Premiering in April 1987, Married With Children became a staple of the growing Fox Network’s original prime time programming, paving the way for further original creations such as The Simpsons. The total opposite of what a TV family should be, the original working title for the show was Not The Cosbys (a reference to the perfect family atmosphere of the popular 80’s sitcom The Cosby Show). Paving the way for ABC’s Roseanne, Married With Children more than lived up to its working title, chronicling the pathetic life of a Chicago shoe salesman and his equally dysfunctional family
Married With Children follows the exploits of the Bundy family, a dysfunctional trailer-park trash family living in American suburbia. The family is headed by Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill), a shoe salesman who’s lewd, crude, sarcastic, and completely dissatisfied with his life as a loser. Al’s wife Peg (Katey Sagal) spends her days watching Oprah and spending what little money Al brings home (she’s also Al’s greatest source of annoyance). Al and Peg’s lives are complicated by their children, Kelly (Christina Applegate), a beautiful yet stupid teenager,...