Married... with Children (1987–1997)
9/10
It just makes you feel so good...
24 January 2007
It's hard not to fall in love with this show. It's not terribly deep, yet still there's something about it. The main reason is because the characters are pretty entertaining:

* Al Bundy: politically incorrect, "sexist" (so to speak), bitter, he's the lovable dad. But not lovable in the same sense Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are lovable (fat, dumb & nice), Al is actually fit, fairly intelligence and rude at times. But that's why we love him: he's not rude because of a sinister intent, he's rude because his life is screwed up enough to kill any desire he might have to be polite or diplomatic. And why wouldn't he be so bitter? He's in his 40's, he's a shoe salesman in a forsaken mall, his pay is next to nothing (worse yet, he gets paid in Pesos), he has a lazy, useless, nagging wife who always puts him down, a viciously stupid blonde daughter who's promiscuous and nearly proud about it, his son is smart but he's kinda short and is a miserable failure in his love life, yet the son is always confident in his abilities to get girls. Not only that, but he seems to have the worst luck in the world. He just can't get a damn break. To top it all off, his neighbors annoy the hell out of him. Al is revered and loved by every guy on Earth, and loathed and feared by every woman.

* Peggy Bundy: enormous red hair, constantly-worn high heels (causing her to walk funny), super lazy, can't cook, can't do dishes, can't do laundry, can't do anything at all. Or doesn't want to. Either way, her main hobby (other than sitting in front of the TV all day watching Opera and Soap Operas) is to put Al Down about his lousy job, laughable income, crappy car and miserable life. Al is always down on himself and fed up with life, so he doesn't have time for her, thus she's almost always in heat. But Al does not desire women anymore (well, not the ones who are married to him, at least), so he always finds ways to circumvent those requests of hers, even though Peggy *is* one helluva gal: sexy, fit and beautiful.

* Kelly Bundy: a legendary TV character, Kelly is worshiped by guys all over the world. She's the epitome of sexiness: glaringly bright blonde hair that flows like a platinum-gold waterfall, a curvy, staggeringly sculpted body, creamy-white, silky skin, and killer legs, topping it all off with an angelically beautiful face of luscious red lips, dazzling white teeth with a cute little gap in the front and mesmerizing eyes. Kelly (played by Christina Applegate) is the dream of every guy, every age, any taste. Despite her physical credentials, she's horribly stupid, to much of the agony of her dad, seeing how her idiocy comes at the worst possible times (she was a witness once for her dad). One of the reasons to watch the show. Of course, many other shows have had (and will continue to have) characters that might come close, but there will always be one Christiana Applegate. Those who saw Christina only in recent work (Anchorman, etc.) will be shocked to see how even MUCH sexier she was back then. Cracks non-stop jokes about her brother's lousy love life and bad skin.

* Bud: cracks non-stop jokes at his sister's promiscuity. He'd joke about her stupidity too, but doesn't, knowing she won't get them. Bud is pretty damn funny with sarcastic comments and endless trainwreck relationships.

The interaction of these characters, the situations they put themselves in, the crap that life throws at Al, all reasons to get addicted to the show. I still watch reruns and taped episodes.

The one big flaw of this show came later on: the audience. The laughter is alright, but they applauded EVERY character, EVERY episode. Every time a character walks in, they applaud. It's a waste of time. First it was Al and Kelly (which is just fine by me, I still applaud them every time), then it extended to the rest of the family, THEN the neighbors (Steve and Marcy, then Marcy and D'arcy). It was pretty damn annoying. Another smaller annoyance is 'talking' for Buck the dog. WTF? The human characters are fine, thank you very much. But those are more annoyances than they are problems. Four words sum up this show: thoroughly enjoyable, hopelessly addictive. You'll fall in love with this show in no time.
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