Season 4, Episode 6: Fair Exchange




synopsis: Over a thanksgiving pizza, the Bundy's realise they can get $500 a month for taking in a French student. She turns out to be a girl hotter than Kelly, stealing all Kelly's action. The Bundy's are a-eatin, but Kelly can't stand dating nerds, so hatches a plan to get rid of her.


6.5/10: Not bad, especially the parts where we see the effect or regular food has on Al, and the Marcy pep-talk telling Kelly why nerds aren't so bad. Milla Jojovich stars in a very early role - wow, she's beautiful.


Dialogue:
-----------------------
Al: A toast to the French. It's a foul little country but they sure do know how write a check, don't they?
-----------------------
(DOORBELL RiNGS. AL AND PEGGY, EATING, INDICATE THE DOOR TO KELLY)
Kelly: Sure. I have no life. I'll get it. Maybe it's someone from the future geeks of America wanting me to join.
(KELLY OPENS THE DOOR. MARCY AND STEVE LEAN IN)
Kelly: Yup, it's the founders.
-----------------------
Marcy: Ohh, now Kelly. You mustn't worry over this. You may find this hard to believe, but I myself wasn't popular in school.
Kelly: The Hell you say.
Marcy: No. It's true. I couldn't get a date with a cool guy no matter how much I put out. I mean, tried. So I finally started dating a nerd.
Steve: You dated a nerd?
Marcy: Yes. His name was.. (GLANCES AT STEVE) ... well, his name isn't important.
----------------------
Bud: Hi, Grandma. Oops! Sorry, Kell. Must've been the way the light hit your crow's feet.

Season 4, Episode 7: Desperately Seeking Miss October




synopsis: Playmate for October 1987 comes into Al's store while Steve's there, and they are eager to get ahold of Al's copy from his collection. Then it turns out Peg has sold them all. Al is crushed until visited by the ghost of his dad, who tells him John Wayne thinks he is man enough to make Peg get em back.


5.5/10: Yes, this was reasonable, but less laughs than usual. Al and Steve giggling like girls was my favourite part.


Dialogue:
------------------
Al's Father: So, how's tricks? How are the kids?
Al: Fine.
Al's Father: How are my Playboys?
Al: You know, huh?
Al's Father: [sarcastically] No, I care how you and the kids are.
------------------
Al: That's it! Steve, she's a Playmate. From Playboy Magazine. Miss October, 1987.
Steve: Can't be.
Al: Steve. I may not know the color of my wife's eyes. I don't know my kids' birthdays. But I know... I know that's Brandi Brandt. Born 1968. Teeny teeny birthmark, 'round bend of left knee. Favorite movie "The Big Bus". Watch this, I'll prove it to you. (TO BRANDI) Uh, Miss? Excuse me, aren't you Brandi Brandt. Miss October, 1987?
Brandi: Why, yes.
(AL AND STEVE GIGGLE EXCITEDLY)
------------------
Brandi: I love the shoes. How much?
Al: Well, they're on the house. After all, you made it possible for Steve and I to have sex with our wives.
------------------
Peggy: What is it about men? They have perfectly good wives at home, and yet they have to look at women like these.
Al: Well, I guess ever now and then a guy who drives a Dodge likes to close his eyes and imagines it's a Ferrari.
PeggY: Yeah, but what difference would that make to you? You don't know how to drive.

Season 4, Episode 8: 976-SHOE



Synopsis: Al has an idea to run a shoe hotline, for people with shoe-related questions, and stumbles into Steve's bank for a loan. Luckily for him, Steve is trying to win a vacation, and gives Al 50 grand.


6/10: Eh, there's some good laughs in this one, but nothing spectacular. First appearance of Officer Dan in this one (though he's not called a name here).

Dialogue:
-----------------------------
Peggy: Gee honey, we're sorry you had a bad day. Would you like some dinner?
Al: Yes.
Peggy: Gee, I was hoping you'd say no.
Bud: Oh hey dad, Mrs. Donelly called and she said her slipper wouldn' fit over her bunion and she wants to know what she should do.
Al: Start walking on all fours the way god intended her to
-----------------------------
Marcy: (to Steve while pointing to Al) You loaned this man 50.000 dollars? That's a thousand dollars an IQ point. And I can't blame Al. A man gives a gun to a chimp and the chimp shoots someone, you don't blame the chimp.
Al: Hey. That was a hidden dig at me, wasn't it? Let me tell you something, the opera ain't over until the last heterosexual falls asleep.
-----------------------------
Al: What can I do better than anybody else?
Kelly: Stink up a shoe?
Bud: Sweat trhough the couch?
Peggy: Miss the toilet in the dark?
-----------------------------
Al: Then you haven't lost anymore respect for me?
Peg: hat would be impossible, wouldn't it, kids? After all, you lost a hundred thousand dollars. How many men who make less than a fry cook can say they lost a hundred thousand dollars?
Bud: A fry cook? Why, Dad makes less than a newspaper boy.
Kelly: A street mime.
Peg: The guy who scrapes dead animals off the highway.
Bud: A lab animal.
Kelly: A circus geek.
Peg: A barnacle scraper.
Bud: A professional miniature golfer.
Kelly: A qualified teacher.

