History Of Married With Children 4 TVTOME

[Rob W. Case]

Welcome to the history of Married With Children (Part 1).
By Rob W. Case

The Beginning:

Married With Children is a sitcom that lasted from 1987-1997, with technically eleven seasons. The humor of this show was hilarious. Here is a History of the classic sitcom.

Our story begins with two men, by the names of Ron Leavitt and Michael Moye. This dynamic duo was responsible for George Jefferson’s personality in the later episodes of “The Jeffersons”. They were the men responsible for the cartoonish Homer Simpson type hilarity that transformed The George Jefferson character from a bitter racist, to a character of comedy.

When The Jeffersons was cancelled in 1985, without the cast or the crew’s knowledge, Leavitt and Moye needed some work. The Cosby Show came on the stage of American television in 1984, displaying a respectable upright black family living in New York. Leavitt and Moye wanted a different angle in American television. Ron Leavitt told Alex Block, an author of Outfoxed that “We’d always hated the typical family on television. It just makes us sick, basically.” Television in their eyes was too family friendly and they wanted to introduce a dysfunctional family to the public. Their angle was to come up with a family so screwed up, that people would bust a gut at the family’s miserable life…. And it worked.

In 1986, a new network emerged. The network was called FOX, and it was ran by a mogul named Rupert Murdoch. With only CBS, NBC, and ABC dominating network television, the FOX network was the network that would break new ground in American television. The FOX network would be a network that would be on a different frequency. The FOX network would be the only new network that would air on a UHF frequency, not counting the other UHF stations which were independently owned and operated. The news of the new network hit the presses, and Tracey Ullman (host of the new show The Tracy Ullman Show) addressed the American people on adjusting their television sets and addressing possible concerns of technical difficulties.

As programming for the new FOX network went, was The Tracey Ullman Show and a new show that rebelled against the typical loving household, and drew attention and viewers to the households that are dysfunctional.

Married With Children has been a type of comedy in the tradition of the classic radio comedy The Bickersons, but with a sexually charged spice added to it. As the series started, people came to discover it, little by little. In 1988, writers of various sitcoms from different networks went on strike, and people were tuning in to different networks (such as FOX) to get some new programming. For the fall season of 1988, the season was to open with an episode entitled “A Period Piece” in which the Bundys and the Rhoades go camping together, and all of the women have PMS. FOX censors did not like the title of the show as well as some of the content. They had to make changes. The episode finally aired under the title “The Camping Show” and aired at a later time slot. In that same season, another episode was released, yet it was so controversial, that the episode never aired in it’s original run. It was not until June 18th, 2002 on FOX’s cable channel FX that the show actually was broadcast. That same season, the episode entitled “Poke High” (a.k.a. “The Red Grange Story,” which aired on November 27th, 1988 set a milestone for the new FOX network. It was this particular episode that took Married With Children to the top ten of the Nielsen ratings system. In fact, the episode was number ten, making it the first time that the FOX network would make the top ten list.

(To Be Continued On this Thread...)

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[Rob W. Case]

Continued.....

It wasn’t until January 15th, 1989 that the show would get it’s biggest boost. When the episode “Her Cups Runneth Over” originally aired, Terry Rakolta a wealthy woman from Michigan was shocked by the content. In the episode, Al goes to a Fredrick’s of Hollywood type store to buy Peg a new bra. The episode was full of sexual paraphernalia. Terry made headlines and appeared on numerous talk shows to pursue an activist approach to protest the show. Terry felt that her and her children were being “assaulted” with the lewd content that she saw on network television. Terry was instrumental in getting advertisers to pull their ads, and hope that the show would sink under, but viewers wanted to know what all of the fuss was about. As it turned out, the show and it’s humor recruited new loyal viewers and made them into fans. The advertisers that pulled their ads before, went back to supporting the show. Even though the show received its biggest boost thanks to Rakolta, FOX executives became stricter as to the content of the show.

Even though Terry Rakolta’s efforts looked like they didn’t have much of an effect, they really did. “I’ll See You In Court” was an episode in which Al and Peg go to a sleazy hotel. When they go to the hotel, they pop in a movie and it is a porno with Steve and Marcy, their neighbors having sex. The Bundys bring the tape to their house where they show Steve and Marcy, and they are so embarrassed that they sue. Steve and Marcy find out that Peg and Al were taped having sex as well, and they sue. Meanwhile in court, they have to make the case, and the jury cheers for “the best performance”. FOX executives thought that the show was too risqué and decided not to air it. This show was dubbed as “The Lost Show”.

