By today's standards, Al was quite successful. He had a nice home of his own, a hot wife who was faithful, raised two kids, had a reasonably good quality of life and a lot of fun, all this with a 40 hour a week undergraduate job. Most youngsters today would sell a kidney to have what Al Bundy had.

I love how the dog in the show did not do anything special. He was just existing as an ordinary dog. Best job ever

Al became an instant icon after that legendary game where he scored 4 touchdowns.

You know this show is good when even a 12 year old can like it. I still remember flipping through channels and coming across this show. As a kid who strictly watched cartoons never have I ever laughed so much watching a show. And the iconic sitting in couch with hand in pants. God Bless the Bundy’s

even with that gay joke in the earlier season, Al wasn't actually offended or tried to explain himself the way the other dude did, he just went "I could do better than that" and that just makes me smile

Don't let this distract you from the fact that in 1966, Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, "Spare Tire" Dixon. (I'm not to the end yet, so I don't know if the copypasta was referenced, but figured I'd get it in before anybody else)

Al was a real man. He was always faithful, loyal and defended his family. He dragged himself to a crap job every single day despite being chronically depressed but he never missed work and always provided. He did well by his family

That Xmas show where Santa plummets to his death in the Bundy's yard should be required studying for anyone interested in writing for tv. One of the sharpest, wittiest, most irreverent things ever to grace the small screen. Still makes me laugh 'til I cry.

Gotta love the whole "Mother can't be bothered to regulate what her children are watching, but by god, she's not gonna take the blame for being an irresponsible parent." thing.

Growing up in an immigrant household in the 80s & 90s, my relatively conservative Korean parents thought Married with Children was one of the funniest shows ever and I still have a lot of fond childhood memories growing up with the show despite the wholly inappropriate content.

Ok. You've made me wanna rewatch this show. I remember Al Bundy having some banger insults. The one I always remember is when AL and Peggy are at a school play/talent show and Peggy asks Al to "say something nice" to the principal. So he turns to the principal and says "you're looking less ugly today". *muah* classic.

The bottom line is that the show is still funny as hell after all these years.

There is an episode where Al's car gets stolen and he wants it back badly. He claims that there is something of immense value to him in the car. It turns out it is a portrait of his family.

Married with children contains what I still consider the best line in sitcom history... Peggy: "Hi Al, welcome home. Did you miss me?" Al: "With every bullet so far!" Best line ever!!

I watched this show religiously since it came out I was 26 at the time and in the Army, my fellow soldiers and I would gather in one of our fellow soldier's room because he was the only one who had a TV. It was obviously crowded in his little room, there was about 15 of us and it got pretty stuffy in there of course so we had to put a couple of fans in the room to get some air. But we just ignored our discomfort because we all had a great time just laughing our butts off. Some of us literally would just fall down laughing holing our sides and tears running down our faces. That was the only thing that made military life somewhat tollerable, it was hell waiting for the next episode to air. Those of us that wasn't pulling guard duty or Battalion staff duty etc. Where pretty depressed when we had to miss an episode. This sitcom helped us keep our sanity.

Ultimately Al loved his family, he wouldn't cheat on Peggy, and would go out of his way to protect his family. This show was part of my childhood in the latter seasons and I loved the show.

Almost 20 years ago I had an English/Norwegian dictionary that mentioned Al Bundy. The book had a translation of the word "hooters". At the end of the description it said "Al Bundy likes women with big hooters".

I'm surprised you didn't mention the episode where he's desperate to get into the trunk of his car to retrieve something important, but he won't tell his family what it is. At the end, when he finally gets it, it turns out to be a photo of his family

The most ironic the about Terry Rilkota complaint was that while attempting to attack the show as anti family, in reality her own statement was that she realized her children were watching the show, and later that the nerwork chose to air it before 9 pm. What this really means is the supposedly pro family complainer would have to be a mother and actually pay attention to what her children were doing, instead of using the tv as a babysitter !!

I'm Bulgarian, and I can confirm that Married with Children was UNGODLY popular (the fact that we had a restaurant chain called "Pizza Bundy" should speak volumes). However, I had no idea there was a Bulgarian remake up until this very video. I decided to watch it out of sheer morbid curiosity, and let's just say, I now know how 80s kids felt watching the Michael Bay TMNT movies.

Al Bundy scored 4 touchdowns in a single game. No one will ever be able to take that away from him. Seriously, this show was a big part of my childhood. We couldn't afford cable and would have to get the antennae just right to watch fox49. Thanks for making this.

i always loved that they treated each other like crap, but if an outsider messed with one of them, it would be a Bundy family beatdown in about 5 seconds.