Im a bit late catching to to this series but have been watching it on late night TV. GOAT tv show.

lol...I love how DB is sticking to his goal of getting through the whole series...how many more seasons to go?

The commercials in the Dr. Shoe ep were the best part:

Excuse me, I'm getting a call...

Apparently, you weren't watching...

Nobody knows as much about rgne as Dr. Rgne!

Yeah that line made me laugh a lot

Seven more seasons after this one. I have to say, season 4 contains many of my favourite episodes.

I think it's the best season.

However, There are actuallt several episodes I haven't seen in later seasons, so looking forward to getting there.

Season 4, Episode 9: Oh What a Feeling




synopsis: Al's car is just about on its last tyres, so he digs up the money buried in his lawn to get a new one. Peg already found it.


6.5/10: Not bad, with some nice running themeology about pushing his car (whichever one it is) into the garage. Al never gets the upper hand at all in this one. No Marcy or Steve in this one

Dialogue:
---------------------------------------------------------
Bud: Dad, why don't we just get a new car?
Al: Bud, you don't throw something away just because it doesn't work. If that was the case, you wouldn't have a mother.
---------------------------------------------------------
(Al pushes in an old Gremlin vehicle into the garage to the tune of 'King of the Road')
Al: Oh, no... why, God? What have I done? Am I not fit to die?
Peg: Whoo! Good choice, Honey. It's a much lighter car.
Al: Yeah, I can almost pull this one.
---------------------------------------------------------
Al: All right everybody, let's hold it right there. Now, how long have I known you guys. What, about two, three hundred years? In that time, I've learned to do without several things: a yacht, a summer home, love, respect, food. I can accept that. But I will not live one more day without a car that runs. So, no more advice. I will go out on my own and find my own used-car lot, and if I come home tonight, God willing, it will be behind the wheel of something that goes "vroom!" Al Bundy pushes no more. Now, get out of my car!

I don't mean to hijack your post but...

You are my hero! I think I've finally found someone that appreciates this show as much as or dare I say even more than I do. I would have too much to say to you about this and I don't want to derail you from your episode by episode reviews. Well, not unless you want some side comments and questions being thrown at you. But I actually will read every page of this post to get your thoughts on every single episode.

This is my first post on this site (I think?) and finding this thread made me register. So you know I'm serious lol. But I do play poker so at least I'll be on topic.

Okay, okay, I can't help it. I do have one question about the show that no one else has cared enough nor is obsessed enough to have noticed. Hope you don't mind. I'm sure that throughout the episodes you've noticed, mostly in the first 5 or 6 seasons, during the audiences laughter (or laugh tracks?) there is a quite distinctive laugh that you can hear more often than not. It sounds like a segmented laugh. Definitely a male. Through the years, I've always thought that it was a crew member because it was always there in every episode without fail. Do you know what I'm talking about? If so, do you know anything about it? It has bothered me for a long time! Thanks for reading, and keep it up! The 3rd through 6th seasons were somewhere around the best for me. That 976-SHOE episode is probably my all time top 5 episodes I think. Way too much comedic genius in that one episode alone. Thanks again.

You can post here however you want, as long as it's on topic, it's fine.

I hadn't noticed a laugh. There a distinctive yelp/cheer in some early seasons I think.


I'll listen out for it from now on.

OK, found it!

I was trying to find an example and finally found a clear one, though I swear its in a ton of other episodes. Check out Season 6, "The Gas Station Show" where Al creates and destroys "Bundy Sunday Fun Day". On this clip from youtube, you can hear that distinctive laugh at 3:32, right after Al says "Bundy Sunday Fun Day", and again at 9:39, right after Al says "$1.20...":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENu6GCVlERo

Okay, anyway.

Here's another weird thing about this episode. For the longest time, I thought "Joe" was Anthony Keidis. I don't think I was the only one. Man, that dude looks just like him. Now that I see it, its totally not him. Found out he (Phil Buckman) was also in a bunch of shows such as Rosanne, Frasier, and Beverly Hills 90210 (the original).

Will check the laugh later

he, this youtube is blocked in my country

I'll maybe dig out the DVD later and try and check these out though.