That same season, an episode aired called “A Period Piece,” but the title had to be changed to “The Camping Show.” According to producer Michael Moye, he heard that when two women live together, they “flush” out at about the same time. The episode took place where the Bundys and Rhoades go camping together and the women have their periods. Then bears are attracted to the cabin (because bears smell blood, because that is their food (are you grossed yet?) The show finally aired on December 11th, 1988, and was placed at an awkward time slot.


The third season can be accurately portrayed as the “edgy” season, and yet the fourth season would contain some classics in the making as well. On December 17th, 1989 Sam Kinison, the original man in mind to play Al Bundy played Al’s guardian angel in an episode entitled “It’s a Bundyful Life.” This classic episode was an episode that was a favorite to be aired for years to come around the Christmas holiday. Aside from “It’s A Bundyful Life”, Steve Garrison (Steve Rhoades on the show) decided that he wanted to go back to Broadway, and escape the show early so that he wouldn’t be typecast as that character for the rest of his life. At an earlier time, Jean Stapleton decided to leave “Archie Bunker’s Place” so that she wouldn’t be typecast as Edith Bunker for the rest of her life. However, with Jean it was too late. All In The Family still airs in reruns, and Archie Bunker’s Place does not, making the move among classic TV audiences almost unnoticeable. David Garrison escaped his fear just in time. The writers wrote him out of the show by having Steve leave Marcy to be a forest ranger, and answer his “call to nature.”

[Rob W. Case]

In the fifth season, the character of Marcy was alone, until an episode where she was out binge drinking, and woke up married to a man named Jefferson D’ Arcy without remembering the whole thing. Jefferson was written as a prissy pretty boy who leached on to Marcy’s solid financial status. The audience took a liking to the new character, something that is almost rare during a long-running hit. The series maintained it’s pace. Towards the end of the season, Moye and Leavitt were looking at the possibilities of creating a possible spin-off series. They came up with one. The fifth season finale was a pilot for a spin-off series called “Top of the Heap.” The new show would feature Matt Le Blanc four years before debuting in the sitcom “Friends,” but as fate would have it, the show only lasted

Katy Segal was pregnant and the producers were going to incorporate that into the show. At the start of the sixth season, the first of a two-part series aired entitled “She’s Having My Baby,” which aired September 8th, 1991. In the episode, Marcy announces that she and Jefferson are going to have a baby. Peggy ends up having the same news, and Al and the kids are not happy about it. On October 14th, 1991, Katy Segal had to undergo an emergency Caesarean at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Her daughter, Ruby Segal was stillborn. On the set, the director huddled the cast members together to tell them the bad news. The producers of the show gave her all the time she needed to recover from her miscarriage. After only one month after the incident, Katy returned to the show. The producers wanted to incorporate Katy’s unpregnancy into the show so that people do not ask about it on the streets, so they went into a brainstorming frenzy. Producer Michael Moye recalled the dream sequence used in the show Dallas, and thought that it could be incorporated in this episode too. The entire Marcy and Peggy pregnancy was incorporated as just a dream, and the produces decided it was time to move on. Segal liked the storyline and recalled later that they handled the whole thing well in it.

In the seventh season, the writers were up for something new. They introduced a new character named Seven. Seven (Shane Sweet) was the son of Peg Bundy’s cousins from Wanker County. They leave their son with the Bundy’s to raise. During this transition, Fox advertised the show as “Married… With More Children”. To this day, I am not sure if that was a technical promotion or if the show’s title was changed (At that time anyway) “permanently”. The writing showed the regular logo that you are used to, but it had a handwritten carrot insignia (you know, in Grammar, when you want to squeeze in a word before another when writing a rough draft) along with the word “More”, handwritten at the top of the carrot.

