Michael Moye Movies

Alas, poor Buck! The Bundy's pet dog has shuffled off his mortal coil and ascended to the Animal Afterlife. As Buck's spirit nervously awaits sentence for his past crimes from jury of disgruntled animals, Kelly (Christina Applegate) mourns over the death of her pet. In hopes of making contact with Buck one last time, the Bundys arrange a séance conducted by Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello). This episode introduces the new family pooch Lucky--who isn't all that Lucky when one considers that he is actually a reincarnation of Guess Who. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Much to his dismay, Al (Ed O'Neill) is joined on a fishing trip by Peg (Katey Sagal) and Marcy (Amanda Bearse). Not surprisingly, he ends up catching absolutely nothing except a lot of flak in his efforts to referee the girls' constant arguments. And back at home, Marcy's hubby Jefferson (Ted McGinley) blithely spends most of his wife's money, with the considerable aid of Al and Peg's children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Declaring that it is "Bundy Sunday Funday", Al (Ed O'Neill) packs his wife and kids into the car--and ends up losing all his ready money by buying a single gallon of gas. Thanks to the fast-food cravings of his family, Al is reduced to working off his debt by pumping gas (wearing a uniform marked "Habib") with son Bud as his assistant. The result: Bud ends up commiserating with the Swedish Bikini Team (Heather Elizabeth Parkhurst, Peggy Trentini, Jane Frances and Anna Keller), while Al is stuck with a bunch of surly Chicago bowlers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, the Bundymobile breaks down in the middle of the Nevada desert, where Al (Ed O'Neill) ends up trading the car for a map to a gold mine. Summoned to the desert by the Bundy for extra funds and supplies, Marcy (Amanda Bearse) and Jefferson (Ted McGinley) are also swept up in the race for the gold. Series cocreator Michael Moye appears as the inappropriately named "Young Zeke." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Five of Married. . .With Children gets under way with yet another "very special" Labor Day for the Bundy family. This year, Al (Ed O'Neill) declares that he is going to pack his wife and kiddies in the Bundymobile and embark upon a cross-country motor trip: "We take no map, we follow the sun, we ride with the wind." But what he hasn't counted on is getting tied up in a huge Chicago traffic jam for the entire weekend. In other developments, Kelly Bundy (Christina Applegate) has graduated from high school (miracles do happen!), and next-door neighbor Marcy Rhodes (Amanda Bearse) has lost a husband but regained a job--though not in the expected manner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the old Bundymobile finally conks out, Al (Ed O'Neill) heads to the secret spot where he has buried the extra cash needed to purchase a new vehicle. Unfortunately, Peg (Katey Sagal) has already found that secret spot, leaving Al with only enough money to buy a used car--the kind where the doors and the hood never seem to work at the same time. Appearing as Mrs. Writeman is Nancy Priddy, the real-life mother of series regular Christina Applegate (Kelly Bundy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Al (Ed O'Neill) puts aside his patriarchal responsibilities--such as they are--to fulfill his lifelong dream, previously elucidated in the Season One episode "Whose Room Is It Anyway?". Simply put, Al constructs his own personal "executive washroom" in the Bundy garage, complete with a magnificent Ferguson toilet--an appliance beautiful enough to kiss, which Al does! This episode was originally titled "The Impossible Dream", a tipoff to its ironic coda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upon the death of his barber, Al (Ed O'Neill) must endure the humiliation of visiting a salon and submitting to a stylist. The results inspire Al's family to make several barbed comments about his rather epicene appearance, which son Bud (David Faustino) sums up as the "No Closet Can Hold Me Look." Rather than undergo another assault on his machismo, Al decides to grow his hair long--REAL long. This episode received three Emmy nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A computer glitch results in a pre-approved credit card for Buck, the Bundy family's dog. Reasoning that they aren't really purchasing anything if they aren't using their real names, the Bundys go on an insane shopping spree with the errant card, purchasing everything from foot-long cigars to hot tubs. Christina Applegate (Kelly Bundy) does not appear in this episode, leaving plenty of space for Bud Bundy (David Faustino) to accumulate an unprecedented two girlfriends at the same time! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

