For eleven years, Married…With Children was destination viewing for plenty of fans. Considering how often the show is part of morning TV reruns in syndication, it’s hard to imagine how “my ready for prime time” the crass Bundys were. The show delivered plenty of great episodes over the years, but there’s also a couple of clunkers in there, too. But for a show as popular as Married, most episodes still have their moments and aren’t rated too terribly amongst fans.
Despite being “worst” episodes, even some of these shows are considered classic episodes. Here are the 10 Worst Married With Children Episodes According To IMDB.
The Dud Bowl (7.3)
Al and his old high school friends pay their respects to a friend, when their old rivals from George S. Patton high, come by and challenge them to one last football game. The team has since been renamed to the Jacqueline Onassis First Ladies. Polk Panthers pulverize pink powderpuffs. But try as they might, Al and his friends were no match for their former rivals, led by Jack Franklin. How could they be? Franklin went and found himself ringers - football legends Bubba Smith, Lawrence Taylor, and Kenny Stabler.
Buck Has A Bellyache (7.3)
It’s been years since we’ve seen Peggy’s family from Wanker County. But with a very pregnant Peggy looking any kind of sympathy, and not getting any of it at home, she headed back to Wanker County, hoping for at least one person to give her some sympathy pregnancy pains.
Meanwhile, Buck hasn’t been feeling well, and the family was too busy doting on him to even notice that Peg was gone.
A Man For No Seasons (7.2)
In 1994, the MLB players went on strike. Apparently, some of them needed the money because they guest-starred in this episode. Mike Piazza, Frank Thomas and several other stars of the day took part in “A Man For No Seasons.” With no baseball to watch, Al and his NO MA’AM friends broke into Wrigley Field. The adult bars decide to sponsor their own baseball league, and Al is the star. But then their own player salaries come into question and they go on strike too.
England Show III: Spending As Fast As We Can (7.2)
The entirety of “The England Show” unfortunately wasn’t very good. The Bundys have been on vacation several times before, but despite being a big three-part episode, something just seemed off for each one. The big concluding chapter, “Spending As Fast As We Can,” sees the Bundys trapped between two towns. Al agrees to a duel with Lower Uncton’s champion. Considering the episode’s subtitle, the writers knew what a clunker they had on their hands.
Change For A Buck (7.2)
There have been a few episodes over the years that focus on the family’s dog, Buck. They’re usually pretty good too, like The Lady And The Tramp-inspired “Look Who’s Barking.” In “Change For A Buck,” after watching the Bundys go on about their “non-lives,” Buck takes off and unfortunately lands in the pound. Will choose going to see a Nudie-show or will the family whistling the theme from Lassie help overcome Al with emotion enough to save the family dog?
Every Bundy Has A Birthday (7.1)
Considering how terrible the idea was for the Bundys to introduce their own little “Cousin Oliver” in Seven, it’s amazing that not every episode on this list is a Seven-episode. In “Every Bundy Has A Birthday,” The real Bundy children can’t stand their adopted brother, who Peggy can’t help but shower with affection that both Bud and Kelly, and even Al feel like they never got.
The family heads to the park where they can have a free birthday party for Seven, but a wealthy family is there that rented the whole field. The Bundys don’t seem to mind, until the kid starts getting razzed by another kid, it’s quickly apparent that even though the family isn’t fond of him, the little booger’s still a Bundy.
Radio Free Tremaine (7)
As the show got more and more popular, the writers tried several times to create spin-off shows. “Radio Free Tremaine” was the best of these, but that’s still saying much. At least this episode featured a young future acclaimed actress, Keri Russell. While Bud is trying to win her affections over big, brawny Nikolai; two other yahoos are trying to get Dean Rhoades expelled. That brings Marcy into the story, to try and stick it to her ex.
Magnificent Seven (6.5)
The show took a few missteps during the sixth season. But the series’ biggest flop came as the seventh season premiere. Someone decided that the show needed to introduce a new kid. At least the season before, it was due to writing Katey Sagal’s pregnancy into the show. But here, a couple of Wanker cousins just decided to drop their kid off on the Bundy’s doorstep. Seven Wanker Bundy was not received well at all. Luckily, he barely lasted a full season.
Top Of The Heap (5.8)
As the only spin-off to make it to its own series, “Top Of The Heap” worked as a decent continuation of Al’s con artist friend, Charlie and his son, Vinny. Al lost his TV, thanks to betting on Vinny, who lost a boxing match.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Vinny try to enter high society by sneaking into a fancy party and getting Vinny to marry a rich woman. While Charlie and Vinny were good guest stars on Married, Top Of The Heap was doomed from almost the start.
Enemies (5.9)
Not even Kelly Bundy herself, Christina Applegate and guest star, Alan Thicke could save this clunker of an episode. Much less help this “Enemies” TV show off get spun off from this episode. Named as a riff on Friends, this episode was centered Tom, Shannon, and their on-again / off again relationship. Tom decided to date Kelly to get back at Shannon. Shannon for the same reason went with Thicke’s Henry. Everyone thought a double-date was a good idea. But much like the idea for this show, it wasn’t.
Next: Top 10 Married With Children Vacation Episodes (According To IMDb)
