Married…With Children Facts The Cast & Crew Kept Hidden

When Married…With Children first aired on the Fox network, the show was a surprise to viewers as well as TV critics. It revolves around a family that is very dysfunctional, and that’s an understatement. They constantly argue and laugh at one another and greed seems to consume them. The family is nowhere near picture perfect, which is something people have never seen before on sitcoms. Then, something quite wild occurred on-screen – the appearance of daughter Kelly Bundy, a 16-year-old whose activities are very similar to the weekly doings of 40-year-old women who is divorced and on the hunt for a partner. Thanks to this hit American classic, we’ve dug up facts about the series you have surely never heard before.

It has been quite a long time since the show first was broadcast! It premiered on April 5, 1987. Can you believe that? Now it is regarded as one of the longest-lasting action sitcoms in the history of the Fox network ever! It was the first show to play in the network’s primetime spot and it was a huge hit! After 11 seasons and 259 episodes, the show aired its final episode on June 9, 1997.
The show’s opening theme, “Love and Marriage,” by Frank Sinatra was just perfect and so was the cast! Every single cast member portrayed their character perfectly, and it paid off! The show definitely helped a number of stars continue their rise to fame. Christina Applegate, for example, became a huge star during the show and went on to act in a number of famous movies and television shows. Katey Sagal and Ed O’Neill became household names and are still remembered to this day for their epic roles. Who could forget AL Bundy, the once glorified high school football player that marries an attractive yet obnoxious woman named Peggy.

Now the show is definitely considered a classic and it is not too surprising it placed number 94 on Entertainment Weekly’s “New TV Classics” list. The show had long-lasting impact on primetime television, the comedy world, and of course American culture. So, now that you have some background, check out some previously unknown facts about Married…With Children. It is one show that will definitely be in our hearts forever:

One Million

Although it seemed that the show was running on a budget that was relatively small, it was really quite expensive – more than most TV shows during that time. Sure, Married…With Children didn’t have many special effects that needed to be produced, but spending on one outrageous outfit for the character Kelly could cost production a fortune. On top of that, there is the almost guaranteed fee that is paid to people who took offense to the show and sued as well as the actors’ salaries. The sitcom sure set the Fox network back a lot.

Instant Love

The show’s breakout star is definitely, without a doubt, Christina Applegate. Starting from the moment she first appeared on the show, the members of the audience couldn’t take their eyes off her. The outfits may have contributed to it, but it was mostly Applegate’s humor, her self-parody and willingness to give all that she can to ensure the show’s success. The show’s producers as well as the writers recognized Applegate’s appeal and talent early on, so they dedicated adequate screen time for her to show her array of talents (this helped in gaining a following for the show over the course of the first episodes).

Over The Top

As Katey Sagal did her audition for Peggy, she realized that she needed to land the role. Bills had to be paid and her career needed rescuing. Unlike other actresses who choose to go through the regular audition process, Sagal decided to go all out. When she first auditioned for the role of Peggy, Sagal dressed the part. She wore a short hideous dress, made her hair big, and put a LOT of makeup on. This was how she imagined Peggy. Sagal was so in the zone during the audition that she didn’t even once break character and continued acting as if she were Peggy. As what the producers of the show said, this was the reason why she got the part. Another actress that was bold and resolute was Christina Applegate. During her audition for Kelly’s part, she wore the most beautiful outfit she owned, and showed the producers the unseen beauty she would be able to bring to playing bratty Kelly. It would appear that her game plan worked.

Not A Fan

Since the airing of the pilot of Married…With Children, the popular show has received a ton of angry letters as well as complaints. There was no exception. Every character got their fair share when it came to criticisms, but Kelly, Christina Applegate’s character, was the one who actually had to handle the most scrutiny. The main focus of the character was living the life of a flirty teen who dresses like one and acts badly. Had the writers listened to the critics of the show, they would have had to take out the character from the show altogether. There just wasn’t any way they could make a good girl out of Kelly. In the end, the writers opted to ignore what the critics said and carried on as they wanted.

