Married... with Children

• Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) – A misanthrope, afflicted by the so-called "Bundy curse" that consigns him to an unrewarding career selling women's shoes and a life with a family that mocks and disrespects him, who still enjoys the simple things in life. He constantly attempts to relive his high-school football days, when he was an "All State Fullback". His most noted achievement was having scored four touchdowns in a single game for Polk High. His favorite things in life are the local nudie bar, his collection of BigUns magazine, his 1972 Dodge Dart with more than on the odometer, and a television show called Psycho Dad. Despite his family's antipathy for him, and his for them, Al is always ready to defend his family and the Bundy honor. • Peggy Bundy (née Wanker) (Katey Sagal) – Al's wife who is always pestering him about money and refuses to do any housework or get a job. Peggy is a lazy redhead who spends most of her time watching talk shows such as Oprah or stealing Al's limited funds to go shopping; she frequently mocks Al about his unglamorous job, his meager earnings, his hygiene, and his poor sexual abilities. Her careless spending on things like clothes and male strip clubs has run Al into debt on numerous occasions. A recurring joke in the series is Al's and Peggy's regrets of having married each other, although on occasion they will show affection towards one another. Peggy's best friend is Marcy, with whom Peggy occasionally heads into trouble. Peggy's side of the family is a backwoods clan of hillbillies whom she often forces the other Bundys to endure, especially her morbidly obese mother, whom Al finds intolerable. • Kelly Bundy (Christina Applegate) – the Bundys' firstborn; a dumb blonde who is often derided as promiscuous and dates guys who irritate Al to the point that he wants to physically assault them. Her stupidity manifests in many ways, from forgetting ideas on the spot to mispronouncing or misspelling simple words. She and her brother Bud generally get along, but enjoy belittling one another. • Budrick "Bud" Franklin Bundy (David Faustino) – the younger Bundy offspring, and sometimes the more level-headed family member, although his preoccupation with sex sometimes leads to inevitable failures with women. He and older sister Kelly constantly taunt each other, but when Kelly is in a legitimate bind he will support her, much like Kelly does for him under similar circumstances. • Marcy Rhoades, later Marcy D'Arcy (Amanda Bearse) – the Bundys' next-door neighbor, Al's nemesis and Peggy's best friend; an educated banker, but also a feminist and environmentalist who often protests Al's schemes with his NO MA'AM (National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood) group. Marcy is the founder and leader of an anti-man support group called "FANG" (Feminists Against Neanderthal Guys). Marcy and Al constantly bicker and do not get along. For the first few seasons of the show, Marcy is married to Steve Rhoades. After Marcy and Steve divorce and he leaves during the fourth season, Marcy meets and marries Jefferson D'Arcy, giving her the name Marcy D'Arcy. • Steven "Steve" Bartholomew Rhoades (David Garrison) is Marcy's first husband, a stuffy banker who finds himself frequently entangled in Al's schemes. Steve's most prized possession is his Mercedes-Benz, which he does not even let Marcy drive. Although very much in love at the beginning of the series, Steve and Marcy grow apart and he leaves her during the fourth season to become a forest ranger at Yosemite National Park. He later comes back in "The Egg and I" episode to try and reclaim his old life with Marcy, but finds trouble with Jefferson, Marcy's second husband. Steve later has another job as the dean of Bud's college, after blackmailing the previous one he worked under as a chauffeur. • Jefferson Milhouse D'Arcy (Ted McGinley), a pretty-boy scammer to whom Marcy wakes up one morning and discovers she has married. Unlike Steve, Jefferson is more of a free spirit, likes to have fun, is constantly unemployed, has no money of his own, and uses Marcy for financial purposes. Marcy is aware of this, but whenever Jefferson gets into trouble with her, he distracts her by working his charm and resorting to sexual bartering. In several episodes, Jefferson is implied, but never confirmed, to have had a past life as a former spy/CIA operative. Pilot episode In the show's pilot episode, actors Tina Caspary and Hunter Carson played the roles of Kelly and Bud Bundy, respectively. Before the series aired publicly, the roles for the two Bundy children were re-cast. Ed O'Neill and the show's producers worried about a lack of chemistry with the parents and the original actors cast as the children. The roles were re-cast and all of the scenes in the pilot with Carson and Caspary were re-shot with David Faustino and Christina Applegate playing Bud and Kelly Bundy. Recurring characters ==Development==