Thank you to the housewife in Michigan, Terry Ricolta. Without the controversy that was generated by her protest, I would have never known about Married With Children, the greatest show on TV in the '80's-'90's. I am also thankful that my mother did not really pay attention to the news; otherwise, she would have never allowed me to watch the show and I would have never had a HUGE crush on Christina Applegate. 🥰😘😜

I will never forget the way Al saved us all when he scored 4 touchdowns in his senior year at Polk High...

I always thought of Al as a loser, growing, up. When I got older, I realized: - Has a steady job - Has a wife that never quite cheats on him, and is way hotter than she's given credit for - Has a pretty (though not smart) daughter, and a smart (but not handsome) son...and both of them are _definitely_ his. - No divorce, and the closest he ever gets to cheating is the nudie bar - Manages to keep a roof over everyone's head and a "classic car" that (generally) gets him where he needs to go. As I hit middle age, I realize...ol' Al did okay for himself!

Something I always found relatable about the character of Al Bundy is that he can tolerate people not caring about him, but he can't tolerate people who think they know what's best for him.

My mom grew up with this show and was legit surprised that the actor who plays Al wasn't in comedy before this but then she thought about it and thought it made sense what made him funny was how humorless he was.

Watching Married with Children. on Sunday nights was a De facto tradition. Absolutely my all-time favorite sitcom. 😂

I really love these videos, honestly. Sitcoms are so often treated as "low art," and thus discarded as being meaningful. Your videos are really good at looking at it and showing just how much meaning and thematic intention is behind a lot of them.

Let's give a quick shout out to Christina Applegate.

"Eat mom's food" was one of Bud's greatest comebacks

Growing up is realizing Bud has the BEST jokes!! David Faustino is underrated ❤

That is such a talented cat

Was that Terry woman the original Karen? "I was letting my kids watch entertain themselves, but they saw gay references! Do I have to start paying attention to my kids, or will you change everything to suit me?"

The quote from Al that this ended on is so true: he's not a loser, because despite how much his life sucks how many times the people around him told him he'd fail and even actually cheer for it....He kept pushing onward, he keeps going...

I was fortunate to experience this show when it started. Still love it to this day

José is a very nice man and his English is coming along very well.

I love that Jefferson always laughs whenever someone makes fun of Marcy Darcy. 😂

On my first day in Elite Dangerous, I came across an NPC named "Al Bundy". Probably the most memorable positive moment I had in this game.

To all those on their high horse looking down at this series ...don't watch it and leave the rest of us alone

A surprising number of the writers of Married . . . With Children were women.

In a different and slightly more conservative way, Married with Children was cathartic in the way Rosanne and Malcolm in the Middle were. Not to feel better than the Bundy's, but to see a family that looked a little more like mine than Full House, or 7th Heaven. I agree with your analysis, just that in the moment, while it aired, seeing a family struggle, fight, and stick together in a disfunctual way resonated with me.

Great breakdown. This show was my childhood. Thanks for the in depth retrospective

This show is still funny as hell today, and when it's on, I tune in.

Its amusing how much Katey Segal used the same voice style for Peggy and Leela

"Marcy Darcy?!" is one of the best moments in television. I was a little kid but even I thought that was amazingly hilarious. (my real initials are MMM so I got the Stan Lee/cartoon character thing too.) I also always hated that Ellen stole the public notion of being the first network star to come out because everybody knew Amanda Bearse had already earned that honor. Now that we all know Ellen is a legit psychopath, let's make Eric Andre Ellen and re-establish Amanda Bearse as network TV's first gay icon

I loved this show because it was realistic and not sugarcoated and made me appreciate my family so much more. 😂

I remember seeing the reruns a few times and being super offended that Fox thought they could convince us the Bundys were poor. I have literally NEVER lived in a house my or my parents owned. The ONLY time I lived in a house was when my parents aged out of the projects thanks to a 5c raise and couldn’t afford to live in our trailer park anymore at non-subsidized rate so we had to move into my dads parents house. The idea that the Bundys are poor with their two story house is insane.

"They couldn't make a show like this nowadays for fear of offending people and PC culture." *laughs in Always Sunny in Philadelphia*

"The audience is cheering for Al despite the fact that we're supposed to mock him for thinking this way!" Huh, I guess in that sense, Al Bundy was the original "You're missing the point by idolizing him" type protagonist!

Who cares what the hell they said. Jeez Louise. It was 30years ago and a damn TV show. Married with children was amazing! And halarious!

I think a reboot with Al and Peggy as grandparents would be a hit. With all the streaming platforms and the need for original content…. you think someone would make it happen.