First Episode

While the first episode of the show was being filmed, the producers had so little time they didn’t even include Ed O’Neill, the star of the show, when they cast the roles of his kids, Kelly and Bud. The result: O’Neill couldn’t stand the actors who got the part as his children on the show and said it was either him or them. The producers went into a panic and, in a rush, began the search for new actors. That’s how David Faustino and Christina Applegate got cast. Unlike before, Ed O’Neill got the chance to meet the two before they went onstage. Following the new members’ addition to the cast, episode one had to be shot again from the start, a move which set the production back a lot, yet was proven to be quite a good investment.

Gone Bad

After the show had been on air for a couple of seasons, Christina Applegate turned into a full-fledged star who models, does movies, and also appears in music videos. Navigating the boost in her career was hard for the inexperienced Applegate, who did her best but failed at times. The producers of the show sat down and talked with her a few times and decided that her character Kelly would have time off every now and then so Applegate would get the chance to shoot her other projects which were teen-oriented. The show’s fans didn’t quite approve of this move, and were extremely stubborn about their view.

So Close

Is there anyone you can picture playing Al Bundy aside from Ed O’Neill? Although it is very weird to even consider, apparently, there is some truth to this. Before O’Neill was cast, the producers thought of bringing Michael Richards on board instead. After several trial tapings of the first episode, the show’s producers came to the conclusion that Richards was much too energetic to play the role of Al, and that someone who was a bit more tired and grumpy was who they needed. We are definitely glad they realized this in time. Come to think of it, had Richards been working on Married…With Children, then who would’ve been Kramer?

On Set Feud

In the original plan the writers had Peggy and Al really loved the annoying Jefferson and Marcy, who lived nearby. But then came the intervention from reality. Ed O’Neill’s real relationship with Amanda Bearse had been so bad that it was absolutely impossible to hide on screen. As stated by people working on the popular show, O’Neill wasn’t really in favor of the lesbian lifestyle Bearse had. We can only imagine what it would be like if this happened in 2017. O’Neill now stars in Modern Family, which seems to show that he has become more supportive when it comes to the LGBTQ community.

Tragedy

During the show’s earlier seasons, Katey Sagal got pregnant. When the show’s writers found out, they decided to include her pregnancy in Peggy’s character arc. They wrote an entire storyline of both Marcy and her being pregnant, and torturing Al. Unfortunately, life dealt them a bad hand… After several months of Sagal’s pregnancy, she sadly had a miscarriage. This piece of news was so devastating that the writers resolved they can’t continue with Peggy being pregnant and have Katey use a fake baby bump on the show. As an alternative, they opted to make all of it a dream. Al awakens then says he had a dream in which Peggy had been pregnant. Fortunately, years later, Sagal gave birth to a pair of healthy children, and her pregnancy remained a secret from the viewers through her wardrobe as well as set tricks.

Three Times

When the show premiered on Fox, the audience in America had never seen anything like it on TV. Ratings were very high for the pilot, so Fox made a decision to air it repeatedly and in succession for people who only found out about the show from others through frantic phone calls to be able to watch it live. Remember, this was during a time when DVRs as well as the Internet haven’t existed yet, so to create that much of a tremendous impression in only 20 minutes had been unheard of. The night of April 5th, 1987 went down in television history.

Many Jokes

While the producers were in the process of creating the show, they began to make fun of the character Al’s name. These jokes were so good, the writers made a decision to add the jokes in the script. Throughout the 11 seasons of the show, there were many different and extremely funny variations of the name Al Bundy such as Al Boondy, Al Bumby, and Al Birdy. In addition, the actors came up with nicknames for one another, especially Christina Applegate. Until now, she has never revealed what nickname she calls her co-star David Faustino.

That Hair

During the entire run of the show, the cast turned into incredibly famous stars and did work on many movies between filming episodes. Sometimes, their work on the movies had an effect on the show. Sometimes, it only resulted in funny influences. In season 10 of the show, Christina Applegate was cast in a movie and her role required dyeing her hair to a different color. To be able to keep Kelly a blonde as always, a wig had been provided for Applegate to wear, which made a number of fans angry. It seemed that most fans knew she was wearing a wig. To say the least, they weren’t very happy about it. They preferred their Kelly sexy and blonde as always. However, it sort of worked out for the show’s writers in the end, because Kelly’s ‘Real Hair Color’ was always something the characters on the show could make fun of.

