Married... with Children Reunion

One of my favorites, at least. I really enjoyed the 11 years shows starring Al, Peg, Kelly, Bud, & Buck. (Watching every episode in the span of three months all thanks to the re-runs on TBS.)

8/10 on this TV special.

Married with Children is fast becoming a prime example on how Fox squandered its newborn status as a network to edgy shows to eventually becoming one of the worst networks to have a show on. Besides their baffling treatment of their shows--as fans of Family Guy and Futurama can attest to--this reunion special seemed like some sort of apology as to cruelly cancelling MWC without telling the cast or allowing for a real finale to the whole series.

Sadly, this is not the case. What we have with this special isn't really a reunion special as it is a DVD special feature thrown on TV. It's a clip show that offers nothing really except the cast talking around a recreation of their set. While interesting, it fails on two points. One, fans can gleam much more information from the two to three hour E! True Hollywood Story presentation on the show which covers all the bases regarding show's history. And Two, why did they build a set that had been gone for about five years just to show the cast talking? It makes no sense for them to go to such lengths for something that seems so off-the-cuff.

Either way, it's a chance wasted. While it wouldn't have been hard to wrap up the series (which would probably involve everybody dying), instead we get something below a True Hollywood Story which is sadder in its own right. The show deserved better for being Fox's first real and long-running hit and it still hasn't gotten its dues for that. The only thing this special brings to mind is how the Simpsons are going to go out a few years down the road if they even bother getting a finale.

Ah, Married... With Children, the brainchild of Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye, is credited as the show that practically started the Fox network, and over its ten year run its a fair assumption it generated a large fan-base - evident by the nostalgic web-pages on the internet even today, six years after the original run. Perhaps one of the most popular sitcoms to come out of the 1980s, fans across the world were shocked to here of its cancellation in 1997. But, as any MwC fan will tell you, February 2003 saw an hour special, with all of the seven cast members (yep, even David Garrison was back!). The original show itself, I have to admit, although completely un-PC and generally crude and offensive, was completely fantastic, and from this documentary it's obvious the people in it share fond memories of the days when the Bundy's ruled the air. Fans will love to see the guys all back together, and it's great to some of the classic clips all together. Only problem? Perhaps a little more new footage rather than the old would have been great, but, who's complaining? After six years without the Bundy's, it's a welcome return!

If you read my review of "Married with Children: The E! True Hollywood Story" you already know that I hold that to a higher standard than this and for good reason. While that was actually informative, compelling, and highly watchable for even the most casual and hardcore fan alike. This is just taking heads with a lot of clips of past Married shows. No thought went into it whatsoever and it was supremely boring and tedious. Any TRUE fan of this brilliant show was let down to no end with this lame, lackluster special. Go watch the E! one (if you can track it down). This one is highly more accessible as it's an extra on the Season 1 set of the show, but it's vastly inferior.

My Grade: D-

I must admit, it was kind of nice seeing the cast of "Married... With Children" be themselves and out of a character for a change. I mean, I'm sure the entire cast is sick & tired of people imitating them instead of taking them seriously. After all, even people on TV put pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us. So I was impressed to see everyone just talking --- Ed O'Neill especially. He seemed very intelligent and civilized, unlike his character, "Al Bundy". So I was not surprised to read that Ed O'Neill used to teach social studies before he started acting. That just goes to show how "right on the money" the Simpsons was in the episode when Bart went on the Conan O'Brian show, but all Conan wanted was for Bart to say his infamous "I didn't do it" line.