The working title of Married... with Children was Not the Cosbys, as a mockery of family sitcoms that were common on primetime television in the mid-1980s such as The Cosby Show. Creators Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye were told by Garth Ancier and other Fox executives "to be as outrageous as they could be, doing the sort of material the Big Three would never allow on the air", wrote Daniel M. Kimmel in 2004. During the show's first season, 15 year old Applegate was paid $20,000 per episode. ==Reception==

Critical response For season 1, Metacritic calculated an average of 58 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviews of the debut episode were mixed. In 1987, Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times praised the casting of the Bundys, found the character development of the Rhoades lacking, and warned viewers: "The satire is heavy-handed." Conversely, also in 1987, Tom Shales of The Washington Post called the debut episode "nasty-minded, overacted and poorly cast". For The New York Times, John J. O'Connor described it as "loud, coarse and life-of-the-party vulgar". O'Connor also compared Married... unfavorably to other family shows like The Life of Riley and All in the Family, describing the show as "pure blue-collar shtick, dressed up with the usual sexual-potency and bathroom jokes". In a 2013 interview, O'Neill stated that he felt that TV stations that owned syndication rights to the series put pressure on Fox and Sony Pictures Television to end it since it had nearly three times the episodes needed for syndication and the production of more episodes would have resulted in higher rights fees. Controversy and legacy The sexual humor and depiction of family life on Married... with Children were controversial from its debut. Daniel M. Kimmel reflected on the show in 2004: "It had achieved a cult status as a somewhat tasteless family sitcom that was so well written and acted that some actually saw it as dark satire of modern suburban life rather than simply an unending stream of sex jokes." In 1989, Terry Rakolta from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, attempted to lead a boycott of the show after viewing the episode "Her Cups Runneth Over". Offended by the images of an old man wearing a woman's garter and stockings, the scene in which Steve touches the pasties of a mannequin dressed in S&M gear, a homosexual man wearing a tiara on his head (and Al's line "...and they wonder why we call them 'queens), and a half-nude woman who takes off her bra in front of Al (and is shown with her arms covering her bare chest in the next shot), Rakolta began a letter-writing campaign to advertisers, demanding they boycott the show. Rakolta's campaign resulted in Gillette, Warner–Lambert, and Coca-Cola ending sponsorships; ironically, Coca-Cola owned the studio that produced the show, Columbia Pictures Television. The episode was packaged with the rest of the third season in the January 2005 DVD release (and in the first volume of the Married... with Children Most Outrageous Episodes DVD set) with the parts cut from syndication restored. Viewers' curiosity over the boycott and over the show itself led to a dramatic ratings boost. in which a newscaster mentions the city Bloomfield Hills, and "No Pot to Pease In", in which a television show is made about the Bundy family and then cancelled because, as Marcy stated, "some woman in Michigan didn't like it." Socially conservative criticisms of the show were not limited to Rakolta. The Media Research Center named Married... with Children the worst show of the 1995–96 television season, calling it the "crudest comedy on prime time television" for "lewd punch lines". Republican U.S. Senator Jesse Helms called the show "trash". Fellow Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) also strongly criticized the sitcom, after having walked in on his stepson and young daughter watching an episode one evening in late 1993. In an interview many years later, Lieberman would specifically cite Married...With Children as the impetus for his becoming a vocal opponent of pop culture and the entertainment industry throughout his Senate career. However, the show was recognized for giving women prominent roles behind the scenes. Producers decided to rewrite the sixth season storyline of Peggy's pregnancy, which coincided with Sagal's actual pregnancy, as a dream that Al had. This was done to prevent Sagal from suffering further trauma by having her character Peggy interact with a new baby, when Sagal's pregnancy ended with her going into premature labor and the baby being stillborn. Amanda Bearse (Marcy B. Rhoades/D'Arcy) also became one of the first mainstream actresses to publicly come out as a lesbian, which she did during the series run; she received positive recognition for doing so. == Episodes ==

During its 11-season run on the Fox network, Married... with Children aired 258 episodes. A 259th episode, "I'll See You in Court" from season 3, never aired on Fox, but premiered on FX and has since been included on DVD and in syndication packages. Three specials also aired following the series' cancellation, including a cast reunion. == Home media ==