According to legend, the working title for Married...With Children was "NOT the Cosby Show," and that said it all. This raunchy, ribald eleven-year saga of a boorish, dysfunctional family living in the outskirts of Chicago was about as far removed from The Cosby Show as Mercury is from Pluto -- which was just fine so far as its creators, Ron Leavitt and Michael Moye, were concerned. Harboring a lifelong hatred for the "typical, wholesome" American TV family, Leavitt and Moyes chose instead to develop a series which revelled -- nay, wallowed -- in questionable taste, endless insults, and juicy sexual badinage. The newly formed Fox network, anxious to offer programming that would immediately separate itself from the "norm" as dictated by the ABC, CBS, and NBC, was receptive to the concept, and on April 5, 1987, Married...With Children debuted as Fox's first-ever sitcom -- not to mention its first-ever prime-time series. The Bundy family might well have been described as "trailer trash," only they didn't live in a trailer but instead in a large, untidy suburban Chicago house. Patriarch Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) worked for minimum wages as a clerk at Gary's Shoe Store. Being an unregenerate male chauvinist pig, unkempt, and reeking of body odor, Al would sooner hang out at the local nudie bar with his fellow members of "NO MA'AM" (the National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood) than come home to the wretched meals prepared by his lazy, viper-tongued wife, Peggy (Katey Sagal). Hating housework almost as much as cooking and forever dressed in tight, garish outfits that displayed her ripe figure to anyone who was interested (Al certainly wasn't), Peg was also distinguished by her layers of facial makeup and her towering teased hair. The Bundy's dimwitted, slatternly daughter, Kelly (Christina Applegate), was so proud of her reputation as the high school's "easiest" girl that she sometimes gave annotated lectures on the subject; in later episodes, Kelly worked at such intellectual pursuits as waitressing and as commercial spokesperson for an off-brand beer. Kelly's kid brother Bud (David Faustino), eleven years old when the series began, was a combination juvenile delinquent and con artist, who, once he reached maturity (?), held down jobs as a clerk at the Motor Vehicle Bureau and as a one-person talent agency (with Kelly as his sole client). The Bundy family was a great source of irritation and embarrassment for their strait-laced newlywed neighbors, Steve and Marcy Rhoades (David Garrison and Amanda Bearse), who were respectably employed as accountants. The bad influence of the Bundys eventually seeped over into the Rhoades household, with Steve losing his job, divorcing his wife, and ending up working as a forest ranger, and Marcy taking as her second husband the terminally lazy Jefferson D'Arcy (Ted McGinley), whom she met during a drunken binge at a banker's convention. During the series' seventh season, Shane Sweet became a regular as Seven Bundy, son of one of Peg's many cousins; but the character never caught on and was summarily dropped without explanation. Two other series regulars never appeared on camera. Kevin Curran provided the voice of the Bundys' unhousebroken, oversexed dog, Buck, and later voiced a cute cocker spaniel puppy named Lucky -- who turned out to possess the reincarnated soul of the late and very reluctant Buck. And during the series' tenth season, Kathleen Freeman was heard but not seen as Peg's harridan hillbilly mother, Mrs. Wanker, who moved into Bud's room after walking out on her husband (played in some episodes by Tim Conway).

Bearing absolutely no resemblance to real life and doggedly avoiding sentiment and "very special episodes," Married...With Children was not exactly everyone's cup of treacle; in fact, one Michigan housewife became so incensed by the series' outrages (which were grotesquely exaggerated for full satiric effect) that she organized a letter-writing campaign to force Fox to cancel the series. Though the woman did not succeed, one third-season episode of Married...With Children, in which the Bundys were unwittingly videotaped while having sex at a cheap motel, was never aired by Fox and in fact was not seen in the United States until 2002, some 14 years after it was produced! Though the series had more than its share of detractors, it also enjoyed a huge fan following with most viewers fully aware that Married was actually a spoof of late-'80s/early-'90s TV raunchiness and accepted it as such. The series' "nothing sacred" attitude enabled the writers to sidestep a particularly delicate situation during season six. To accommodate the real-life pregnancy of Katey Sagal, it was decided that Peg Bundy would also have a baby. Unfortunately, Sagal miscarried, leaving audiences to wonder how this personal tragedy would affect the series. As it turned out, the writers managed to transform pathos into hilarity by stating baldly that Peg's pregnancy was merely a bad dream, à la Dallas! (Later in the series, Sagal again became pregnant, fortunately carrying the baby to term; this time around, however, the writers felt it would be best not to say anything whatsoever about babies on the series). Ending its original network run in 1997, Married...With Children has continued to be successfully rebroadcast in syndication and as part of the FX cable network lineup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marcy (Amanda Bearse) lends Peg (Katey Sagal) a new dieting book called "Thinnergy." Figuring that the book's regimen will improve her sex life -- which has been in dire need of improvement for nearly 16 years -- Peg embarks upon the prescribed diet, but not without demanding that her husband Al (Ed O'Neill) join her. Before long, Al is all but begging Peg to give up the program before they kill each other. This episode finds Peg singing three songs -- you've been warned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Married. . .With Children launches its second season with the series' first two-part episode (originally networkcast in a single hour-long timeslot). "Borrowing" their neighbors' car, the Bundy family embarks upon a vacation, ending up in a sleazy hotel in Dumpwater, Florida. The town happens to be famous for two things: It's the home of "the man who shook the hand of Andy Griffith", and also the home of a brutal axe murderer who strikes every five years--and specializes in hacking up tourists. As the locals place bets as to who will be the killer's next victims, guess which family strolls into the scene? (Aw, you guessed.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide