The pilot episode of this show reminded me of the Edward Albee's play, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," but funny and worth watching. Al and Peg Bundy are a veteran married couple with two children in Chicago, Illinois. Al gets tickets to a basketball game thanks to his co-worker and single guy but Peggy has other plans including inviting their new neighbors, Steve and Marcy Rhoades, who happen to be newlyweds to their home for the evening. Peggy reminds Al, "The credit cards are in our name. The checkbook is in our name and the stores are still open." Al already is upset that he can't go to the game. The newlyweds played by David Garrison and Amanda Bearse do an excellent and believable job. The kids, Kelly and Bud, aren't the most delightful around. This show was the beginning of the dysfunctional family sitcoms. It was the virtual opposite of the popular family sitcoms of the day. We don't have many family sitcoms any more. Maybe that's why I'm nostalgic for it.
8 Reviews
The pilot of "Married...with Children" only hints at what to expect from this often raunchy show
tavm20 October 2012
When Fox celebrated the 25th anniversary of the network's run last spring (though it actually started the previous fall of '86 when the late night show, "The Late Show starring Joan Rivers", went on the air), it started its line-up that night with the very first episode of the very first show shown on its prime-time schedule: "Married...with Children". It started with budding young teen Bud Bundy (David Faustino) play-threatening his older teen sis, Kelly (Christina Applegate), with, presumably, a play-knife before their mom, Peg (Katey Sagal), tells them to knock it off and they leave the house. The father, Al (Ed O'Neill), comes down downstairs with a bandaged hand. It seems he pricked it on a cactus that the alarm clock would usually be. We then find out Peg is a housewife while Al works at a women's shoe store. And that they meet the newlywed neighbors, Steve and Marcy Rhodes (David Garrison and Amanda Bearse) for the first time later on...Quite a bit of biting lines concerning marriage and the responsibility that entails abound but said with the understanding that their bark is worse than their bite. In other words, not to be taken seriously. Not much of the raunch that would mark the series later on, certainly not the kind that would cause a housewife named Terry Rakolta (who I just found out is the sister-in-law of current presidential candidate Mitt Romney) to later threaten a wide boycott of certain products advertising on the show with the resulting publicity of bigger ratings for it. Still, this marked the beginning of the edge Fox had over the other networks in providing something different than what the Big 3 had on at the time and that momentum carries it to this day. So on that note, Happy 25th, Fox!
You gonna neuter him?
callanvass14 November 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Al Bundy (Ed O'Neil) is the incumbent husband, and has a boring life. He works as a shoe salesman, and comes home to a rather drab household. He gets offered tickets to a basketball game at work, but his wife (Katey Sagal) vetoes that, and says he has to stay home to entertain the new neighbors. (Amanda Bearse & David Garrison) I thought it was a very good way to start off this classic series. This series is so raunchy, but absolutely hilarious. Al Bundy is a hero as far as I'm concerned, and his chemistry with Katy Sagal is amazing. It's also realistic somewhat about how marriages tend to get stagnant, and how one always overrules the other, and you have to fight to stave off stagnation. A lot of women hate it when their man watches sports, so to see Al Bundy's antics, and try and manipulate Garrison was very funny. Christina Applegate & David Faustino don't have much to do here, but they would be pivotal of the show's success. The ending is phenomenal as well. After all of those differences, Al takes her up to bed. It's a no-brainer for Married with Children fans, but sitcom fans as well
8.5/10
8.5/10
GREAT Laughs Aside...There Are Two or Three Points Worth Analyzing...TEN STARS BTW!!!!!!!
David_del_Real_Reviews_in_IMDb25 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
GREAT Laughs Aside...There Are Two or Three Points Worth Analyzing...
-------TEN STARS by the way !!!!!!!
------- ------- ------- -------
From the start we have a very good comedy show with clever and somewhat insolent jokes that surprise the viewer with its bravery and lack of restriction.
During the first minutes, we have a small talk between Al and Peggy that let foresee very clearly, between many other things, that they don't have intimacy anymore or it very rarely happens judging by the joke about Al's "hair on the back" and his reluctance to take it off on Peggy's request.
We had a small first look to the place where Al works and his environment and also had a pair of good laughs about his chats with his lady customers and a co-worker of his. We later have a chat between Peggy and Al where she threatens him to wipe out the credit cards if he goes out to see a basketball game instead of staying at home for the visit of their new neighbors.
The new neighbors happen to be practically newlyweds with just two months of marriage and seem to be doing all right on every level, but they weren't counting on the effect that their visit to Peggy and Al would do on their relationship.
Interestingly, at the end of the episode, the two couples seem to switch sides a bit having the newlyweds now arguing and Peggy and Al going "upstairs" while Al willingly caressing Peggy on their way up the staircase.