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released all 11 seasons of Married... with Children on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4. On December 12, 2010, Sony released a complete series set on DVD in Region 1. In December 2007, the Big Bundy Box—a special collection box with all seasons plus new interviews with Sagal and David Faustino—was released. This boxset was released in Australia (Region 4) on November 23, 2009. The Sony DVD box sets from season 3 onward do not feature the original "Love and Marriage" theme song in the opening sequence because Sony was unable to obtain the licensing rights to the song for later sets. Despite this, the end credits on the DVDs for season 3 still include a credit for "Love and Marriage." On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the home media rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library including Married... with Children with the original theme song "Love and Marriage" sung by Frank Sinatra. They have subsequently re-released the 11 seasons on DVD. The Mill Creek Entertainment version (along with the versions available for streaming and downloading) include scenes that are normally edited in syndication and most of the licensed music that's dubbed over or deleted due to copyright issues. A Complete Series DVD set was re-released on July 7, 2015, in Region 1. All seasons of Married... with Children are now available for online download and streaming through Amazon Prime Video, Apple iTunes, Peacock, Hulu, and Vudu. == Merchandise ==

Books • Pig Out with Peg: Secrets from the Bundy Family Kitchen, by Linda Merinoff and Peg Bundy, Avon Books, November 1990, • ''Bundyisms: The Wit and Wisdom of America's Last Family'', Boulevard Books, May 1997, • ''The Complete "Married... with Children" Book: TV's Dysfunctional Family Phenomenon'', by Denis Noe, Bear Manor Media, August 2017, • Married... with Children vs. the World, by Richard Gurman, Permuted Press, April 2024, Comic books Married... with Children was adapted into a comic book series by NOW Comics starting in 1990. Toys Board game • Married with Children: Act Like...Think Like...Be Like a...Bundy was released in 1990 by Galoob. Dolls and action figures Two series (10 in all) of 8" dolls were produced by Classic TV Toys in 2005 and 2006. In 2018, Funko produced figures of Al, Kelly, Bud and Peggy as a part of their Funko POP! line. That same year, Funko also released a Married... with Children action figures box set. In 2018 and 2019, Mego released Target exclusives of Al, Peggy and Kelly in 1/9 scale. == International remakes ==