Seven was to represent change in the series, and change doesn’t always go very well when you are working with a television series. I think that the main success of The Simpsons is that the characters haven’t changed very much. I mean since 1989, Bart and Lisa have been kids. Homer and Marge don’t seem to be aging, and why would they need to? The character of Seven on Married With Children was proof that the show didn’t need an extra character and his character was dropped from the show with no explanation in sight. In the episode “Ride Scare”, which aired on April 24th, 1994 we see Seven’s face on the milk carton.

[Rob W. Case]

By the ninth season, Katy Segal was pregnant again. She was on maternity leave, and Michael Moye said that they gave her all the time that she needed. In the ninth season opener entitled “Shoeway To Heaven” which aired on September 4th, 1994 Segal appeared in the episode for only a short time, and only appeared by “telephone.” At the end of the episode “Business Sucks (Part 1)” Katy was able to work again and appeared at the end of this episode. This pregnancy turned out better than the previous, however, during this run around, the producers did not want to take any chances. When they shot Katy Segal, they shot her from the stomach up, had her sit down a lot at the kitchen table, and gave her a more baggy wardrobe so that her pregnancy doesn’t stand out. Katy Segal was blessed with two kids.

Another milestone for the series fell on February 5th, 1995 (the day after my birthday). Married With Children finally reached it’s 200th episode. Right after the episode entitled “Get The Dodge Outta Hell”, the cameras zoom on to the set, and in walks George Plimpton. George Plimpton hosted an incredibly enjoyable clip fest replete with memorable lines, clips of course, and music montages. On April 30th, 1995 another special would air in which the cast would sit in directors type chairs and discuss their favorite episodes. The same concept would be resurrected in early 2003 by the same cast, but more about that later. That Best of episode aired right after the airing of the episode “Pump Fiction,” a classic episode in which Kelly has to make a movie for the Larry Storch School of Acting. In the episode, she makes a movie about shoes, but misspells the word and calls it “SHEOS”.

On the season finale of the ninth season, another concept for a pilot was presented. The episode was entitled “Radio Free Trumane” and takes place at a radio station, W-HIP. This was yet the second and final failure at trying to make a spin-off series from this series.

The tenth season was a normal season. On November 26th, 1995 another clip fest was presented, this time reminiscing Al Bundy’s football moments. The special was called “The Al Bundy Sports Spectacular.”<br>

When the eleventh season came along there was something new, as well as two incredible shocks. For the episode entitled “d**n Bundys” which aired on February 2nd, 1997, the producers would tape the show without a live studio audience. The reason being was because FOX was promoting the network broadcast of the Jim Carrey Movie “The Mask” that week, and shows from FOX’S lineup had a Mask-themed special effect(s) added into their storylines. I recall Al’s eyes popping out of his head in one scene, like the scene where Jim Carrey’s eyes pop out of his head in a scene from “The MASK” when he looks at Cameron Diaz in the night club. Aside from the promotional gimmick for “The Mask”, the characters of Al and Peg Bundy split up in a three part series all titled “Breaking Up Is Easy To Do.” The episode would have Al and Peg’s marriage on the rocks. The couple gets separate beds, sees a marriage counselor, and then leaves the counselor separately. Alan Thicke would play the man who dates Peggy after the split. This episode reminds me of the four parter in the series “Maude” where Maude and Walter split up because Walter did not want Maude to become a politician, and so he said “It’s either politics, or me Maude.” The producers taped the season finale, without knowing there would be a revelation. The FOX network decided that it was not going to pick up the series for another season. The show was cancelled. The curse that befell on another Leavitt/Moye work (The later episodes of The Jeffersons) fell on this series. FOX decided to air the season finale as the series finale. The series finale would be aired as a one-hour show, otherwise split into two parts. “The Desperate Half-Hour” and “How To Marry a Moron” would be joint together. After the final airing of the series, which aired on May 5th1997, FOX flashed a caption that stated the following words:

“THANK YOU, MARRIED… WITH CHILDREN” “FOR ELEVEN GREAT SEASONS” “AND A MILLION LAUGHS”. Then the FOX logo flashed across the screen and then faded out. To this day, I personally own the taping of the final episode with the caption. The captions were not and have not been aired in syndication.

[Rob W. Case]

Life after Married with Children

*In 1996, Columbia Tri-Star released Married With Children on VHS. The Sam Kinison Episode entitled “It’s a Bundyful Life” was released. Last year I went to a Mom and Pop type store called “Crow’s Nest”. A copy of “It’s a Bundyful Life” was still sitting on their shelf, still in the shrink wrap. According to “Blockbuster Entertainment’s Guide to Television On Video,” the tape was released at certain video outlets and ran for approximately 50 minutes.

