On April 5, 1987, the FOX network debuted its first primetime series, an irreverent sitcom about a highly dysfunctional family called "Married... with Children" (followed by "The Tracey Ullman Show"). The series ran for 11 seasons and was a turning point in the careers of actors Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, and Christina Applegate. Plus, it would forever change the way we heard the Frank Sinatra-crooned theme song, "Love and Marriage."
This week, the final season of the series was released on DVD. In the words of Al Bundy, "Let's rock," while we take a walk down memory lane with the stars of "Married... with Children," then and now.
[Photo gallery: See the stars of "Married... with Children" through the years.]
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Before success with "Married... with Children," Ed O'Neill had spent his career doing a string of small film parts and TV appearances. While he was considered for such roles as Sam Malone on "Cheers" and Steven Keaton on "Family Ties," he ended up landing a part in the failed TV pilot "Popeye Doyle" and a cop role in the film "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane." Then he was cast as Al Bundy, and he hit it big at age 41.
Ed can currently be seen on the funniest new show of the season, "Modern Family," playing a not-so-warm-and-fuzzy husband, father, and granddad with a passion for toy airplanes... oops, we mean model airplanes. We're hoping this move wipes away the series of career missteps between "MWC" and "MF" that included "Big Apple," "Dragnet," and "John from Cincinnati."
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Catherine Louise Sagal's younger sisters were famous before she was: they are best known as the Doublemint Twins and stars of the short-lived (and very wholesome) 1980s sitcom "Double Trouble." In the meantime, Katey Sagal built her career slowly, with regular TV guest appearances and stints as a backup singer for an eclectic slate of artists that included Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, and Gene Simmons. In 1985 she landed what must've seemed like her big break, starring alongside Mary Tyler Moore in the TV legend's new sitcom, "Mary." But even TV legends can have major misses, and "Mary" was canceled after just one season. That turned out to be good news for Sagal, as her next TV gig was that of anti-housewife Peg Bundy.
Katey has continued to act, most recently in a recurring role as domineering attorney Marci Klein on "Eli Stone" and as the motorcycle club mama on "Sons of Anarchy." From time to time she's returned to her music roots as well, with two solo CDs and a recent series of cabaret shows at a small club in Hollywood.
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Three months was a good age for Christina Applegate. As an infant, she not only made her first commercial (for Playtex baby bottles) but also landed her first TV gig, on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives" (with her mother, Nancy Priddy). Her movie career kicked off before she was even a tween, with the 1981 horror flick "Jaws of Satan." From there, she worked the TV circuit, playing a young Grace Kelly in a TV biopic and appearing on "Charles in Charge," among other shows. But she didn't make it big until the ripe old age of 15, when she was cast as the ditzy and promiscuous Kelley Bundy on "Married... with Children."
No one spun "Married... with Children" into a successful career better than Christina Applegate. She's had two acclaimed (albeit short-lived) series, "Jesse" and "Samantha Who?," and she's appeared in such films as "The Sweetest Thing" and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." She even conquered the Broadway stage in 2005 as the Tony-nominated lead in a revival of "Sweet Charity" (despite a broken right foot that delayed her debut).
But in 2008 Applegate really saw how much her fans loved her with the outpouring of support that she received after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Now cancer-free and without a regular series, Christina is focusing her attention on her film career. She's got three movies due out in the next year: "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," "Going the Distance," and the aptly named Everything Is Going to Be Just Fine," in which she is reportedly playing another TV legend, "Bewitched" star Elizabeth Montgomery.
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David Faustino was just 13 years old when he landed the choice role of Bud Bundy on "Married... with Children." But it was far from his first gig. That one he nailed at age three months, playing Lily Tomlin's baby girl on a TV special. From there, he took on guest-starring parts on "Little House on the Prairie," "Trapper John, M.D.," and "Fantasy Island." But TV audiences would forever identify Faustino with Bud, the role they watched him grow up playing, even after the series ended in 1997.
