Well, it’s time for a bit of Nostalgia! Today we are celebrating Married with Children. Premiered back in 1987, Married with Children presented its audience with a peek into the lives of the hilarious Bundy family. Here are 20 killer facts you might not know about this classic dysfunctional family comedy.
With the increasing popularity of the show, it was costing the TV station a whopping $1 million per episode by the eleventh season, which was simply not feasible at that time. Ed O’Neil was making more than $500,000 an episode, making him one of the highest-paid stars on TV.
During casting of Married with Children, Michael Richards was one of the actors who auditioned to play Al Bundy. But it didn’t turn out so bad. He eventually went on to play Kramer on the extremely popular Seinfeld, and won three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Leading actress, Katey Sagal, who played the nagging wife Peggy, became pregnant three times throughout the filming of the show, but you’d never have known.
Ed O’Neil apparently prepared well for the role of Al Bundy. When auditioning for the pilot, he impressed the show creators by truly embodying the patriarch’s attitude.
One of the Fox executives happened to see Ed play Lenny at a performance in Hartford, Connecticut. When Ed was auditioning for Al, he remembered him. Ed won the role by simply taking a deep breath and slumping his shoulders before entering the front door, something no-one else did.
The budget for the show was so small at the beginning, that several props were actually brought in by the cast members themselves. Also in one episode when Buck went shopping, the fellow cast members had to cover the bill.
The episode, I’ll See You In Court, scheduled to air in 1989, was found to be too controversial for the audience at the time. It didn’t air until 13 years later in 2002.
The show was so popular that it was remade for Russian TV. Rather than simply dubbing the original version, the producers found a new cast and re-filmed the entire series.
Juliet Tablak played Amber, who was sent to live with her aunt Marcy to get her out of danger. Her character appeared in season nine of the show. The 42-year-old actress now works as a Pilates instructor.
Married with Children ran for ten years and became the first primetime show to be aired on the Fox channel in 1986.
Katey Segal, playing Peg Bundy, voiced the character of Turanga Leela in the animated series Futurama.
Ed O’Neil co-worked with Ellen DeGeneres in the Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Dory. Ed O’Neil played Hunk, who is a gruff seven-armed octopus.
Just as the phone number was real on the show, so was the cottage in which the Bundys lived. The house is located in Deerfield, Illinois, 25 miles north of Chicago. The cottage has become a mecca for fans.
Christina Applegate became widely known for her role on the show. The actress though shared something in common with her on-screen character. Kelly and Christina share the same birthday!
Ed O’Neil and Amanda Bearse played characters who were enemies. But in fact, actors Ed O’Neill and Amanda Bearse didn’t get along in real life either. Maybe it was easier to play enemies because it didn’t take much acting.
You may be familiar with the Bundy family, but there is meaning behind it. The famous family name was named after wrestler, King Kong Bundy, who guest starred in two episodes of the show.
Whilst starring in Married with Children, Ed O’Neil also acted in a movie called Dutch. The Married With Children writers decided to mention the film in the show. The movie was mentioned twice, the first scene was when Al was on a plane, and the second Al and his wife Peggy went to rent a movie to watch. A great marketing ploy.
As one of the nation’s favorite sitcoms for almost a decade, it is hard to believe that Married with Children never received an Emmy Award, even if it was nominated seven times. Staggering.
You know Al Bundy has a daughter Kelly and a son, named Bud, but what you may not know is his full name on the show. His full name was Budrick Franklin Bundy. He did have his own special nickname for himself. Can you remember what it was?
Ed O’Neil was the only actor who appeared in every single episode from the show’s first airing in 1987. That means he was in a total of 11 seasons and 259 episodes!