Lasting Legacy

From the time the hit show premiered back in 1987, never again has Fox had a show with the same kind of impact Married…With Children’s pilot episode had on audiences during screening. Until now, among all of Fox’s shows which are live-action comedy, the hit show is still the longest running, having been broadcast for 10 years with a total of 259 episodes. There is also proof that the show has an amazingly long life. It still airs daily in syndication, on Netflix, and in many countries all over the world.

Visa Card

During the original run of the show, the producers weren’t allowed to use Visa cards’ actual name, so they were forced to think up something new which would give the audience a feeling of familiarity. They coined the term Vista cards! Al’s shoe shop has the sign for the cards and every so often there are even references about them in the dialogue. Do you think they did a great job? Or would it have been better if they instead stuck to using a MoosterCard?

Everyone’s A Fan

When we think of Married… with Children, we quite often forget the fascination Al had with the magazine ‘Big ‘Uns’. Al’s shtick was partly made up of taking a seat in the family living room along with reading the dirty magazines with his wife as well as kids around. Do you wonder if Al ever took a moment to consider the fact that Kelly might get featured in that kind of magazine? It’s highly likely that he didn’t, but that’s the reason we like Al. That secret charm was what the show had which attracted audiences. The fact Al had some few flaws which were very wrong, yet you feel like you couldn’t stop yourself from finding them hilarious.

Issues

It’s highly likely the Bundys moved many times during the course of the show’s filming. Otherwise, how would you explain their home address changing to 9674 Jeopardy Lane from 9764 Jeopardy Lane? A small yet quite a hilarious change if you come to think of it! In Chicago, Jeopardy Lane wasn’t a real street and neither were the house numbers.

Maiden Name

We don’t intend to be impolite, but it’s completely true and rather unbelievable. Prior to getting married, Peggy’s surname was actually, well, Wanker. Today, the swear word might be an example of British slang, but it wasn’t used like that in 1987 during the time the show first aired. We get the feeling that had the producers been able to fast forward the airing of the show to today, Peggy’s maiden name wouldn’t have made it out of the writers’ room.

Storyline

In 1991, there was a film called Dutch where Ed O’Neill starred as a man who belongs to the working class. He volunteers to pick up his girlfriend’s child from school to get a chance to know the boy better. From there, everything goes downhill. There were two instances the film was mentioned on the show. The first one was a scene with Al on an airplane. The second was when Al and wife Peggy were renting a movie they could watch when they got home.

An Emmy

Despite the success of Married…With Children, having gotten seven Emmy Awards nominations, it never ever won! Not even a single time! As a matter of fact, only Baywatch and Married…With Children are the shows that have run for a very long time but never even once claimed the top prize. That’s really surprising.

Banned Episode

In 1989, the Fox network refused to broadcast the episode ‘I’ll See You In Court’ in season 3 owing to its rather racy content. During that time, Married…With Children came under attack from Terry Rakolta, Mitt Romney’s sister and a housewife in Michigan. She had advertisements taken out due to them supporting the show. She began a letter-writing campaign which compromised the funding of the show, so the banned season 3 episode was indefinitely shelved. The episode got eventually released on the channel FX in the year 2002 after the very long wait.

A Fraud

There are just some facts that are simply too weird that we may never completely understand how and why they came to be that way. The Bundy’s well-known ‘mighty Dodge’ wasn’t actually a Dodge. It was, in fact, a Plymouth Duster whose top was vinyl. Al, however, would call it a Dodge despite it being a Plymouth. Aside from the fact that only one company owns both cars, which actually look similar to each other, we have no idea what went on here.

Real Life

There’s nothing better than going deep on research and studying about the future character you are playing in a place that is very dear to you – your family, obviously. While Ed O’Neill was preparing for his role on the show by doing some research and practicing for it, he, in fact, came across the biggest inspiration for the character Al Bundy within his family. His Uncle Joe was the model for Ed O’Neill’s Al Bundy. Both Ed’s uncle and the show’s character shared many similar characteristics. We can only imagine what those were exactly.

Real Name

We’ve already witnessed how the show’s writers can be somewhat off when it comes to name choices, as was the case with Peggy and her maiden name. Thus, this other one didn’t really surprise us. Despite the fact that no one really spoke of it, the Bundy Bunch’s young brother Bud didn’t just have a nickname, but a regular one. It was actually Budrick Franklin Bundy. Yeah that’s still weird.

