When Married... with Children debuted on Fox TV on April 5, 1987 (followed by The Tracey Ullman Show a half-hour later), the grungy sitcom became an instant flagship for Rupert Murdoch's upstart network. The program's much-publicized working title, Not the Cosbys (a dismissive reference to the cheerful vitality of Bill Cosby's hugely popular television clan on NBC's The Cosby Show) was a dead giveaway. Married... with Children was going to be a trashier, raunchier, and far more cynical view of the American nuclear family. But it turned out the series actually fell into other caustic-domestic entertainment traditions, notably the Don Ameche and Frances Langford radio comedy series from the 1940s, The Bickersons, and Jackie Gleason's TV classic, The Honeymooners.
The jokes were savage, key relationships were marked by ennui and indifference, and the Bundy family name couldn't help but make one think of America's most notorious, real-life serial killer at the time. Yet the show had a hint of Golden Age Hollywood gloss, a retro-screwball feel that one could detect in the snappy verbal warfare between husband Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) and wife Peggy (Katey Sagal). The characters, and the show, eschewed sentimentality, which certainly opened the floodgates to comic cynicism but also kept a door ajar for moments of genuine sweetness. A decade later, however, by the time Fox cancelled the increasingly expensive series, Married... with Children's first-season tone would be considerably different, replaced by a stronger reliance on running jokes and character stereotypes, particularly concerning Bundy children Kelly (Christina Applegate) and Bud (David Faustino).
Cast and Characters
Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy
Katey Segal as Peggy Bundy
Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy
David Faustino as Bud Bundy
Amanda Bearse as Marcy D'arcy
Ted McGinley as Jefferson D'arcy
David Garrison as Steve Rhoades
Broadcast History First Telecast: April 5, 1987 Last Telecast: April 20, 1997 Number of Episodes: 262
Number of Seasons: 11
Original Network: FOX
April 1987 - October 1987, FOX, Sunday 8:00-8:30pm
October 1987 - July 1989, FOX, Sunday 8:30-9:00pm
July 1989 - November 1993, FOX, Sunday 9:00-9:30pm
November 1993 - January 1994, FOX, Sunday 9:00-10:00pm
January 1994 - April 1997, FOX, Sunday 9:00-9:30pm
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Theme Song Lyrics and Opening Credits
"Love and Marriage" written by Sammy Cohen and Jimmy Can Heusen. Performed by Frank Sinatra.
Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage,
Go together like a horse and carriage,
This I tell ya brother, you can't have one without the other.
Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage,
It's an institute you can't disparage,
Ask the local gentry, and they will say is element'ry.
Try, try, try to separate them,
It's an illusion.
Try, try, try and you will only come
to this conclusion.
When Married... with Children debuted on Fox TV on April 5, 1987 (followed by The Tracey Ullman Show a half-hour later), the grungy sitcom became an instant flagship for Rupert Murdoch's upstart network. The program's much-publicized working title, Not the Cosbys (a dismissive reference to the cheerful vitality of Bill Cosby's hugely popular television clan on NBC's The Cosby Show) was a dead giveaway. Married... with Children was going to be a trashier, raunchier, and far more cynical view of the American nuclear family. But it turned out the series actually fell into other caustic-domestic entertainment traditions, notably the Don Ameche and Frances Langford radio comedy series from the 1940s, The Bickersons, and Jackie Gleason's TV classic, The Honeymooners.
