Married... with Children

Married... with Children was an American sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. It ran on the Fox network from April 5, 1987 to April 20, 1997.

The show

The show depicted Al Bundy, a formerly glorious high school football player turned shoe salesman; his wife Peggy, a tartish, uneducated, beautiful homemaker; and their two children: Kelly, their attractive, but dumb and promiscuous daughter (she attended high school at the start of the series), and Bud, their dweebish, unpopular and girl-crazy son (he attended junior high school at the start of the series). The show's theme song is Frank Sinatra's "Love and Marriage." The show has been in heavy syndication ever since its first run.

Related Topics:
Football - Shoe - Wife - Homemaker - Children - Daughter - High school - Girl - Son - Junior high school - Theme song - Frank Sinatra - Love and Marriage - Syndication

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The show first aired in 1987 to very negative press. It was considered very low-brow comedy that centered entirely around toilet humor and sexual references. Critics noted that the characters were mainly one-dimensional parodies of actual people. Christina Applegate once remarked that the show was "a cartoon". However, viewers quickly embraced the show because despite its obvious shortcomings it reflected a huge part of the populace that was not represented on television. The concept of an unhappily married couple whose life was, essentially, a complete failure had never been explored. Suddenly people were confronted with an arguing and unhappy, trashy married couple and their underachieving, smart-mouthed children. (It's interesting to note that the role of Peg Bundy was originally offered to Roseanne, who turned it down only to do a show of her own about a struggling, realistic lower class family.)

Related Topics:
1987 - Comedy - Toilet humor - Parodies - People - Christina Applegate - Television - Married - Life - Failure - Roseanne - Lower class

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What was important about the show, and what likely allowed it to survive for as long as it did, is that inevitably the characters (including next-door neighbors and friends the Rhoades, later renamed the D'Arcys after Marcy married Jefferson D'Arcy) would come out supporting and defending each other. No matter how much they bickered and claimed to despise their familial ties, when one of them was put into a tough situation, the others would come out fighting on their side.

Related Topics:
Neighbor - Jefferson D'Arcy

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Eventually the show's humor (as well as the cast's acting) improved. Critics began to actually praise the show for taking on issues like racism, women's rights and sexual promiscuity in a way that was accessible to just about any viewer. By the time the show ended every cast member was immediately recognizable to the public as their Married... with Children persona.

Related Topics:
Humor - Racism - Women's rights - Promiscuity

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The series is remembered as Fox Network's first successful program, and was one of the only shows to survive the network's troubled first season. It also established Fox's reputation as a low-brow network, an image it continues to alternately support and fight to this day.

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The first season, consisting of 13 episodes, was released in October 2003 on Region 1 DVD. The second season, consisting of 22 episodes, was released in March 2004, also on Region 1 DVD. Both box sets were released by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

Related Topics:
October - 2003 - DVD - March - 2004 - Columbia - TriStar

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The third season, released without the original theme song (a non-copyrighted instrumental version, with a vague similarity in melody, was used instead), hit store shelves in January 2005. It also contained the infamous "lost episode", "I'll See You in Court", which was never broadcast on Fox in the original series run. Sony has announced that all releases from the third season onward will have the non-copyrighted theme song instead of the original. The fourth season of the series was released on DVD on August 30, 2005.

Related Topics:
January 2005 - August 30 - 2005

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Foreign remakes

The show is one of a handful of US comedies that have been remade for Britain (compare the much longer List of British TV shows remade for the American market.) The show 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, albeit in a late-evening slot. The German sitcom "Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt" ("Help, my family is crazy") showing the family Struck http://www.bundyology.com/deutsch/spinnt_d.html is a remake of 26 early episodes of "Married... with Children". The show first aired in 1992 and had twice as many viewers as the original show in Germany, but as the Bundys were aired in early evening and the Strucks in prime time, the remake didn't achieve the expected success.

Related Topics:
Britain - List of British TV shows remade for the American market - Russ Abbott

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In 2004, the Colombian TV network Caracol Televisión, with Columbia Pictures filial CPT Holdings, produced a 26-episode adaptation of Married... with Children, called Casados con hijos http://www.canalcaracol.com/programacion/programas.asp?p=492. It features the Rochas (the Colombian version of the Bundys) living in Bogotá with their neighbours, the Pachóns (the D'Arcys), using copied sets and situations from the original series, but adapted to Colombian urban environment. Broadcasted on weekend primetime slot, it has received mixed response. In Latin America, Married... with Children is still viewed through syndication on cable network Sony Entertainment Television.

Related Topics:
2004 - Colombia - Caracol Televisión - Columbia Pictures - Bogotá - Sony Entertainment Television

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