Okay I watched it, and the laugh was like a rapid fire thing? I really hadn't noticed it before. I hope it doesn't now haunt me forever whenever I watch MWC

Season 4, Episode 10: At The Zoo




synopsis: Steve's meant to be looking for a job, but instead going to the zoo etc with Peg, Bud and Kelly. Then Marcy finds out...

9/10: Oh, this is a terrific one - I've seen it before, and forgotten just how funny it was. There's several standout moments, but the jokes come thick and fast in this one. Standouts include - Al trading insults with a little girl selling cookies; a manic-looking Marcy who disarms a robber but can't stop being pissed at Steve during her TV interview; Al and Marcy having a beer and talking like a couple of working Joes; Al's toast to the working man; some jokes about a really old guy at the bar; a double gag where Al/Peg think Marcy/Steve desire them (Peggy's response is just priceless); and a final news report covering Steve trying to return a turtle to the wild...Lake Michigan...

Dialogue:
---------------------------------------------------------
Marcy: Anyhow, remember when I sorta caught that bank robber? What I didn't tell Steve was that they sorta gave me a little reward.
Al: How much?
Marcy: Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Al: Hey, barkeep! A whiskey for the lady, and a deck of cards for me.
---------------------------------------------------------
Steve: Well, I was hoping to do something special. Something that's been on my mind all day, [Steve holds Peggy's hand] but I don't have the nerve.
Peg: Oh, Steve. I know you look at me and just see "man candy", but it can never be. First, I belong to another and second... [laughs] you couldn't handle the ride.
---------------------------------------------------------
Al Bundy: Hey guys, a toast! To the working man. The last American hero. Right guys?
Marcy Rhoades: [along with all the men] Right!
Al Bundy: We work to make a living, and what do we get?
Marcy Rhoades: [along with all the men] Squat!
Al Bundy: And what else?
Marcy Rhoades: [along with all the men] Nothing!
Al Bundy: Then why do we go on?
Marcy Rhoades: [along with all the men] We're stupid!
--------------------------------------------------------



TV News Anchor: And to close, we have a story about a true moron. Tonight, an unemployed househusband and self-described man of nature, thinking that the last Caribbean pygmy turtle born in captivity was unhappy, broke into the zoo aquarium, stole the turtle, and released it into Lake Michigan. Aparently, this man of nature didn't know that it was a saltwater turtle. Witnesses reported that the turtle, Bosco, tried valiantly to crawl back out of the water, only to be thrown back in by this deranged unemployed man, standing on the bank singing "Born Free". Bosco will be missed.
[a photo of a turtle with the caption: 'Bosco, 1901-1989' is shown on the TV screen]

Oh no, the later seasons when Kelly and Bud are teens are the best ones. The college years are pretty lame. Wait til you meet Mr Darcy.

I don't know if this was seen yet, but I saw this the other night:

(for fans of this show, TBS shows a 2 or more hour marathon every night from 2:00am on.

Are you talking to me?

I like Jefferson more than Steve as a character actually, but Steve is absolutely solid and fantastic in places (the burger/ashes episode springs to mind)... I invoke the spirit of Blarg to address this with you

That episode is great. With Steve the show has one dynamic. Watching Peg and Marcy tagteam taliking about their hisband's short-comings is great. But watching Jefferson and Al tagteam on Marcy is funnier, I think

Season 4, Episode 11+12: It's a Bundyful Life Parts 1+2




synopsis: Al gets to the bank late on Christmas eve, and can't get his money out. He gets home with no presents, and Peg and the kids abandon him, and he gets electrocuted fixing the Christmas lights. Then his guardian angel appears, and shows him how live would have been if he'd never lived.

8/10: This is a great pair of episodes, with the terrific Sam Kinison playing Al's guardian angel (the original casting of Al + Peg had Sam Kinison and Roseanne Barr btw!), with lots of solid laughs, especially at Al as he gets more peeved, the happier his family are.

Oh and this is our first glimpse of Ted McGinley, who becomes Jefferson Darcy in season 5! Whooooaaaaaaa Jablonsky!