Argentina An Argentine remake was made by Telefe in 2005, called Casados con Hijos. Two seasons were made (2005 and 2006), totaling 215 episodes and it became a smashing success during the replaying. More than fifteen years after the release, it is still aired on Saturdays at 7:30 pm. The series has been also shown by local channels in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Peru. The character names are: José "Pepe" Argento (based on Al, played by Guillermo Francella), Mónica "Moni" Argento (based on Peggy, played by Florencia Peña), Paola Argento (based on Kelly, played by Luisana Lopilato), Alfio "Coqui" Argento (based on Bud, played by Darío Lopilato), Dardo and María Elena Fuseneco (based on Jefferson D'Arcy, Steve Rhoades and Marcy; played by Marcelo de Bellis and Érica Rivas). Armenia An Armenian remake was made in 2016, called The Azizyans, an Armenian television sitcom television developed by Robert Martirosyan and Van Grigoryan. The series premiered on Armenia TV on October 31, 2016. However, it was not available to the public until Armenia TV started airing it from October 10, 2017. It takes place in Yerevan, Armenia. The Azizyans sitcom stars Hayk Marutyan. He embodies the character of Garnik Azizyan – a clothes store seller, who is the only one working in the family. Mrs. Ruzan Azizyan is too lazy to perform the duties of a housewife. The problems of the father do not bother his 3 children – his daughter, who is internet-addicted and active in all social networks, his unemployed eldest son, a complete loser, and his youngest son, who is a schoolboy. The roles in this sitcom, created for family watching, are played by Ani Lupe, Satenik Hazaryan, Ishkhan Gharibyan, Suren Arustamyan and other popular Armenian actors. The project is directed by Arman Marutyan. In the second season of the sitcom, the Azizyan family continues to survive thanks to the meager salary of Garnik. Garnik's wife, Ruzan, remains a housewife, without even thinking about finding a job. Their elder son, Azat, continues to look for a new job. A young man appears in Marie's life, trying to win her heart. Their younger son Levon, continues to live his own life and does not understand what he has in common with this family. Their neighbors Irina and Alik continue to be friends with the family, which the Azizyans do not quite approve. The only bright spot in their life is their house, which Garnik inherited from his grandfather. Brazil In Brazil, Rede Bandeirantes made a remake in 1999 with the name A Guerra dos Pintos (The War of The Pintos). 52 episodes were recorded but only 22 aired before cancelation. Bulgaria In Bulgaria a remake is aired from March 26, 2012, with the name Женени с деца в България (Zheneni s detsa v Bulgaria) (Married with children in Bulgaria). Croatia In Croatia, a remake called Bračne vode was broadcast from September 2008 until November 2009 on Nova TV channel. The characters based on the Bundys were called Zvonimir, Sunčica, Kristina and Boris Bandić, while the ones based on Marcy and Steve were called Marica and Ivan Kumarica. Germany In Germany, the 1992 remake Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt, broadcast in the prime time, reached double the audience of the original (broadcast in the early fringe time). This, however, was not enough to maintain the series, so it was cancelled after one season with 26 episodes. The remake used the exact translated scripts of the original series (which already substituted localised humour and in-jokes for incomprehensible references to American TV shows not shown in Germany, as well as some totally different jokes) and just renamed places and people according to the new setting. '''' was aired from March to December 1993 for 26 episodes. Hungary In 2006, Hungarian TV network TV2 purchased the license rights including scripts and hired the original producers from Sony Pictures for a remake of the show placed in a Hungarian environment. It was entitled '' (in English: Married with children in Budapest, loan translation: A gruesomely decent family in Budapest). The main story began with the new family called the Bándis inheriting an outskirt house from their American relatives the Bundys. They filmed a whole season of 26 episodes, all of them being remade versions of the plots of the original first seasons. It was the highest budget sitcom ever made in Hungary. First it was aired on Tuesday nights, but was beaten by a new season of ER'', then placed to Wednesday nights. The remake lost its viewers, but stayed on the air due to the contract between Sony and TV2. Hungarian critics have strongly condemned the copyright infringement of the original series. They also criticized the lack of quality and the dilettante forcing of the American cliches in Eastern European (Hungarian) environment. Israel The complete American series aired in Israel in the 1990s, with reruns of it ever since. There has also been an Israeli remake to the show titled Nesuim Plus (Married Plus) that aired its two seasons from 2012 to 2017. Mexico In May 2023, Sony Pictures Television announced a Mexican remake for Sony Channel. The series premiered on 8 May 2024 and stars Adrián Uribe and Sandra Echeverría. Russia The Original Married... With Children ran on TV-6 Russia in the late 1990s and early 2000s (before the closing of the channel) in prime-time basis, broadcasting the episodes from seasons 1–11. The show later aired on DTV and Domashniy TV. A Russian adaptation, titled Happy Together (Schastlivy Vmeste; Happy Together), was broadcast on TNT across the country in 2006. The character names are: Gena Bukin (based on Al, played by Viktor Loginov), Dasha Bukina (based on Peggy, played by Natalya Bochkareva), Sveta Bukina (based on Kelly, played by Darya Sagalova), Roma Bukin (based on Bud, played by Alexander Yakin), Elena and Anatoliy Poleno (based on Marcy and Jefferson D'Arcy, played by Yulia Zaharova and Pavel Savinkov), Evgeniy Stepanov (based on Steve Rhoades, played by Aleksey Sekirin), Sema Bukin (based on Seven, played by Ilya Butkovskiy), and Baron Bukin (based on Buck and Lucky, played by Bayra). Turkey A remake was aired in Turkey in 2004 for one season under the name Evli ve Çocuklu (Married and with Children), featuring Ege Aydan and Yıldız Kaplan in the roles of Niyazi (based on Al) and Jale (based on Peg) Tonguç. The producer, Med Yapım, has published 10 episodes on YouTube in 2018. United Kingdom ITV had been screening the original Married... with Children since 1988. In 1996, the British production company Central Television and Columbia Pictures Television (Columbia TriStar Central Productions) produced a British version called Married for Life, which lasted for one series with seven episodes. == Spin-offs ==

