It did swing massively in quality, especially towards the final seasons, but as far as low-brow, blue-collar sitcoms go, it was one of the finest. The Christmas special where Al can't get to the bank in time to withdraw his Christmas club money to buy presents was a particular highlight (basically ends-up as a reworking of A Christmas Carol).
We weren't allowed to watch it because my mom said it was smut. Mind you this is a woman who was about as close to behaving like a nun as possible, but was still rampantly cheating on my dad.
Quote: T.W. @ 2nd October 2009, 6:52 PM BSTIt did swing massively in quality, especially towards the final seasons, but as far as low-brow, blue-collar sitcoms go, it was one of the finest. The Christmas special where Al can't get to the bank in time to withdraw his Christmas club money to buy presents was a particular highlight (basically ends-up as a reworking of A Christmas Carol).
Revisiting this sitcom a bit at the moment.
For all the 'white trash' comedy criticism this show sometimes got, it had some cracking one/two-liners. Here's a compilation of Al Bundy's best insults...
And an interesting documentary about the show. Remember, this sitcom started before US comedy embraced 'edgy'/'unwholesome' sitcoms & it got a lot of heat as a result...
Also generally informative about how a sitcom manages to get made in the US.