Faustino has had the typical rocky road of many former child stars: a series of unimpressive follow-up parts, an inability to break away from the image of his most famous character, and a misdemeanor marijuana possession arrest in 2007. So he decided to take matters into his own hands, forming his own production company, FNB Entertainment, with "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" star Corin Nemec. Among their first projects was an Internet series called "Star-ving." In the Webisodes, Faustino starred as a caricatured version of himself - a down-and-out former child star who can't get a gig and who makes a meager living running a porn shop bequeathed to him by an obsessed fan. But life is not imitating art; Faustino and Nemec have three films in various stages of production.
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Amanda Bearse already had a successful run on "All My Children," and had starred in such kitschy classic films as "Fright Night." But she became a household name when she took the role of Marcy Rhoades (ultimately Marcy D'Arcy) on "Married... with Children." Yet few give credit to the gay actress for coming out on TV 20 days before another GLAAD champion did. Ellen DeGeneres made TV history when her character announced she was a lesbian on the famous "Puppy Episode" of "Ellen" on April 30, 1997. But on April 10 of that year, Amanda took on the dual roles of her regular character, Marcy, and Marcy's lesbian cousin, Mandy, on the episode "Lez Be Friends."
Besides a handful of acting roles, Amanda has stayed behind the camera since "Married... with Children" ended. She honed her craft while helming more than 30 episodes of "MWC" and has since directed a variety of series, including "Dharma and Greg," "MADtv," "The Big Gay Sketch Show," and her former co-star Christina Applegate's sitcom "Jesse."
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David Garrison had done some TV acting prior to taking the part of Marcy's husband Steve Rhodes on "Married... with Children," most notably as Jason Bateman's con artist foil in the sitcom "It's Your Move." But Garrison was far more established in live theater. He'd appeared on and off Broadway in "A History of the American Film," "Torch Song Trilogy," and "A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine," for which he received a Tony nomination. And, although he enjoyed working on the irreverent sitcom, he missed the theater and asked to be let out of his contract in 1990 to return to the stage.
Garrison did go back to the theater after "Married... with Children," but he continued to act on TV as well. While he never stuck with another series for long, he made appearances on the shows "Nikki" (co-starring with his former TV wife, Amanda Bearse), "The Practice," and "The West Wing." He's also continued to pursue his passion for musical theater in productions of "Titanic," "Bells Are Ringing," and "Wicked."
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When her first husband, Steve Rhodes, left her to become a ranger at Yosemite National Park, Marcy quickly scooped up a younger, better looking but incredibly lazy husband named Jefferson D'Arcy. The actor who played him was no stranger to joining an already established show. Ted McGinley has actually been referred to as the "Patron Saint of Shark Jumping," having joined the casts of several hit shows at their critical turning points, including "The Love Boat," "Happy Days," and "Dynasty." But while he lasted only two years on "The Love Boat" and "Dynasty," and four on "Happy Days," McGinley brought incredibly good luck to "Married... with Children." The series ran another seven seasons with Ted in the cast.
Not long after "Married... with Children" wrapped, Ted briefly appeared on the series "SportsNight" and then joined the guest star circuit on a slew of shows, including "The West Wing" and "The Practice." But in 2003, he found a new sitcom family when he was cast as Faith Ford's husband on "Hope and Faith." The show ran for three seasons, then Ted was back on the street looking for work. His feet took him all the way to the "Dancing with the Stars" stage, where he was eliminated second. But, as always, his unemployment was short lived. Look for him later this year in the feature film "Privileged."
2 comments:
These are interesting updates. Married With Children was one of my favorite shows during my childhood (and still is). I enjoy watching reruns of the show whenever it airs. I was flipping through the channels today and saw David Faustino on the GSN game show Lingo. It was a celebrity episode.
This is a nice show which is related to comedy drama. In comparison of TV Channels and online,I always chose online to watch it because from online we can easily
download married with children tv show with good DVD picture quality.
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