Top of the Heap was a sitcom starring Matt LeBlanc. The show was about Vinnie Verducci (played by LeBlanc) and his father Charlie (played by Joseph Bologna) always trying get rich quick schemes. The Verduccis were introduced in an earlier episode where Vinnie dated Kelly Bundy, and Charlie was introduced as an old friend of Al Bundy's. The end of the pilot episode shows Al breaking into their apartment and stealing their TV to replace the one he lost betting on Vinnie in a boxing match. However, the show did not last long and was ultimately cancelled. It had its own spin-off/sequel called Vinnie & Bobby a year later, which was also cancelled. Also, an attempt was made to make a spin-off out of David Garrison's Steve Rhoades character which took place on Bud's Trumaine University. The spin-off was called Radio Free Trumaine where Garrison played the Dean. Enemies was another spin-off, but played to be a spoof on the TV series Friends. Meanwhile, a proposed series focusing on the NO MA'AM group without Al Bundy was outright rejected by Fox over fears of misogyny. On September 11, 2014, it was announced that a spin-off was in the works, centered on the character of Bud Bundy. Ed O'Neill revealed plot details for the proposed spin-off in 2016: "Bud is now grown up and living in the old house with some of his buddies, but they're all bust-outs, they aren't working. His ex-wife is living in one of the bedrooms with Bud's best friend [...] Peg and Al are retired and living in Vegas; they won the lottery." == Reunions ==

The cast of Married... with Children has remained close-knit since the show's conclusion, making public appearances together as well as taking part in each other's various projects. In 2003, the cast reunited to share their memories of making the show for the one-hour televised reunion special, Married with Children Reunion Special. 2026 live reunions On October 28, 2025, it was announced that Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino would reunite live on stage for An Evening with The Bundys: The Married with Children Cast Reunion at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on January 28, 2026. A portion of the ticket sales will go to the multiple sclerosis organization Race to Erase MS. Another live reunion is set to take place on May 9, 2026, at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles as part of the Netflix Is a Joke Festival. == Scrapped animated revival ==

On May 13, 2022, Deadline reported that an animated revival of the series was currently in the works with the original cast attached to return. It was further revealed that Sony Pictures Television had been working on the animated series for over a year and waited until they had closed deals with the cast before presenting it to networks and streamers. It was felt that an animated revival worked best due to the original cast's busy schedule. A sample clip of the animated series leaked onto the internet on May 14, 2024, along with a synopsis and presentation web site. In July 2025, it was confirmed that the animated revival was no longer in development. == Memoir ==

In April 2024, a memoir, Married... with Children vs. the World, written by Married... with Children writer and producer Richard Gurman, was published by Permuted Press. In it, Gurman gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the show and his time working on it. The show's cast also contributed to the book. == American syndication and international airings ==

Distributed by Columbia Pictures Television Distribution, later Sony Pictures Television since 2002, Married... with Children debuted in off-network syndication in the fall of 1991. The series later began airing on cable on FX from September 1999 until September 2008. In June 2002, FX became the first television network to air the controversial, previously banned episode "I'll See You in Court", albeit in an edited format. The full version of "I'll See You in Court" can only be seen on the DVD release Married... with Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes Volume 1 and the Mill Creek Entertainment complete series collection. The version found on the Third Season DVD set under Sony is the edited-for-TV version. In 2008, the Spike network reportedly paid US$12 million for broadcast rights to every episode including the unedited version of the infamous episode "I'll See You in Court". Following its acquisition by Nexstar Media Group and rebrand to NewsNation, the network indicated it would start rolling off its non-news programming as those contracts expire to expand news coverage. In November 2018, the entire 11-season run became available to watch through Hulu. On September 17, 2018, GetTV began airing the show and continued until around 2020 or 2021. In July 2024, Cozi TV acquired the rights to the show along with The King of Queens and began airing on August 5, 2024. Married...with Children has also been a ratings success in other countries around the world. == Locations ==

The opening footage comprises views of Chicago, opening with a shot of Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. The aerial downtown shot was taken from the Lake Shore Drive section north of the Loop. The expressway entrance shot was taken from the 1983 movie ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' featuring the Griswolds' green family truckster with a northeastward view of the Dan Ryan/Stevenson junction southwest of the Loop. The exterior shot used for the Bundys' house was taken in a subdivision in Deerfield, Illinois. Non-English versions might differ, e.g. the dubbed German version always includes the expressway shot. == See also ==