Man’s World

We’re not entirely sure this kind of thing would have been accepted in 2016. Even though we’d prefer to think Al Bundy and his friends referred to their group as No Ma’am for obvious reasons, NO MA’AM is actually short for National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood. Founded by Al Bundy together with his group of male friends, it was an organization that was anti-feminist with the most basic agenda of stopping feminist domination.

Love For Oprah

It wasn’t only Al who had been quite fond of TV – Peggy also became a huge fan of it too. However, she’d rather watch shows such as Psycho Mom and naturally, The Oprah Winfrey Show. There was even mention of Oprah several times in Peggy and Al’s conversations and we’re definitely sure that the legend of talk shows had an important role in their relationship as a married couple. In one of the episodes, Peggy even goes to the extent of getting a job part-time to be able to afford buying a VCR for taping the Oprah Show. Nevertheless, true to form, Peggy quit and returned to being the rather lazy housewife she initially was.

A Rap

Bud Bundy, the younger boy in the Bundy household, always said in episodes of the show that he dreamed of becoming a rapper. Clearly, this isn’t just a dream the character had because the actor David Faustino himself, in fact, was a rapper. Faustino entered the industry of music specifically by rapping and uses the name D’ Lil. He put out his very own album in 1992 and called it Balistyx.

British Version

A number of very successful TV shows have quite a lot of local adaptations. Different countries basically take a show’s concept and modify it to fit their local culture. In 1996, the UK version of the sitcom’s first season was first broadcast and called Married For Life. However, the show didn’t have the same amount of success as may have been suggested by its name since it was only on air until the seventh week and was then axed.

The Body

In the first season of the show, Al had a colleague named Luke Ventura, which definitely didn’t happen by chance. The character had been named after pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura, whose nickname was “The Body”. The writers of the show were big fans of his. Actually, James Ventura’s name in real life was James George Janos and aside from his career as a wrestler, he also served as the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003.

Almost Barr

Peggy Bundy’s hilaious role had actually been intended for Roseanne Barr, the popular comedian and TV producer. Even though she has comedic roots and had her start by being a performer of stand-up comedy, she didn’t get the role. The actress who did eventually get the career-defining part was Katey Sagal, who is not new to Hollywood since her father used to be in show business prior to his death and way before she actually was.

Fraud Talk

Undoubtedly, most of the series’ epic scenes involve Al sitting on his favorite couch and watching television. It’s the thing that he likes doing best and eventually became his characteristic position. What viewers probably didn’t have a clue in is that Psycho Dad was his favorite TV show. The producers were sending this subtle hint to the audience. They didn’t want to bluntly stereotype Al as a kind of dad that was crazy. Well, life does, in many ways, imitate art. Just saying.

Almost Bundy

Sometimes it’s difficult to get past the idea that someone else was deemed to play the legendary part of Al Bundy. However, just like what happens in a usual production, stage or television, it’s essential to think about who the possible options are prior to making a decision on who you cast. Ed O’Neill as Al Bundy was absolutely perfect that it’s difficult to imagine another actor had ever been intended to be the hilarious father on Married…With Children, but the role had been offered originally to the comedian Sam Kinison.

Gary

Anyone who claims to be a big fan of the Bundys knows that Al was a salesman working in the shoe store Gary’s Shoes And Accessories For Today’s Woman, which, to put it mildly, rarely saw much business. Despite the fact that Al was employed there for a rather long time, he only discovers later (while the series moves forward) that Gary, whom the shop is named after, is not a man but is actually a woman.

James Bond

The actor from the UK Sir Roger Moore, famous for playing the legendary undercover agent James Bond, actually admitted to being a big fan of Married…With Children. Apparently, he was quite close to the real life dad of Peggy Bundy, Boris Sagal. As a matter fact, one of the reasons they knew each other was they met on the New York set of the 1976 detective movie Sherlock Homes. Roger Moore starred in the film while Boris Sagal directed it. Now that’s one big star fan any show would be lucky to have.

Theme Song

If you hadn’t already known, the lounge voice you hear singing the theme song of the show ‘Love and Marriage’ belongs to Frank Sinatra. He had originally sung the track for a production on television of Our Town way back in 1955. Married…With Children snagged the song for their huge 1987 debut. The song’s original version was released as part of This Is Sinatra, Frank’s album in 1956. The track has a total of 3 versions.

