Married With Children
Do you guys remember those wacky early years when Fox was a new TV station? After decades of three big networks things suddenly seemed to get extra stupid or offensive or low brow or funny. In Living Color and The Simpsons premiered after Married With Children but if you'd asked a decade ago which would produce the most varied careers for its stars, MWC seems like the long shot. Yes, it was our "family" show for a while, which I like to tell people when I first meet them. It makes Mom seem that much more eccentric.
The show lasted until just after I graduated from high school, an 11 year run. I always thought it would be Ed O'Neill's defining role, his Obi Wan Kenobi. But Jay Pritchett is just as distinct. When I first started watching Futurama, I thought of Leela as Peg Bundy, but now it's almost the opposite. Sitting here watching Katey Sagal on MWC, I'm hearing Leela whine at Al. And possibly the most successful of the lot is Christina Applegate and that is a testament to her acting ability. Kelly Bundy is one of the dumbest characters ever on a sitcom, but look at everything else Applegate has done after. She's been on multiple network comedies. She's had a Broadway career. She's fought and defeated breast cancer. Then there's Bud. He's been working, too, but compared to the others, he seems to have gotten the fuzzy end of the lollypop. Of course there are very, very few people in the world who ever get to be on a TV show, let alone one that lasts for 11 seasons and continues to play in syndication. I suppose Faustino can't complain too much.
Of all the Fox sitcoms, this seems as unlikely as the rest to be a success. Herman's Head? Brisco County Junior? Drexell's Class? But I guess when you look at the (shockingly) long list of shows that have been on the network over the years, it seems like everything is equally likely. Imagine, there once was a time when there were only three channels to chose from. Everyone watched the same thing and we had a shared history. Now there's room for just about everything. I don't think that's something to be mourned, despite no longer being able to know everyone is watching the same thing at the same time. Now we get our news on Facebook and watch things hours or days after they air. The old world is gone.
The show lasted until just after I graduated from high school, an 11 year run. I always thought it would be Ed O'Neill's defining role, his Obi Wan Kenobi. But Jay Pritchett is just as distinct. When I first started watching Futurama, I thought of Leela as Peg Bundy, but now it's almost the opposite. Sitting here watching Katey Sagal on MWC, I'm hearing Leela whine at Al. And possibly the most successful of the lot is Christina Applegate and that is a testament to her acting ability. Kelly Bundy is one of the dumbest characters ever on a sitcom, but look at everything else Applegate has done after. She's been on multiple network comedies. She's had a Broadway career. She's fought and defeated breast cancer. Then there's Bud. He's been working, too, but compared to the others, he seems to have gotten the fuzzy end of the lollypop. Of course there are very, very few people in the world who ever get to be on a TV show, let alone one that lasts for 11 seasons and continues to play in syndication. I suppose Faustino can't complain too much.
Of all the Fox sitcoms, this seems as unlikely as the rest to be a success. Herman's Head? Brisco County Junior? Drexell's Class? But I guess when you look at the (shockingly) long list of shows that have been on the network over the years, it seems like everything is equally likely. Imagine, there once was a time when there were only three channels to chose from. Everyone watched the same thing and we had a shared history. Now there's room for just about everything. I don't think that's something to be mourned, despite no longer being able to know everyone is watching the same thing at the same time. Now we get our news on Facebook and watch things hours or days after they air. The old world is gone.