Never in my almost 30 years on this pile of rocks we call home, did I think that I would be watching a documentary that is over an hour long on married with children

I’ve never really read it as Al or Peggy ACTUALLY not wanting to have sex with the other one. They just feel the psychological need to put up a fight due to their entire relationship being based on that kind of dysfunction. We also know from how they both speak about the other in certain instances that they both feel the other person is pretty good at it too. It’s a weird courtship thing between two adults who, despite all appearances, do love each other and find one another attractive, not actual non-consent. In 2022 we would probably just call it a kink but in 1987 not so much.

Psycho-dad loved it. First I heard Katie lost a child, my heart sincerely goes out to her. That show was funny but like them all, everything was the same. Been there seen that. But on its way to peaking it was funny and an enjoyable experience. Thank you to all involved in the production 🙏 🙌 ❤️ 💙

Thank you for creating such a wonderful review, this drama is one of my all-time favourite sitcom😂🤣😂🤣😂

Peggy losing her real life baby was sad for the whole country. I think everyone grieved for her and her baby. I think it was the first pregnancy loss to be lived out in front of the public. The whole country supported her tho.

The interesting thing about the show-within-a-show "Psycho Dad" is that it addresses the fact that Married With Children ended up attracting the very audience it was satirizing, when the creators of Psycho Dad cancel their own show because they realize how horrible their public is.

This is my favorite show they should have got a proper season finale

I member my mom telling me not to watch this show cause it was bad. I refused obviously 😂 she grew to love this show as well.

I loved this show when I was a kid. I always realized Al was a loser but you really DID want them to do better. Looking back on it now though, The Bundys are supposed to be poor and often strapped for cash but they have their own, relatively large house and Al supports that plus two kids and a dog on retail wages. That's INSANE in a modern context.

POV: you're an AP US History student in the 2050s trying to gather information for your DBQ about 80s culture

I love this video! As a Russian kid i watched some Happy Together episodes and I knew it was a ripoff of some american show but this video made me very aware of the original. And I love both this series and the Russian adaptation because there are a lot of gags that only make sense to a Russian audience and that's precious. There's a statue to Gena Bukin (our Al Bundy) in Yekaterunburg (the city where the russian Bundys live). Thank you for this video, Jose!

I'll always appreciate this show for showing the best classic thrash band to a larger audience.

Can we get a thumbs up for the great writers of this magnificent Series.

I remember Ted McGinley appeared in the finale of Batman: Brave and the Bold where he made a joke about how he always appears in shows late in their runs, and specifically mentions Married with Children.

I remember that show was extremely popular in my country in the late 90-s. I loved it's over the top humor.

Best show ever. I can honestly say that I watched from the first episode not missing one show through the the last.

What I loved is that they left the REAL audience reactions IN THE FINAL CUT!!!! That never fucking happens

I remember when I was about 7-8 I was really into Married with Children and now looking at the clips in the video I honestly have no idea why I was even allowed to watch it

What I special liked about the show was Al calling Kelly Pumpkin. And they always united, and became one, tuned to each other team, when they were targeted by an outsider. And they always win. They are so sweet in those moments

Notice if you watch other sitcoms of the time like The Cosby Show, Full House, Alf, etc. the laughter of the live studio audience whenever a joke is told sounds like they're laughing cuz they're suppose to find the bland sugarcoated humor funny. But with Married With Children and their crude on the edge sense of humor, the audience sounds like they're legitimately having a good time laughing at something they've never expected to hear on a television show before.

This was an awesome video. One thing I'd like to point out that as much as the Bundy dynamic was a commentary on the traditional sitcom family, it was also a direct refutation of the Reagan-era image of the American family. You had the hard working husband, who still didn't make enough to support his family or even earn their respect. You had the stay at home wife, who only stayed at home to watch TV. You had the daughter who jumped from boy to boy rather than look for her future husband. And the son, who was undeniably smart, but could never capitalize on his potential because of his preoccupation with sex and the general crab bucket mentality of his family. These were all direct contradictions of how Reagan-era politicians tried to sell the American dream.

I've often said that Married With Children was one of the most innovative social commentaries. I wasn't even alive when it aired, and occasionally cringe at the jokes, but I also find myself thinking a lot about society and how much of the Bundy's situation is meant to show societal failings. All of the characters were an extremely distilled version of the things the media complained about. Al was political incorrectness distilled into human form, Peggy was the media complaints about what would become of women if they fell prey to Daytime TV, Kelly was the criticisms of what the media believed the MTV generation was, and Bud was the media's belief and growing portrayal if teenage boys just being horny all the time. Even the Bundy's being implied to be poor still owned a house because the media of the time didn't want to believe that anyone couldn't even afford a house. And the decision to show Al supporting a family on a minimum wage shoe store job was in response to the minimum wage increase of the time and acting like no one is out there trying to support a family on minimum wage (something that hasn't changed, except now we see people complaining that minimum wage jobs are for teenagers who don't need the money). It was actually a rather brilliant idea. Even Marcy's eventual divorce can play into the media idea that Feminists ruin marriage.

