Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage, this I tell your brother; you can’t have without the other… Chances are if you know this song by heart, you have watched a lot of episodes of Married with Children (or you adore Frank Sinatra ). The Bundys are back for their eighth season of marital hijinx. Once it was just a random trivia question about one of the shows that was first on the little known Fox tv channel (Tracey Ullman and Garry Shandling are two others by the way). Later, it went on to be one of the network’s greatest early hits and out lasted almost everything except the Simpsons. So would another twenty six episodes of crass sarcasm and dysfunctionality dilute the product or just keep the laughs coming?
The seventh season of Married with Children had introduced us to an unpopular character known as Seven. This character was written as a way to give the Bundys a third child. However, by the eighth season the character had been written off mostly as a failed experiment. The character would later be referenced in later shows as classic wink-wink jokes to those who closely followed the series but nothing more. The eighth season was more of a return to form for Al (played by Ed O’Neil), Peggy (played by Katey Sagal), Kelly (played by Christina Applegate), and Bud (played by David Faustino) Bundy. Peggy tries to make a free-throw for cash and keeps trying to find ways to make marriage bliss with Al. Bud discovers his cool factor in an episode and suddenly becomes a love machine, at least in his own mind. Kelly is still trying to land a sports celebrity or fill up her brain with useless trivia to win a game show. Then there is Al, who spends episodes starting up clubs against women (No Ma’am) or getting his old Dodge up to the one million mile mark.
Episodes like the ones mentioned above serve as the best reason to watch Married with Children. Scripts with laughs that keep on coming and no pause for ones that don’t. The show does show its age however. Certain jokes and ideas seem to fall a little harder than they previously did along with outdated concepts that just don’t relate to the audience watching the show. It’s certainly better than any reality show on current television and most normal sitcoms to boot. There is a reason it lasted 11 seasons and well over 200 hundred shows. My only real source of beef stems from the theme that opens each show. It’s a Frank Sinatra tune, “Love and Marriage”. You don’t get the vocal version in this one. In fact, the instrumental tune you do get sounds nothing like it. Maybe the ghosts of Frank charge too much (though shouldn’t it be a public domain song by now?) but there are 100s of lounge acts around the world willing to do a cover for probably pennies. I heard that John Stevens of American Idol (Season 3 or 4 I believe) does a pretty good Sinatra, he probably jump for the gig in a heartbeat. It seems lazy I guess.
Video
We weren’t exactly expecting anamorphic widescreen were we? It’s in full screen and it is about what you expect. Low budget sets and not exactly the most appealing use of color make for a very average presentation. Storing 9 episodes a disc does not immediate favors either as there is some small evidence of compression artifacts in certain places.
Audio
Audio is much the same fare, providing the basic Dolby Digital Stereo output. Dialog is clear, it’s not anything special and you feel like you are watching normal tv. The sound feels a little old but it is serviceable. Closed captioning is provided for the hearing impaired.
Special Features
Disc Three
- Minisodes – Silver Spoons: A Family Affair 3:47: Interesting idea, a 20 minute episode crammed into 4 minutes. For those with ADD I guess. I do love me some Silver Spoons though. This one is interesting because it includes a very young Christina Applegate playing Mr. Schroeder’s geeky girlfriend. See she does have brains. I envy that kid, had an arcade in his house and got to date Christina Applegate, man he had it made.
- Minisodes – VIP: Loh Down Dirty Shame 6:07: A little longer for obvious reasons. The VIP crew are searching after an evil mask or something. The only reason to watch this is of course Pamela Anderson. In particular, when she gets strapped down to a table. Pause is your friend.
- Previews:Rescue Me, Seinfeld Season 9, The King of Queens & Dynamic Duos (TV)(advert for many different television season sets).
Final Thoughts
Reviews for season sets well under way are always interesting fare. There is really nothing I can tell you to sway your decision to buy one way or another. You either have the previous seven and are just waiting on some money to buy the eighth or you have no plans to buy it at all and will instead probably watch it on syndication. Married with Children Season 8 is twenty six more episodes. It’s still a great product but you can see signs of it losing its touch. There are plenty of laughs but they are same recycled ones we have gotten over the years. The dvds are bare bones and don’t really provide any extras (you think they could have included the E! True Hollywood Story or something by now). But sit back, put your hand down your pants and have yourself a good time and marvel at the awesome that is Al Bundy.
Episodes
Disc 1:
A Tisket, A Tasket, Can Peggy Make a Basket
Hood in the Boyz
Proud to be Your Bud
Luck of the Bundys
Banking on Marcy
No Chicken, No Check
Take my Wife, Please
Scared Single
No Ma’am
Disc 2:
Dancing with Weezie
Change for a Buck
A Little off the Top
The Worst Noel
Sofa So Good
Honey, I Blew Up Myself
How Green was My Apple
Valentine’s Day Massacre
Get Outta Dodge
Disc 3:
Field of Screams
The D’Arcy Files
Nooner or Later
Ride Scare
Legend of Ironhead Haynes
Assault and Batteries
Al Goes Deep
Kelly Knows Something
Screenshots
Other Reviews
- CurrentFilm.com: “As irritable and sarcastic (and occasionally vicious) as the show’s humor could be, there was still very much the occasional hint of genuine care between the characters.”
- CHUD.com: “Thankfully the show was entertaining enough to overcome its production issues.”
