Married With Children (DVD) Review

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 27th, 2010

Premiering in April 1987, Married With Children became a staple of the growing Fox Network's original prime time programming, paving the way for further original creations such as The Simpsons. The total opposite of what a TV family should be, the original working title for the show was Not The Cosbys (a reference to the perfect family atmosphere of the popular 80's sitcom The Cosby Show). Paving the way for ABC's Roseanne, Married With Children more than lived up to its working title, chronicling the pathetic life of a Chicago shoe salesman and his equally dysfunctional family?

Married With Children follows the exploits of the Bundy family, a dysfunctional trailer-park trash family living in American suburbia. The family is headed by Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill), a shoe salesman who's lewd, crude, sarcastic, and completely dissatisfied with his life as a loser. Al's wife Peg (Katey Sagal) spends her days watching Oprah and spending what little money Al brings home (she's also Al's greatest source of annoyance). Al and Peg's lives are complicated by their children, Kelly (Christina Applegate), a beautiful yet stupid teenager, and Bud (David Faustino), a sex-starved adolescent. With neighbors Steve (David Garrison), Marcy (Amanda Bearse), and Jefferson (Ted McGinley) dropping in on a regular basis, Al's dreams of a normal family life or a spare moment to relax are continually interrupted by the tortuous reality of his mediocre existence?

The Married With Children DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the series pilot in which Peg and Al, worried because they have no friends of their own, meet the new neighbors, Steve and Marcy Rhoades. Steve and Marcy have the perfect marriage, but the bad influences of the Bundys conspire to turn them against each other? Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Whose Room is It Anyway?" in which Steve and Marcy decide to add a new room onto their house while Peg and Al pit the couple against each other in order to serve their own selfish interests, and "Peggy Sue Got Work" in which Al's refusal to buy Peg the VCR she wants prompts her to get a job in a local department store?

Below is a list of episodes included on the Married With Children (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Pilot) Air Date: 04-05-1987
Episode 2 (Thinnergy) Air Date: 04-12-1987
Episode 3 (But I Didn't Shoot the Deputy) Air Date: 04-19-1987
Episode 4 (Whose Room is it Anyway?) Air Date: 04-26-1987
Episode 5 (Have You Driven a Ford Lately) Air Date: 05-03-1987
Episode 6 (Sixteen Years and What Do You Get) Air Date: 05-10-1987
Episode 7 (Married? Without Children) Air Date: 05-17-1987
Episode 8 (The Poker Game) Air Date: 05-24-1987
Episode 9 (Peggy Sue Got Work) Air Date: 05-31-1987
Episode 10 (Al Loses His Cherry) Air Date: 06-07-1987
Episode 11 (Nightmare on Al's Street) Air Date: 06-14-1987
Episode 12 (Where's the Boss) Air Date: 06-21-1987
Episode 13 (Johnny Be Gone) Air Date: 06-28-1987