*A week after the final episode of Married With Children aired, an episode entitled “Chicago Shoe Exchange” aired. This was considered a “lost” episode.

*In 1999, while still being broadcast in independent syndication markets, FOX’s cable sister network FX launched airing re-runs of the entire series. The day FX started airing it, it aired a marathon of some of the best episodes from the series.

In 2001 E! Entertainment Television on their show “The E! True Hollywood Story,” had a Married With Children look back special. The writers, producers, directors, and cast, as well as critics, and fans assembled to come up with a History for the show.

In late 2002, a Married With Children reunion special was released to prepare people for the coming DVD with a “best of” compilation.


In 2003, the lost episode entitled “I’ll See You In Court” aired for the first time in August of 2003.

In 2003, “It’s a Bundyful Life” aired in prime time on the FOX network to “refresh” the memories of the show just in time for consumers to acknowledge the DVD releases for the Christmas season.

In the early 2000’s, the DVD revolution swept the country. This new medium, similar to the rise of the VCR in the 1980’s, would change the way we would look at entertainment, as well as give us a little more shelf space to store them.

DVD started out selling movies. Then it did something uniquely different. Major studios were experimenting on releasing television programs by their full seasons on DVD. The internet would also provide fans of popular TV sitcoms to submit their input on what they would like to see on the DVD medium.

I personally remember people visiting my TVTOME page, e-mailing me, and asking me if Married With Children was going to come out on DVD. I told my people that the studio may be nervous selling the series by seasons because they may be afraid that not as many people would buy it. Then a revolution of fans got involved. In April of 2003, Sony Pictures (Columbia-Tri Star Television) released a DVD entitled “Married With Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes Volume One.” Early in 2003, the cast was reassembled to come out with another clip fest to get viewers back into the mentality. During this special episode, the Married With Children Volume One DVD was promoted during the special’s commercial breaks. I was e-mailed again, and asked if Sony would release the first season. The experiment worked with a best of compilation so they released another. In July of 2003, Married With Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes Volume II was released. Sales continued. Then, in October of 2003, Married With Children Season One was released on DVD. Sony must have been happy with the sales because Married With Children Season Two was released on March 16th of 2004.

DVD release dates

Most Outrageous Episodes Volume 1 DVD Release Date: February 4, 2003
Most Outrageous Episodes Volume 2 DVD Release Date: April 1, 2003
Married With Children: The Complete First Season DVD Release Date: October 28, 2003 Number of discs: 2
Married With Children: The Complete Second Season DVD Release Date: March 16, 2004 (3 discs)

Married With Children: (Season three) DVD Release Date: January 25th, 2005.

*Something interesting happened with the release of this season. Sony Pictures (formerly known as Columbia Tri-Star television) obtained the rights to the Frank Sinatra theme song entitled “Love and Marriage” for the original releases, the syndication package, but this time, they demanded more money for the song to be re-distributed on new media. You see, if you know the science of copyrights, this will be easy to understand. For those who may not understand, I will explain it the best I can. First of all, copyrights are taken EXTREMELY seriously. The song “Love and Marriage” is owned by the Frank Sinatra estate, and is normally distributed by Warner Brothers Records. Warner Brothers is competition to the mighty SONY Corporation, which has its hands in everything. The Frank Sinatra estate wanted more money to grant Sony the rights to re-distribute the legendary theme song on the media used for the third season. When you put copyrighted material on any sort of media, you are redistributing it. The Sinatra estate wanted too much money, and would not go down, so Sony decided to remove the song track and replace it with their own music. Let’s face it. The new theme song sucks horribly. A friend of mine and I were making fun of how the theme song would sound, and I was eerily correct, or at least the few notes I used were in the theme song. Sony should have asked for less money for this release. After all, shows like Green Acres (the VHS release only, not DVD), The Andy Griffith Show, and The Beverly Hillbillies, have all been released at one point or another with the theme songs replaced. Some distortion in this case would bring down the copyright rental price and allow the shows to reach you the consumer for a more affordable price.

[Rob W. Case]

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