What happened? Did Peggy and Al remember a bit of how the were (or at least tried to be) with the visit of the newlyweds??? ...or they just felt a little bit released from the weight of their lives together when they met a fresh married couple to talk to ?
And the newlyweds? Were they negatively influenced by the Bundy couple? Or they realized that maybe they were denying important parts of themselves to make the relationship work (like the liking of sports by the husband or the importance of her mother to the wife) and chatting with the Bundys made them reconsider their priorities??? ...Or maybe (that could be a good third option) they just had a lot of issues to argue about and the Bundys only gave them the necessary excuses to have a fight ???????
Ten Stars out of ten: a clever comedy with some interesting points to think about after the good laughs.
........
Thanks for reading.
IMDb Review written by David del Real.
November 2017.
-------TEN STARS by the way !!!!!!!
------- ------- ------- -------
From the start we have a very good comedy show with clever and somewhat insolent jokes that surprise the viewer with its bravery and lack of restriction.
During the first minutes, we have a small talk between Al and Peggy that let foresee very clearly, between many other things, that they don't have intimacy anymore or it very rarely happens judging by the joke about Al's "hair on the back" and his reluctance to take it off on Peggy's request.
We had a small first look to the place where Al works and his environment and also had a pair of good laughs about his chats with his lady customers and a co-worker of his. We later have a chat between Peggy and Al where she threatens him to wipe out the credit cards if he goes out to see a basketball game instead of staying at home for the visit of their new neighbors.
The new neighbors happen to be practically newlyweds with just two months of marriage and seem to be doing all right on every level, but they weren't counting on the effect that their visit to Peggy and Al would do on their relationship.
Interestingly, at the end of the episode, the two couples seem to switch sides a bit having the newlyweds now arguing and Peggy and Al going "upstairs" while Al willingly caressing Peggy on their way up the staircase.
What happened? Did Peggy and Al remember a bit of how the were (or at least tried to be) with the visit of the newlyweds??? ...or they just felt a little bit released from the weight of their lives together when they met a fresh married couple to talk to ?
And the newlyweds? Were they negatively influenced by the Bundy couple? Or they realized that maybe they were denying important parts of themselves to make the relationship work (like the liking of sports by the husband or the importance of her mother to the wife) and chatting with the Bundys made them reconsider their priorities??? ...Or maybe (that could be a good third option) they just had a lot of issues to argue about and the Bundys only gave them the necessary excuses to have a fight ???????
Ten Stars out of ten: a clever comedy with some interesting points to think about after the good laughs.
........
Thanks for reading.
IMDb Review written by David del Real.
November 2017.
Great
bevo-1367817 March 2021
New Fan of the Show
cadegrey3 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I was not born until 1997 The last season of the show and even than I was a baby so I did not discover the show until about a year ago on TBS. I can see how much people enjoyed the show and I now share the same love of it that everybody else did. The good timing of the jokes,how much Al hated just about everything (except his "magazines",Putting his hand down his pants,and TV) Although the show never won an Emmy it was amazing and will always be a classic. Here is a good episode: Pilot:The Bundy Family,Marcy,and Steve are introduced. Plot:Marcy and Steve move into the neighborhood and threaten Al's chances of going to a basketball game. "Viva La Married With Children!"
Not a great start.
BA_Harrison11 November 2020
Married With Children was one of my favourite shows in the early '90s, but having just watched the pilot episode of Season One from 1987, I'm beginning to think that either my taste in comedy has drastically changed over the years, that the series must have gotten a whole lot better after this, or it was just Christina Applegate that kept me glued to the TV.
This first outing for the Bundy family certainly gives no indication that the series would last for as long as 262 episodes. I know that it's establishing the characters and their traits, but there really isn't much of a plot to speak of: Al (Ed O'Neill) and Peggy (Katey Sagal) meet the new neighbours, Marcy (Amanda Bearse) and Steve (David Garrison), and that's about it. The jokes aren't all that great, and the laugh track soon irritates.
Since I am sure that my memory isn't THAT bad, and that there must have been more to the show than just Applegate in really tight dresses, I'm going to persevere with my box set. I wonder how long it'll be before it gets into its groove...
This first outing for the Bundy family certainly gives no indication that the series would last for as long as 262 episodes. I know that it's establishing the characters and their traits, but there really isn't much of a plot to speak of: Al (Ed O'Neill) and Peggy (Katey Sagal) meet the new neighbours, Marcy (Amanda Bearse) and Steve (David Garrison), and that's about it. The jokes aren't all that great, and the laugh track soon irritates.
Since I am sure that my memory isn't THAT bad, and that there must have been more to the show than just Applegate in really tight dresses, I'm going to persevere with my box set. I wonder how long it'll be before it gets into its groove...
Pilot episode
kburton-8312919 November 2021
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