Dialogue:
---------------------------------------------------------
(Peggy enters. She is wearing a red nightgown and has a huge green bow tied around her.)
Peg: Come unwrap your Christmas present.
Al: [sitting up, excited] Where is it??
Peg: It's me, you feeb.
Al: Aw, Peg, how do you expect me to get excited when you just re-wrap the same old junk I didn't play with the year before?
--------------------------------------------------------
Al:
Twas the night before christmas, and all through the house,
no food was a stirring, not even a mouse.
Stockings were hung 'round dad's neck like a tie,
along with a note that said "presents or die".
Children were plotting all night in their beds,
while the wife's constant whining was splitting his head.
But daddy had money this year in the bank,
then they closed up early, now dad's in the tank.
... and all of a sudden Santa appeared,
a sneer on his face, booze in his beard.
Santa I said as he laughed merrily,
you do so much for others do something for me.
Bundy he said, you only sell shoes,
your son is a sneak-thief, your daughters' a flooze.
Ho Ho Santa said, should I mention your wife,
her hair's like an a-bomb, her nails like a knife.
As he climbs up the chimney, that fat piece of dung,
he mooned me two times, he stuck out his tongue.
And I heard him exclaim, as he broke wind with glee:
YOU'RE MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, YOU'LL NEVER BE FREE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Al: Now who wants to hear about the red-headed Grinch who stole Uncle Al's life?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peggy: Aw, honey. I know what would make you feel better. But I'll never leave you, not in a million years. So, Al, what's the family plan for Christmas this year?
Bud: Five bowls a-flushing?
Peggy: Four 'roids a-throbbing?
Kelly: Three nose hairs waving?
Bud: Two children starving?
Peggy: [singing] One un-touched wife.

The original XMas episode (You Better Watch Out) is one the best in all of TV IMO, but this is a good one too, and a very appropriate take on It's a Wonderful Life. This exchange was my favorite:

Al: I wanna be back with my family.
Angel: Why?
Al: Look at them. They're happy. Not a care in the world. You think I'm gonna let that happen, after all the grief they've put me through? I want to live!
Angel: Bundy, are you serious? That means I'm going to be an angel! I'm gonna get my wings! I'm gonna be a real angel! But first, I'm gonna go take a look at my ex-wife.
Al: You really did love her, huh?
Angel: No. I just want to put a package of Ding-Dongs just out of reach of her pork-pie fingers. And then, as she oozes that thousand-pound bulk over to the table, lifts up three of her chins, so she's able to put one of them into her mouth, I'm gonna turn them into me. A 20-year-old rotting corpse! How do you like that, Thelma? Daddy's home for Christmas! You pig! You slut! Take a bite of this, Shamu! AHHHRRRG!

Okay I've taken time to reflect on the episodes I've seen so far, and I've identified 12 I consider classic episodes. These are one that are usually lat out hilarious, but often they also have a great monologue or running gag that just pays off so well.

Here goes in reverse order:

12. S3E01 He Thought he could - Al has a face-off with a librarian that haunted his boyhood

11. S411+12 It's a Bundyful Life - see a few posts above

10. S2E13 You better watch out - Santa parachutes into the back yard

9. S4E01 Hot off the Grill - Al has a barbeque and makes love to Peg 4 times!

8. S2E22 All in the Family - Peg's family comes to visit

7. S3E21 Life's A Beach - Bundy's hit the beach

6. S1E05 Have you driven a Ford lately? - Al and Steve work on a Ford to get a cool car

5. S1E06 whose Room is it anyway? - Steve and Marcy want to build an extra room, but Al and Peg stick their noses in

4. S2E12 Earth Angel - A young hottie stays, making the neighbourhood men horny

3. S4E10 At the Zoo - Steve avoids getting a job and turns green. Marcy goes psycho.

2. S3E04 A Period Piece - The guys go hunting in the woods, but the women come. And they're all menstruating...

1. S4E04 Tooth or Consequences - Al goes to the dentist


That's my list of classics, imo.

Season 4, episode 13: Who'll Stop the Rain




Synopsis: The Bundys' roof is leaking, but Al insists on fixing it himself. Meanwhile Steve takes a job in a pet store, and brings home one of the animals, which 'disagrees' with Marcy.


7/10: Overall, this is middling, but there is one absolutely fantastic sight gag that I'm not going to spoil for you - but it involves Marcy. I laughed really hard and loud at it.



Dialogue:
----------------------------------------
Al: Peg, the roof's leaking, it's raining on the bed!
Peg: Well, it's nice and dry on my side, honey.
Al: You mean you'd switch with me, Peg?
Peg: No. Oh, come on, Al, let's do it! Show Mommy you can beat the lightning!
Al: I'm gonna fix the roof.
Peg: Now why would you go up there when you can stay here and fix me?
Al: Because when I'm done, the roof won't ask me to fix it again!
----------------------------------------
Al: Alright! Who's going up with me? Besides Bud.
Bud: Dad, if you really want someone to go up one the roof with you, they'd have to be a total moron.
Kelly: Oh no, I'm not going up there.
----------------------------------------
Marcy: He sounded like the old Steve on the phone. Confident, proud, money-grubbing. Oh, I can't wait to see him. His tie swinging erectly in the wind. His taut buttocks yearning to break free from their Gabardine bonds... Peggy, I finally have my Steve back! So here, I'm returning your shower massage.
(Marcy hands Peggy the plastic bag.)
Peg: Oh. If only it could take out the garbage, huh?