getting a chance to shoot a basket at a basketball game to win big bucks just moments after she insisted Al switch seats with her. "That´s my seat," Al snivels. "That should have been me." And what makes the episode funny are some smart lines. Contrast that with an episode about Al´s hurt back and Peg´s insistence he go to the hospital to have a procedure done. Instead, he gets mistakenly circumcised. Funny concept, right? But poor execution. A shot of the nursery shows baby, baby, baby . . . and Bundy. That might have been funny had they played it with Al looking nonplussed. Instead, they go over the top again, and have Al going "WAAAHHH" like a baby. And when he returns home, it´s cheap and clichéd sex jokes. That inconsistency pretty much runs through this entire season, but if there is a pattern, it´s that the episodes that zoom in on Kelly´s clueless savvy generate the most laughs.
Here´s a rundown on the 26 episodes that are contained on three single-sided discs and housed in two slim clear-plastic keep cases and a cardboard slipcase:
1) "A Tisket, a Tasket, Can Peggy Make a Basket." Funny opener has Peg making the shot . . . after it doesn´t count. Basketball stars Clyde Drexler and Vlade Divac guest.
2) "Hood in the Boyz." Another funny one has Al puffing out his chest to help an old girlfriend deal with a gang of young toughs, which apparently Al once was.
3) "Proud to be Your Bud." Weaker episode about an alter ego that emerges after Bud´s real ego gets stomped so bad it sends him to sulk in the basement.
4) "Luck of the Bundys." A better episode has Al waiting for the other shoe to drop, full knowing the family´s history when it comes to good fortune. Some okay writing here.
5) "Banking on Marcy." Marcy has to speak in front of a shareholder´s meeting and she´s having more than her fair share of anxiety . . . until she starts to focus on sex to take her mind off the crowd.
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