http://comicbook.com/popculturenow/2017/04/06/katey-sagal-slams-married-with-children-30th-anniversary/

On the 30th anniversary of the TV comedy Married With Children, former lead actress Katey Sagal wasn't exactly reflecting on her time on the beloved sitcom. Instead, the 63-year-old actress totally blasted the series for the manner in which women were portrayed "in an exploited way."

"It was a very misogynistic show," Sagal said. "It was when I really, clearly understood that my job as an actor was to interpret the material. It's not necessarily my belief system. My belief system has nothing to do with being an actor. You know, I was hired to play a part … The women were portrayed completely exploited on that show. That was part of Al Bundy's thing — he liked hot women, and they showed them all the time."

The show first aired back in April of 1987 on Fox and was Sagal's breakthrough role. She starred alongside Ed O'Neill (Al Bundy), Christina Applegate (Kelly Bundy), and David Faustino (Bud Bundy).

She continued by saying: "And so, people would ask me questions like, 'Is this what you think? I mean, how can you be on a show like this?' And I was really clear that I don't believe in censorship, and I also believe that it's my job as an actor to interpret the material — it's not my belief. If you're asking me, do I think women should be portrayed in a misogynistic way, in an exploited way, of course I don't think that. But playing Peg Bundy had nothing to do with what I thought. That was my job."

Katey Sagal revealed that she viewed Married With Children as a satirical series, but that some of the audience did not.

"Suddenly, it dawned on us that this is not just a satire to everybody," she said. "Some people are really, truly relating to this, and that's when I would get these very serious questions about a show that was really only meant to be funny. It was meant to be funny and to entertain and to laugh at ourselves. And I always got it as that, but some people took it really seriously."

Even though the Sons of Anarchy star totally slammed the show for the way it portrayed women, Katey revealed that she would be open to doing a reunion, according to Us Weekly.

"I know David Faustino was trying to put together something that was going to be like a spinoff, and Eddie, Christina and I said, 'Yes, we'd do the pilot.' Then ... the brakes got put on it," Sagal said. "I don't know if it will [happen]. … Maybe that's the fate of the Bundys, to never come back! Like everybody else does, but we don't."

Were you shocked to hear that Katey Sagal blasted Married With Children on the show's 30th Anniversary?

You had a great cast, and that made it shine, but I could see it being too sleazy to be fun in lesser hands. The sexism... I mean it's SO over the top it's hard not to see it as a total parody. It's also important that for as much as a misogynist as Al was, very seldom did he come away as a "winner" at the end of most episodes.

I really liked the first 3 seasons, but as I matured as a person, I started to find the show as absolute low-brow garbage around 1991. No offence to any MWC fans. Not to the point that I was offended or anything like that. The show was obviously a farce. Just my opinion.

MWC, was a show I liked. But like TMC said, for all of Al Bundy's views, he was mostly always wrong.

But she had no problem starring in a sleazy drama for 6 seasons that glorified the misogynistic sub culture of outlaw motorcycle clubs.

But she had no problem starring in a sleazy drama for 6 seasons that glorified the misogynistic sub culture of outlaw motorcycle clubs.
:yeahthat

MWC, was a show I liked. But like TMC said, for all of Al Bundy's views, he was mostly always wrong.

It's arguable that most of the stuff on MWC was inappropriate but not outright offensive. Think about it this way, even though Al and the NO MA’AM guys were technically the “heroes” of the show, they were generally presented as out of touch misogynists. And as I alluded to before, Al being so out of touch usually hurt him in the end. So on that end, while MWC wasn't exactly politically correct, that was the point of the show.

in the first couple of seasons they were great, later they were a little shaky but it's no strange thing

. It's also important that for as much as a misogynist as Al was, very seldom did he come away as a "winner" at the end of most episodes.

I think there may be a bit of a "chicken vs the egg" component as well.

Here you have a guy who has spent his entire adult life running in a treadmill like some hamster, and what does he have to show for it? A wife who routinely threatens to weaponize her access to the credit cards, and two children who help themselves to his wallet anytime he drops his guard.
And you want to question HIS ethics? really?

Perhaps he's just a product of his life's experiences, and too much of a nice guy to make the changes that would improve his predicament.

In my own view, I believe that much of what western culture tells us we are supposed to value, is a delusion designed to keep the top 2% in a life of privilege, and that Married with Children successfully lampoons much of the dogma that keeps us "there".

Also, just for perspective. Look at some of the catty comments Peggy shares with her old classmates summarizing their efforts to assure that the men in their lives are properly subordinated....or never reach their goals.

Sure, that is scripted just for the humor, but by definition THAT defines the world that Al Bundy lives in. If he is truly misogynist, I don't think it's because an original thought occurred to him. He has been "trained" to think that way.

What a joke- She is complaining now, and she was on for 11 seasons- She had no problems excepting a check for 11 years! and now she has issues how her character was portrayed?? give me a break... And ohh She would be up for a reunion anyway.. cha ching for her again.

What a joke- She is complaining now, and she was on for 11 seasons- She had no problems excepting a check for 11 years! .

Here is what I think is really going on. For years her "face" to the world was the highly synthetic Peggy Bundy.

Professional make-up even in bed, the wig, the bra stuffing, And the bouncy walk we became oh so used to.

And even though the clothes were usually Kmart special, she always had an abundance of it, the color combinations she would pull off were professionally coordinated.

She was a goddess of trailer trash.

Now when people see Katey Sagal, they don't get to see her through the professionally created filter that was Peggy Bundy.

So, she might have a little personal resentment that her fans expect to see the synthetic icon.

And, of course, any disappointment they might have with the real her, can only be because of their sexist expectations.

