Catchy Comedy Request: "Married With Children"

[stevearino]

Dear Weigel Broadcasting, Inc.,

I have a proposal for Catchy Comedy: to make a deal with Sony Pictures Domestic Television Distribution for Catchy Comedy to become the exclusive Digital OTA home of the hit 1987-1997 sitcom "Married With Children" lovingly showcasing all 259 episodes (including 3 hour-long episodes split into 2 half-hour episodes for syndication) of the iconic Sitcom classic 100% Complete, 100% Uncut, AND 100% Unedited, as originally aired on the FOX Television Network.

Created by Ron Leavitt & Michael Moye, "Married With Children" was a hit '80s sitcom originally airing on FOX for 10 seasons from April 5, 1987 - June 9, 1997.

The show centered on the Bundy family who lived at 9674 Jeopardy Lane in Chicago: dad Al (Ed O'Neill), a hapless shoe salesman unhappily married for 15 years to wife Peg (Katey Sagal), with whom he had 2 teenage children: 15-year-old Kelly (Christina Applegate) and 11-year-old Bud (David Faustino).

Living next door to the Bundy family were bankers and newlywed neighbors Steve (David Garrison) and Marcy (Amanda Bearse) Rhoades, young and gloriously in love until Al explained reality to Steve & Peg likewise to Marcy.

Though the initial series' ratings were very low, "Married With Children" eventually became a hit midway through its 2nd season on FOX in 1988, when Michigan housewife Terry Rakolta (then the sister-in-law of future U.S. Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney) allowed her then-young children to watch an episode of "Married With Children," thinking it was a family-friendly stereotypical '80s family sitcom with wholesome values. Boy, was SHE wrong!

As a result, Terry started a Boycotting campaign hoping FOX would cancel the show outright, but instead, the opposite effect happened, and as a result, the ratings for "Married With Children" INCREASED instead.

One episode from midway through Season 2, however, was omitted from Broadcast by FOX after taping: the episode in question, "I'll See You in Court," had Al & Peg, along with Steve & Marcy, sue a local Motel over accusations of Videotaping the 2 couples having SEX, with the local Jury concluding that Steve & Marcy's vows were indeed violated, but NOT the same for Al & Peg.

The above episode eventually aired on June 18, 2002, 5 years after the show ended its 10-year FOX run, on its Cable Network sibling FX. (I should know, I was one of the VERY lucky ones watching the episode that night as a young teenager 21 years ago before going to bed that fateful evening.)

In September 1991, at the start of Season 5, "Married With Children" became the VERY First FOX Television Network series to enter Rerun Syndication on local TV stations across America while new ones were on FOX.

During the Fall 1989 TV season, actor David Garrison decided to leave "Married With Children" behind in order to resume his Broadway stage career.

In preparation for David's departure, the producers had his Steve Rhoades character spend months on the unemployment line until the February 4, 1990 telecast when Steve left Marcy to become a Yosemite National Park ranger.

Subsequently, for the second half of Season 3 (and the first half of Season 4), Marcy was a Bachelorette until January 1991, when midway through Season 4, Ted McGinley (who initially guest-starred in the Season 3 hour-long Christmas show "It's a Bundyful Life" as Norman Jablonski, Peg's husband in a world where Al Bundy had never been born, alongside Sam Kinison as Al Bundy's guardian angel) joined the cast as Jefferson D'Arcy, a man Marcy met and fell in love with (and subsequently married) during a Drinking Binge.

Jefferson, by comparison to Steve, NEVER had a job, but rather lived off Marcy's earnings as a Banker. Ted stayed with "Married With Children" for the next 6 1/2 years (his longest-running Sitcom stint thus far as far as I know).

On March 28, 1997, the Season 10 Finale of "Married With Children" was Videotaped at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, California--its home for the prior 3 years after the show initially taped its first season at ABC Television Center in Los Angeles & Sunset Gower Studios in L.A. thereafter.

3 weeks later, April 18, 1997 (AFTER the finale had been taped), FOX unceremoniously cancelled "Married With Children" after 10 seasons due to a combination of low ratings (after moving out of its prior 9-year Sunday night FOX timeslot and PERMANENTLY into Saturday nights at 9 P.M. ET on FOX as the lead-in to the short-lived Fall 1996 sitcom "Love & Marriage," a show which came and went after just THREE short weeks, after which "Married With Children" moved PERMANENTLY to Monday nights at 9 P.M. ET on FOX mid-season) and HIGH Production Costs, thus cancelling and ending its run.

The Hour-Long Finale of "Married With Children" was telecast as the Series Finale telecast on May 5, 1997 at 9 P.M. ET titled "How to Marry a Moron."

In the Finale, after his release from Prison, ex-Con Lonnie Tot (Chip Esten) became newly Engaged to be Married to Kelly Bundy; unbeknownst to the rest of the Bundy family (Kelly included), Lonnie, despite being from a Wealthy Family of Weenie Tot family (his parents of whom were respectively played by Gordon Jump & Edie McClurg), his dad marrying 5 times and his mom having a boyfriend on the side, describing the family as "fickle," kept hitting on women, thus causing Al Bundy to call the wedding off at the end of the Episode.

FYI: Contrary to Public Belief, according to the "E! True Hollywood Story" episode focusing on "Married With Children," Ron Leavitt & Michael Moye revealed that the Bundy family were named after Pro Wrestler King Kong Bundy (who appeared at least twice on the show) and NOT Ted Bundy, the Serial Killer, calling King Kong Bundy the Wrestler "The Good Guy Bundy."

Likewise, Katey Sagal wore a Wig for her Peg Bundy character for the entire series' run; during Summer hiatus between Seasons 4 and 5, Katey became Pregnant with a Baby Girl named Ruby Alexandra, who sadly arrived Stillborn.

Though the Pregnancy was initially written into the show, mid-season, after Ruby arrived stillborn, the Pregnancy was written off as a dream of Al Bundy.

By comparison to her Kelly Bundy persona, Christina Applegate is actually very smart and intelligent, earning her GED at age 17 after Dropping Out of High School in 11th Grade after Season 2 of "Married With Children."

In the years since then, reruns of "Married With Children," despite its unceremonious cancellation, continue to flourish in Syndication Heaven--including via various cable networks as FX, Nickelodeon, TBS and TV Land.

With Catchy Comedy's addition of "Married With Children," I'm certain that the show will continue to flourish in Syndication FOR ALL ETERNITY!!!

Tentatively, Catchy Comedy shall add "Married With Children" to its regular lineup starting October 7, 2023 with a weekend-long Binge showcasing 96 half-hour episodes featuring the series' Most Outrageous Episodes, after which "Married With Children" shall be shown Weekday Afternoons at 3 P.M. ET

Sincerely,
Steve Arino