Ok. Own up!
Who secretly quite liked this show ?
Married with Children.
I loved it when it debuted in the late 80s. I was stationed in central California back then and actually had tickets for filming but I couldn't find anyone willing to drive down to L.A. so I didn't go. 
I love it! And after a few years of loyal viewing I was rewarded with a guest starring role from Bill Oddie.
What's amazing is watching Married With Children and then watching George & Mildred. So many similarites, well mainly just both hen-pecked husbands being uninterested (quite often afraid) in having sex with their demanding wives.
Although George & Mildred begat The Ropers (US version of the show), Married With Children often feels closer in spirit to George & Mildred.
Codswallop...Filth...A show which a person would watch if sleep evaded them...Late night Shit!
While the scripts were often poor, the cast were undoubtedly great comedy actors. David Faustino, who played Bud, was my favourite. By the way, I actually have a Polk High (Al's High School, the football team of which he famously once scored 4 touchdowns in a single game for) T-shirt. I saw it on some random website, one night when I was drunk, and bought it.
I've no idea of its true quality, as I haven't seen it in an age, but I certainly loved it when I was about twelve.
Corny tat, dressed up in tinsel.
In my early teen years I really enjoyed it, but now that my comedy pallet is a little more defined, I find the humour a tad obvious and not really to my liking.
But if I ever had half hour to kill and it was on then I'd happily roll back the years and sit and watch.
Quote: The Rook @ April 14 2009, 10:18 AM BSTCorny tat, dressed up in tinsel.
Of course it's vulgar. What does "dressed up in tinsel" mean? It never tried to be sophisticated, witty or dazzling. It's just about an average Joe who wants a life without stress. Much in common with George & Mildred and even Bless This House. And it was wonderful.
Whilst I mainly tuned in to see the Mother / Daughter jugg fest, some of the one liners / insults / put downs did make me chuckle.
The studio audience on the other hand thought it was the second coming of Christ. Jerry Springer would have killed for similar reactions from his stable of braying idiots.
There was a British version. With Russ Abot as Al Bundy.
Quote: Badhead @ May 4 2009, 12:53 AM BSTThere was a British version. With Russ Abot as Al Bundy.
Oh lord, I think I'd blocked that out of my mind. I used to like Russ Abbot when I was a kid but I remember being mildly depressed by him working on shows which were getting less and less funny. Glad that he then decided to move into the theatre.
I watched him in Last of the Summer Wine, last night, and he's pretty funny in that. He seems to be playing a new version of the old Foggy character, i.e. a pompous nobody, with ideas above his station. He's convinced Vladimir Putin has got spies following him.
I recently went on a bit of a MWC episode binge, having not seen any episodes for absolute ages. Had nearly forgotten how great the show was. Not sure about a favourite Al Bundy moment, there's too many to list. One that springs to mind is when he takes the family to the cinema and goes back into the wrong theatre, shouts back to Peg that "the film in here has hooters" and all the men from the original theatre get up, leave and walk into the one he's in.
I like the episode where Al builds his own bathroom too, with the toilet with the "mans flush". Incidentally you should change that quote to "the nudie bar, where the girls show their butt and their trap stays shut".
It's a fantastic show. Al definitely makes it a classic, but there's also a young Christina Applegate (hmm...) and Katey Sagal (pre Futurama fame). Infact there wasn't a main character in it that wasn't funny, the whole thing was a work of brilliance...whoever decided to cancel it was clueless (Fox I think, no surprise there). 260+ episodes and barely one which wasn't funny, that's some going.
I wasn't allowed to watch it as a kid.