Farewell Neighbor

David Garrison, the actor who played the neighbor living next door to the Bundys, exited from the series after the fourth season to take a different career path. He achieved success in theater and starred in musicals like I Do! I Do!, Titanic, Torch Song Trilogy, and Wicked. David Garrison went back to Married…With Children to do guests spots in the remaining part of the sitcom’s run. Each of the four times that Garrison popped up on the show, he played a completely different character who had a completely different profession.

Divine

The legendary character Uncle Otto on Married…With Children was initially supposed to have been played by the actor Harris Glenn Milstead, who was a drag queen with the stage name of Divine. Tragically, though, Milstead died prior to when filming was meant to begin. Divine struggled with obesity and his cardiomegaly was the reason the actor’s life ended too soon.

Spin-Off

Amazing news for all the Bundy fans! As of the year 2014, a spin-off with Bud Bundy as the main character is reportedly in the works. The green light for the spin-off has been stopped and resumed repeatedly but hope for it shouldn’t be given up just yet. According to David Faustino, the possible series is still waiting for something legal to be resolved and that there is a rumor Netflix is picking up the show when production starts. All original cast members of the sitcom have said yes to co-starring or making an appearance at the very least, but it appears Bud fans still need to wait a while.

First Impression

Ed O’Neill got the role of Al Bundy mainly because of the casting directors’ first impression of him. Initially, Ed had been invited to come in for a reading since an executive at Fox had remembered the performance he did as Lenny on ‘Of Mice & Men’ – that is, its stage production. Turning up for the audition, Ed breathed deeply, hunched his shoulders, and walked lazily to the place where the show’s casting judges had been seated. He had become Al Bundy without being even aware of it!

Not The Cosby’s

Before it was Married…With Children, the producers were seriously considering calling the show “Not The Cosby’s.” For people who hasn’t been witness to the clever comedy of Bill Cosby as well as the Huxtable family – they were wholesome, hardworking, fairly wealthy family who lived in suburban New York. In short, the Bundys were actually the anti-Cosbys. However, we don’t think there was a need for a name so obvious that it would intentionally point out that fact. The Bundys and the Cosbys were clearly not cut from the same cloth.

Wicked

Al Bundy clearly didn’t possess something essential that his counterpart off-screen, Ed O’Neill, definitely had – a very good work ethic. Among all the cast members, only Ed has appeared in every single episode of the show during its 10-year run. In the 260 episodes aired, Al Bundy was always present and he was accounted for. That must be why the hiatus Ed O’Neill took from the showbiz industry was so long and only ended when he went on to star in Modern Family.

Cancelled

Members of the cast of Married…With Children weren’t initially aware of the show’s cancellation because the producers didn’t tell them. The Bundy family members each needed to find out the truth by themselves! Take Ed O’Neil as an example. He was on holiday when he happened to hear a couple discussing the announcement in the papers about the cancellation of the series. In Christina Applegate’s case, she found out from two of her close friends that the show was going to be axed. That must have hurt!

Fan Hello

Ed O’Neil would use his break time during filming to phone loyal fans celebrating birthdays. This was definitely characteristic of Ed who everyone knows is quite a considerate actor. However, the fact that he knew the calls were from 1-800-collect causes us to think that Al Bundy was the one dialling the fans’ numbers. We guess the 65 cents per minute call is worth every penny that you spend if you can get the chance to speak with the top TV sitcom father on your list.

Buck

Spilling of the biggest secrets of the Bundys and sharing of facts that are most special would not be complete without the mention of the family’s dog – Buck! The beloved Buck Bundy had already been on set since the first day of filming as well as during season 10, so the producers gave him a party for his retirement. Buck’s death on the 25th of May 1996 was by natural causes. Awww! On-screen families can be off-screen families too!

Best Joke

When the time came to celebrate an amazing milestone in the show’s long run, George Plimpton took action in response to the opportunity. He hosted Married…With Children’s special that served as its 200th episode. He was on the Bundy’s iconic couch and showed the best moments along with the best dialogues on the show since it first aired in 1987. The episode’s best joke was the passive-aggressive bid to get the much-awaited Emmy win…that would never come.