Or when considering that she that for seven seasons she was on a show far worst than married With Children and had no gripes about it.

MWC, was a show I liked. But like TMC said, for all of Al Bundy's views, he was mostly always wrong.

I think that I said sometime before that while MWC could admittedly be a very trashy and sleazy show, you could also sense that a lot of weird care was put into it. Unhappily Ever After is a good example of what would happen if you took the basic template of MWC and placed it in lesser hands.

What a joke- She is complaining now, and she was on for 11 seasons- She had no problems excepting a check for 11 years! and now she has issues how her character was portrayed?? give me a break... And ohh She would be up for a reunion anyway.. cha ching for her again.

Maybe I'm reaching here, but I'm starting to wonder if part of Katey's apparent resentment towards MWC is that like Christina Applegate, she pretty much became typecast. Katey played the part of a lazy, self-centered, "white trash" wife and mom so effectively, that it was extremely hard to look at her as anything else. I kind of believe that her subsequent role was Mrs. Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules as Katey's conscientious attempt to prove to people that she is capable of portraying a decent, responsible mother.

I also wonder if Katey was somewhat resentful because it was during her time on MWC that she was pregnant and she tragically miscarried. They built an entire season around Peggy and Marcy's pregnancy only to retcon it as a bad dream on Al's part. And then to compensate, they introduced Seven, and had Peggy actually act like a nurturing, compassionate mother for once. But of course, the fans hated Seven, so they had to get rid of him. And Peggy as a character was pretty much back to square one.

After Sons Of Anarchy it's a safe bet that nobody still sees her as Peg Bundy anymore although on a side note Gemma seems like Al's kind of gal.

What a joke- She is complaining now, and she was on for 11 seasons- She had no problems excepting a check for 11 years! and now she has issues how her character was portrayed?? give me a break... And ohh She would be up for a reunion anyway.. cha ching for her again.

Right.

If it really bothered her, she could have spoken out back then and left the show. I'm sure no one forced her to stay once her contract was up for renewal.

She already made her money from the show, so her words mean nothing.

Katey Segal's recurring role on The Conners really feels like her career has come full circle if you ask me. I say this because back in the late '80s through the '90s, Married...with Children, The Conners back when it was Roseanne, and The Simpsons were on the front of boundary pushing, unconventional domestic sitcoms that really went against the grain of what was on prime time TV at the time. It's sort of like how you could say that Ed O'Neill's career went full circle when he landed Modern Family, which again had him play the patriarch of a dysfunctional family.

It's arguable that most of the stuff on MWC was inappropriate but not outright offensive. Think about it this way, even though Al and the NO MA’AM guys were technically the “heroes” of the show, they were generally presented as out of touch misogynists. And as I alluded to before, Al being so out of touch usually hurt him in the end. So on that end, while MWC wasn't exactly politically correct, that was the point of the show.

Much of it was considered offensive by some people at the time.

Much of it was considered offensive by some people at the time.

Keep in mind that television censorship was still in place for the most part and audiences weren't used to the brashness of the Bundys.

Now, the Bundys seem tame, especially when compared to some of today's more provocative shows.

Keep in mind that television censorship was still in place for the most part and audiences weren't used to the brashness of the Bundys.

Now, the Bundys seem tame, especially when compared to some of today's more provocative shows.

Agreed! My mum was relieved when I started watching MwC back in the day, it was a nice change from South Park and Jackass :lol:

I think that I said sometime before that while MWC could admittedly be a very trashy and sleazy show, you could also sense that a lot of weird care was put into it. Unhappily Ever After is a good example of what would happen if you took the basic template of MWC and placed it in lesser hands.

What’s funny is that MWC co-creator Ron Leavitt also co-created Unhappily Ever After, and some other MWC producers worked on UEA with him.

I really liked the first 3 seasons, but as I matured as a person, I started to find the show as absolute low-brow garbage around 1991. No offence to any MWC fans. Not to the point that I was offended or anything like that. The show was obviously a farce. Just my opinion.

I've heard suggestions elsewhere that despite its reputation as being a trashy, crude show, MWC was a lot deeper than it gets credit for. I don't know if this was all intentional, but the show appeared to go out of its way to show that a lot of the problems with the kids and even Peggy was in large part, Al's fault.

Al was a broken man who couldn't get past not attaining his football dreams. All the while, his kids would always come to him for guidance. But in the case of Bud, he never grew past being a smarmy doofus because his father never really tried to teach him how to be a confident man. And Kelly constantly bringing so many guys over was actually a cry for attention. Peggy meanwhile, often tried to be a loving wife, but Al like I said, was too broken for it.

MWC, was a show I liked. But like TMC said, for all of Al Bundy's views, he was mostly always wrong.

I think that critics such as Terry Rakolta, focus on the crude, gross humor and overlook the fact that MWC was actually a satire of American life. Take Al for instance, the show made it very clear that he was a loser and not somebody who should be held up like a role model or a source of wisdom. Al was at the end of the day, an angry and bitter man who refused to own up to his failures.

What a joke- She is complaining now, and she was on for 11 seasons- She had no problems excepting a check for 11 years! and now she has issues how her character was portrayed?? give me a break... And ohh She would be up for a reunion anyway.. cha ching for her again.

I said before, that a lot of the satire and social commentary in MWC was a lot deeper than it may have gotten credit for. In the case of Katey's character, Peggy Bundy seemed to be a commentary on women who hold a delusional view from the media (she watches TV all day like Oprah) that all women are queens to be pampered. Hence, why Peggy is lazy and refuses to get a job. She also spends beyond her family's means because she's a slave to brands and consumerism.

I think Seven was the little boy that was abandoned by his parents? That is messed up Katy would knock the show considering her time span on it. That is sad she miscarried in real life.