Married . . . with Children (TV series)
"Married . . . with Children" is a groundbreaking sitcom that aired for eleven seasons, making it the longest-running live-action series on the FOX network. Conceived as a counter to the idealized portrayals of family life typical of 1980s sitcoms, especially "The Cosby Show," it employed crude humor and satire to address the dysfunctions of the Bundy family. Central characters include Al Bundy, a disillusioned shoe salesman, Peggy, his untraditional wife, and their children, Kelly and Bud, who embody exaggerated stereotypes. The show humorously explores themes of family and societal expectations, often portraying familial life as a burden, while the characters navigate their absurdities and misfortunes. Through its subversive tone and willingness to tackle taboo subjects, "Married . . . with Children" connected with viewers who felt alienated by more conventional family narratives. Its impact helped establish FOX as a formidable competitor in prime-time television and paved the way for future sitcoms that embraced darker humor and more realistic depictions of family life.
Married . . . with Children (TV series)
Identification Television comedy series
Date Aired from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997
As the first FOX network prime-time sitcom, Married . . . with Children marketed itself as an anti-sitcom. Instead of featuring a wholesome, likable family and gentle humor, the show employed dark, raunchy humor to depict a less sanitized version of the American family.
The working name for the sitcom Married . . . with Children was appropriately Not the Cosbys, because it was conceived as the antithesis to the idealized portrayal of a middle-class family in most 1980’s sitcoms, especially The Cosby Show. Married . . . with Children differentiated itself from such other sitcoms by pushing the limits of what was desirable or permissible on television. It employed cruder humor with a pointed undercurrent of satire. As the first FOX sitcom, Married . . . with Children made FOX a competitor to the Big Three television networks, and its tone became a major aspect of the fledgling network’s attempt to develop a coherent brand identity. Thus, the edgy rejection of idealizing American institutions evident in the sitcom became a trademark of the FOX network itself. The show became FOX’s longest-running live-action sitcom, running for a total of eleven seasons.
Married . . . with Children was conventional in one respect: It focused on the home life of a single Chicago family. The father, Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill), outwardly displayed discontent with his tragically dissatisfying life as a shoe salesman; his wife, Peggy (Katey Sagal), refused the role of the typical housewife but also refused to work; his daughter, Kelly (Christina Applegate), was portrayed as stupid and promiscuous; and his son, Bud (David Faustino), was defined largely by his inexperience with women, as well as his propensity for exploiting his sister’s lack of intelligence. The Bundys’ dog, Buck, was also a significant character, whose thoughts were heard in voice-over. Also typical of many of the sitcoms that Married . . . with Children skewered, the Bundys’ next-door neighbors were recurring characters. Marcy (Amanda Bearse) was the breadwinner for her household and was frequently Al’s nemesis. Her first husband, Steve (David Garrison) hatched get-rich-quick schemes. When Garrison left the show, his character was replaced by a second husband, Jefferson (Ted McGinley), who was portrayed as a male bimbo and trophy husband. Married . . . with Children made near caricatures of its central characters and poked fun at familial expectations and social roles; it defied the family ideal by treating family as a curse.
Indeed, most episodes focused on the “Bundy Curse,” the endless stream of bad luck that thwarted Al at every turn and prevented him from ever living a satisfying life. The humor of the show rested on Al’s inability to succeed, and Al was often forced to be content with his family and his dismal yet comfortable life. Al humorously avoided sex with Peggy, overused the toilet, attended strip clubs (Peggy did the same), sent his son to strip clubs, and was known by the trademark move of putting his hand in the waistband of his pants as he sat in front of his television. Still, there were moments of redemption for the character, when he convinced his family to work together (often for one pessimistic cause), when he would grudgingly admit to loving his wife, or when he defended his daughter by beating up her boyfriends. Even with some traditional sitcom characteristics, the show was successful primarily because of its explicit attack on the saccharine idealization of the family perpetrated by other sitcoms, as well as its embrace of vulgar humor that other sitcoms avoided. Both the coarse humor and the gleeful embrace of ugliness in its portrayal of family values connected to a different side of viewers from that addressed by the competing networks. The show’s exaggerated stereotypes and crude yet honest characters set it—and FOX—apart.
Impact
Married . . . with Children put the FOX network into the running with other prime-time television networks by providing a new type of sitcom that focused on the humor of pessimism. Indeed, perhaps its greatest function was to give voice to American pessimism at a time when the other networks were largely in agreement with President Ronald Reagan that it was “Morning in America.” The show made dysfunction acceptable, precisely because the dysfunction it portrayed was recognizable to a generation that could not see itself in the sitcoms of the Big Three networks. The series thereby opened new doors for sitcoms that strayed from traditional familial roles.
Bibliography
Jacik, Anton. The Official “Married . . . with Children” Trivia Book. Charleston, S.C.: BookSurge, 2004.
Lasswell, Mark. TV Guide: 50 Years of Television. New York: Crown, 2002.