The way the writers managed to make 99% of episodes to be very entertaining, has to be studied for the future. And you did a very good job with this video 💪

25:11 Again, a moral panic stems from lazy parents letting the TV watch the kids and bring outraged over the things that unencumbered access TV allows the kids to watch.

Even more fun to learn that -Terry Rakolta's husband, John, is DONALD TRUMP'S ambassador to the UAE (as of 2020) and is the uncle of the current Republican chairwoman Ronna (Romney) McDaniel -Ed O'Neill pulled off two dads in two different cultural climates and TV shows (Modern Family) -Michael G. Moye is Black (from watching this)

Married with child is one of my all time favorite shows! You did an amazing job on this.

55:43 “I’m really sorry, Grandmarshal B,” Katey Sagal’s voice being so genuinely apologetic and then immediately butchering his name always kills me 😂

Why am I crying for a dog I never even met, dang you Jose.

His "not putting a gun in my mouth" speech is truely one of my favirite television moments.

A show where no group is off limits and no class is protected. True comedy.

This was the show my dad and I spent quality bonding time to. Always the background tv or what we hurried and made dinner to and sit and watch. One of the defining shows of my childhood I can still hear it when i poke around my deeper memories. You did a fantastic job with this video man! Very openminded and intelligent approach to your analysis! I wasnt expecting to sit through a video this long before work but it held my attention and I thank you for the stimulation 🤙

I'm fascinated by the outraged that lingerie store episode caused - although, I guess I shouldn't be surprised!! The episode has stuck with me, ten years after watching it on 4am syndication, because the episode ends with Al - after seeing all that sexy, exotic underwear - bringing home, like, eight bras identical to the dull but functional one that Peg loves. (Feel free to correct me if I'm mis-remembering.) It was such a simple and relatable scenario and for all the crassness of the Bundy family, this struck me as one of the best and most honest acts of love in a sitcom. ...That's it, that's the opinion - the one episode I remember for its heartfelt ending is apparently the most controversial. Media is fascinating.

"You've got a good man at home who any man would be proud to call his wife.. ... you've obviously gotten over the whole he's a man, thing." 😆 those lines get me every time.

Still brilliant and belly-achingly funny to this day. Woah Bundy!

As a 14 year old when season four was on. One of the best TV lines for me was “God will you stop playing Nintendo up there for a minute?”

This whole episode was clearly just a trojan horse for José to launch his rapping gig.

Married with Children is still my favorite "family sitcom" of all time. They weren't afraid with their insult humor and didn't pull punches in a time where every show wouldn't dare cross that edge line. So much respect for the cast and crew

I truly miss this show. Mankind needs Al Bundy in 2024.

The best TV shows came out in the 80s. I loved Knight Rider, Too close for comfort and this show. If I had to go on a deserted island and live there, all you need are the complete sets of these shows. I ended up buying all the seasons of married with children year after year rather than buying the complete series later on. Glad I did this because the complete series are terribly packaged. I know it costs more collecting this way but the packaging is way better. The only wish I have is if they could clean up the footage and put it out on Blu-ray in glorious 1080p. This show deserves it. I know it'll never happen because it wasn't shot on film but who says us fans can't hope? So many TV shows today owe a lot to married with children.

Thank you for the wonderful memories. Growing up, my family did not miss an episode. We also ate in front of the TV, passed around a towel as a napkin, and passed around a gallon of milk to drink as we ate. We loved the Bundys.

So . . . when's the Malcolm in the Middle video essay coming out?

It was due to quality content like yours that I cancelled my cable months ago. Thanks for your hard work sir!

We were robbed of a Mr Fluffy show. How could they tease us. He and Matt LeBlanc had such chemistry.

The Home Improvement vid was so awesome. Super hyped for this. 👍 Edit: Just have to add that I had no idea one of the show's creators is black, they had women writers and directors, and didnt realize character's surnames related to pro wrestlers. I love all of these facts. 😄

It aged better than i expected, that's for sure.

Absolutely wonderful doc. So glad this was made.

i had a poster of Christina Applegate in black lace lingiere when i was a teen in the 90s she was an absolute bombshell.

25:04 "This episode happened to catch the eye of Terry Rakolta, a housewife in Michigan. The story goes that she had been *letting her children have free reign of the television* when she realised they were watching this particular episode of "Married ... With Children"." Glad you introduced her that way. Edit: Correction of spelling of the woman's name and of the formatting of this comment.