The Fox sitcom Married... with Children aired its pilot on April 5, 1987, and its series finale aired on May 5, 1997, with the episode "The Desperate Half-Hour (Part 1)" and "How to Marry a Moron (Part 2)". A total of 259 original episodes aired during the program's run. All 11 seasons are available on DVD, in Region 1. The list is ordered by the episodes' original air dates. Specials that aired during a regular season run are highlighted in yellow in the list. A season 3 episode, "I'll See You in Court", is known as the "lost episode" and did not air in North America until June 18, 2002, five years after the series' original run.
An animated revival of the series with the original cast returning was revealed to be in the works in May 2022.
Series overview
Episodes
Season 1 (1987)
The first season of Married... with Children introduces the major characters: Al, Peg, Kelly and Bud Bundy, along with their neighbors, Steve and Marcy Rhoades. The first season is the only one in which Al and Peg are regularly intimate, to the point of Al initiating the sessions. It is also the only one where Peg can be seen doing housework under normal circumstances (despite being bad at it), and she even has her own car, a Ford Pinto (as seen in "Sixteen Years and What Do You Get"). In "Thinergy," Bud mentions that Kelly had been held back a year in school. Al's dislike of the French is first shown in this season and it is also the first time that he calls Marcy a "chicken." It also contains the first mention of Peg's family being "hillbillies" from the fictional Wanker County, Wisconsin.
Season 2 (1987–88)
At the beginning of the second season, Kelly is portrayed as a girl of reasonable intelligence (though she is often teased by Bud for her promiscuity and bleached hair). By the end, however, her character obtains her trademark stupidity that will become both a plot device and comic focus for the rest of the series. This season also contains the first use of the "Bundy Cheer" and the first instance of the Bundys taking a trip. Additionally, it marked the beginning of the "Thank your father, kids" running gag. Although Buck is portrayed in later seasons as having been with the Bundys since he was a pup, Peg implies that they have had him for only three years and Al states that he is actually Bud's pet; he even "speaks" once ("Buck Can Do It"), something that becomes a regular feature beginning in the fourth season. Michael Faustino (David's younger brother) makes the first of five guest appearances during the course of the series.
Season 3 (1988–89)
The third season marks a notable increase in the show's popularity, based on Terry Rakolta's morality campaign against the show, which began after the episode "Her Cups Runneth Over", where Al and Steve go to a lingerie store in search of Peggy's favorite bra (which had been discontinued). This season also contains the "lost episode" "I'll See You in Court", which was not aired in North America until June 18, 2002, after the show's initial run on the cable channel FX (and was included in the season-three DVD set). Michael Faustino makes his second guest appearance. During the season, the show became the first to have a quarter of the viewership on Fox.
Season 4 (1989–90)
The fourth season had the departure of Marcy's husband Steve Rhoades. Marcy remained single for the remainder of the season. This was also the first season where the audience would applaud when a major character would enter a scene for the first time in the episode, and a Bundyesque version of the classic film It's a Wonderful Life. In the episode "It's a Bundyful Life (Part 2)," Ted McGinley makes a guest appearance as Norman Jablonsky before reappearing as a regular cast member in the next season as Jefferson D'Arcy. Also, Michael Faustino makes his third guest appearance. This was also the final season for writers Marcy Vosburgh & Sandy Sprung.
Season 5 (1990–91)
The fifth season marked the introduction of Jefferson D'Arcy (Ted McGinley), as Marcy's new husband. The series reached its 100th episode this season, which was the pilot for the spin-off Top of the Heap, the first of three spinoffs from Married... with Children. Al's favorite show Psycho Dad is also first referred to in this season, along with his first mention of scoring four touchdowns in one high school football game.
Season 6 (1991–92)