An Animated Married... With Children Revival Is In The Works With The Original Cast On Board
Love and marriage, love and marriage ... go together like a horse and carriage ... The theme song to "Married... with Children" has lived rent-free in my mind since childhood, when I would catch reruns of the hit Fox TV series on my tube TV late at night, adjusting the foil-covered antenna for better reception. Because it's 2022 and everything old is new again, there's a new "Married... with Children" in the works, reuniting the dysfunctional fictional Bundy family for the first time since the series went off the air (though the cast reunited in 2012 for Fox's 25th anniversary celebration).
According to Deadline, an animated series with original stars Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate, Ed O'Neill, and David Faustino is being pitched to networks and streamers, written by "Family Guy" executive producer Alex Carter, who will be the series showrunner.
Bringing back the Bundys
The folks at Sony Pictures Television, which owns and distributes the original series, have apparently been working on the new series for over a year. It was important to have the original four members of the Bundy clan involved, so they made sure to close deals with the funny four before looking for a home for the show. "Married... With Children" followed the Bundy family of Chicago, Illinois, led by perpetually lazy patriarch Al (O'Neill), who works as a women's shoe salesman despite really hating women. His wife, Peggy (Sagal) would often beg him for money and attention, while their children Kelly (Applegate) and Bud (Faustino) were regularly getting into some kind of trouble that dear old Dad wanted no part of.
The series debuted in 1987 and ran for 10 years and 11 seasons, serving as a kind of counter-offering to loving sitcom families on other networks. It was one of the first scripted original series on Fox, which in 1987 was still a new network, and its boundary-pushing, provocative comedy helped make the channel stand out from its competitors. The series was created by Michael G. Moye and the late Ron Leavitt, and though some of its episodes have aged poorly, its willingness to test the boundaries of good taste meant that a lot of the bits are still bitingly funny today. "Married... with Children" is still popular in syndication and on streaming, so talks of a follow-up have been around for some time. Part of the problem with making a full-blown revival happen was the casts' busy schedules, but an animated series helped make that revival a possibility. After all, lines can be recorded just about anywhere. There's no word yet on where the "Married... with Children" series will air, though its original home on Fox is a possibility, as are Hulu and Peacock, where the reruns currently stream. Regardless of where it ends up, I can't wait to spend more time with Peggy, Kelly, Al, and Bud, and see just how warped their view of 2022 happens to be.