Nineties nostalgia is big money now, and it seems like every studio are trying to continue what fans once thought were completed franchises and television series. Supposedly, there’s a sequel to “Married… with Children” in the works, focusing on Bud as a married man in a dead end job. I don’t see how that could possibly work, especially with Christina Applegate, Katey Sagal, and Ed O’Neill going on to new things, the latter two of whom have either come off or are still working on hit series of their own.
In either case, we spotlighted five of our favorite episodes from the hilarious sitcom about a blue collar family and their perpetually miserable lives.
5. Hot Off the Grill
This is one of the more underrated episodes of the series that I love to watch whenever it’s on. Al is in the Labor Day spirit and decides to have a barbecue. The barbecue mood of course makes him sexually insatiable, which begins taking a toll on Peg who has to clean up the grill to make the famous “Bundy Burgers” while also pleasing him over and over. Meanwhile, Marcy can’t get over her dead aunt, now in ash form, and Steve is utterly annoyed. Peg drops the barbecue, ashes and all, which forces Kelly and Bud to fish through the other neighbors houses for new ashes, ending in a darkly funny final scene that the show really became famous for. You have to love Steve’s reactiong to the big reveal in the end.
4. We’ll Follow the Sun
One of the greatest episodes involving the Bundys out of their element, Al wants to spend Labor Day with the family and decides to take them for a drive. Forgetting Labor Day is a high traffic day, the Bundys are stuck on the highway. Fending off boredom and anxiety, Al sticks to his hope for a good holiday, while Peg obsesses over the new fall TV lineup which is filled with crappy sitcoms and crime dramas. Meanwhile Al keeps up the faith, lectures about America, and gets in to a brawl with the family a few feet away in another car.
3. Route 666 (Part 1, 2)
What I consider the first official misadventure with Jefferson Darcy in the show, the Bundys road trip ends with the brood being stranded in a deserted town. While waiting for a money wire from the Darcy’s, they learn of a local mine teeming with gold. Al convinces the Darcy’s to go in on the family with the find, and they begin turning on one another almost immediately. The two part episode really shows off the finer points of the dark comedy of the show, while also highlighting why these characters are so funny. Immediately when they find gold, they become murderous and paranoid a la “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” all for nothing. As is typical Bundy luck, the gold is all fake, but they all get their reward when they rob a group of tourists that begin mocking the Bundy’s and Darcy’s for being conned.
2. You Better Shop Around (Part 1, 2)
It’s the middle of a summer heatwave, the Bundys are starving, and can’t afford an air conditioner. Al of course buys a cheap German model that knocks the lights out for their whole neighborhood making them pariahs. In an effort to keep cool, Al moves the family to the local supermarket. Asked to either buy something or leave, Al cuts Marcy in line, and wins a sweepstakes as the supermarket’s one millionth customer. Marcy angrily protests, and the manager proposes a shopping spree contest with the winner taking home all the food they can buy. This results in a hilarious grudge match between the Darcy’s and the Bundys, all of whom resort to cheap tactics to win. There’s also a hilarious guest spot from Jerry Mathers who played the Beav, who is constantly tormented by Bud and Kelly during the episode. The gags are just rapid fire, from Peg running over Marcy with a kart, and Al throwing turkeys at the Darcys. It’s a hysterical two parter.
1. Hi I.Q.
Al always worked better off of Jefferson Darcy than he ever did with Steve Rhodes. While I appreciated the high collar, blue collar dynamic Steve brought, Jefferson was always more on Al’s Wavelength. It’s never more punctuated than with “Hi, IQ” which incidentally features three hysterical sub-plots. In the central sub-plot, Kelly is invited to a party for intellectuals that Bud discovers is really a mean prank by intellectuals to bring the dumbest person they can find. Meanwhile, Al and Jefferson are trying to assemble the “Handyman’s Workbench 5000” as Peg and Marcy watch in the kitchen, mocking them and awaiting their next disaster. The physical comedy between Ed O’Neill and Ted McGinley is priceless and often times laugh out loud funny. From Jefferson blow torching Al’s eyes, to Jefferson getting a wooden board stapled to his arm, it’s a laugh a minute with Peg and Marcy reveling in their stupidity. Peg has the best one liner as she watches Jefferson about to open the blow torch in Al’s face: “You can almost hear the Looney Tunes theme, can’t you?”