His Star

When Ed O’Neill was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011, it was placed in front of none other than a shoe store.

Thanks, Rakolta

After season three, the show really took off and when “Her Cups Runneth Over” aired that season, Terry Rakolta (a Michigan housewife and “family values” activist) was deeply offended by the episode. So much so that she wrote to the show’s sponsors asking them to withdraw their sponsorship. She even asked FOX to drop the show. Some sponsors did cancel their commercials. However Rakolta’s efforts only caused the ratings to jump even higher and FOX was really on the map. Every year that the show was renewed, the cast and crew sent Rakolta flowers.

An Idea

Ed O’Neill said during an interview that when he learned about the cancellation, he spoke to a FOX executive about creating an episode to finish the show. He recommended that the Bundys win the lottery and get demolished by a tornado as they celebration.

Dramatic Effect

Initially producers were skeptical about Ed O’Neill playing Al Bundy. O’Neill had an extensive history of dramatic roles (he had just starred in Of Mice and Men and producers didn’t think he could do comedy effectively. All that changed though once he auditioned. And in an ironic twist, O’Neill was so identifiable as Al Bundy that he struggled to land dramatic roles after the show.

Just Me

Ed O’Neill is the only cast member of Married…With Children to have appeared in all 260 episodes. Including the lost episode and the failed pilot episodes. Now that’s impressive!

Parody

Ed O’Neill and David Faustino both felt that their lives were parodied on the show quite often. O’Neill really did play college football while Faustino went on to become a rapper, which explains his character Grandmaster B.

Moolah

Ed O’Neill thinks that the real reason the series was cancelled was because of money. O’Neill thinks that local stations, who played reruns, begged Sony, the series producer, to not make any more episodes as the rights were just too expensive. Apparently stations played a million dollars to Sony for every episode.

Emmy Bluesy

Married…With Children was actually the longest-running series to have never won an Emmy until Baywatch, which aired from 1989 to 2001. In fact, Baywatch remained the longest-running show to not win an Emmy until Supernatural came along.

Lost Episode

The “lost” episode is the episode eight, “I’ll See You In Court”, of season three. This episode didn’t air in the United States until 2002 although it aired normally in other countries. No one wanted to air an episode where the Bundys and Rhoades are recorded on a motel sex tape.

In The Family

Many of the stars had their family members appear as guest stars on the show. Ed O’Neill’s wife, Catherine Rusoff appeared twice. David Faustino’s brother, Michael, had a couple of appearances. Christina Applegate’s mother, Nancy Priddy and Katey Sagal’s brother, Joey both made appearances. Also Elaine Hendrix and Juliet Tablak were David Faustino’s girlfriends.

What’s In A Name

We can thank pro wrestlers King Kong Bundy and Dusty Rhodes for inspiring the Bundy and Rhodes family names! Contrary to popular belief, the Bundys were not named after the serial killer Ted Bundy.

Favorite

Fans of the show named “One of Married with Children’s funniest moments” from season four. It’s the 13th episode, “Who’ll Stop the Rain?”, when Al falls off the roof.

For The Fun

Katey Sagal, Ed O’Neill, and Christina Applegate all have revealed that they didn’t the show would be successful. But they thought the script was funny so they signed on as it seemed like a fun gig.

Popular In Germany

Turns out that the show was widely successful in Germany, among young adults. Interesting. Therefore, the network RTL made a German version, Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt. The family was called “Strunk” but after just one season, it was canceled.

What A Twist

Now here’s an interesting fact. When it came to casting the roles, David Garrison was the first. Ironically, he also then became the only regular cast member to have left the series.

Affection

Katey Sagal really struggles to get along with Buck the dog as he was always trying to hump her leg on and off the set. Producers planned to “fire” Buck if his owner and handler could not get him under control.

A Royal Connection

Meghan Markle, the now Duchess of Sussex, spent a big chunk of her childhood on the set of Married with Children. Why? Because her father Thomas W. Markle was a director of photograph and he worked behind the scenes.

I See

At first, the writers really struggled to create a mission statement or manifesto before episodes aired, so that they would explain the show’s essence. Ultimately they opted to use a sound! And that’s why we hear a toilet flushing during the opening scene of the first episode.