Married with Children : The Complete Second Season

Wow I remember all the hubbub people were speaking of when this show debuted. I was way too young to watch but since everyone was like this must be banned I just HAD to. And I did. Its a hilarious show about a family that's just poor and dysfunctional, can't you relate to that?

In 1987, a little show called Married With Children on a little network called FOX, made it's debut and in the process made it's mark on the sitcom genre. The first season was a mid season replacement consisting of only 12 episodes. While the ratings were poor, and the network wasn't quite a network yet, the show struck a nerve and stuck around. Now, we get season 2. The first full season and where the show really started to come into it's own. The tone had been set and the actors had settled into their roles. Season 2 is a vast improvement over season 1, since that season was pretty short and still trying to find it's feet. While I said in my season one review all that really needed to be said about the show, it's characters, and why it was so successful and liked, I'll just stick to the episodes at hand in this season box set. It begins with a two part episode called "Poppy's By The Tree". To me, this is classic Bundy. I have always loved these two episodes and it was around this time that I started watching, so they have great sentimental value to me. "If I Were A Rich Man", finds Steve realizing that a million dollars is missing from the bank and he thinks Al took it. Not a great ep. "Buck Can Do It" is a classic episode that has the family wanting Buck The Dog neutered, but Al can't bring himself to it. A riot!. Another two parter, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", finds Marcy losing her ring down a stripper's pants while out with Peg. Great two parter. "Alley Of The Dolls" is another classic ep that finds The Bundy's in a bowling match with Peg's old high school rival. "You Better Watch Out" is one of the biggest Bundy classics, when a department store Santa crash lands in the Bundy backyard. "Just Married...With Children" is a keeper. Al and Peg go on a game show disguised as Steve and Marcy, but you have to endure torture in order to win. The season finale, "All In The Family", features appearances by Peg's, shall we say, less than stellar family. There are a lot more episodes here, but these are the best. "The Razor's Edge" and "Earth Angel", also fall in there. Not that the season didn't have it's share of duds, because it did. Eps like "Father Lode", where Al tries to keep his race track winnings from Peg, "The Great Escape", which had the family moving into the shoe store after having a termite problem at home and it ruins Kelly's plans to go to a rock concert, "Master The Possibilities", which founds a credit card coming in the mail for dog Buck and the family using it to their fullest advantage, and "How Do You Spell Revenge", which had Al trying to improve Peg's softball skills and Kelly's boyfriend wanting her to get a tatoo to proclaim her love for him, were below average. The cast as I said before, have grown into their roles. Ed 'O' Neill was different as Al in the beginning. He had a New Jersey kind of tough guy accent, but he was become the Al we know here. The rest of the cast have easily dissolved into their individual characters here as well. The show was still a little low in the ratings, but it had gained a bit more momentum this season than in the previous year. That would change even more when a housewife from the mid-west made a stink over the content of the show and tried to get it cancelled, but it resulted in making the show even more popular and gave it a huge spike in the ratings. The show got better than season 2, but this sophomore season really got the show rolling.

We need more people reviewing these DVD sets AFTER they've actually bought them. It's easy to review the show and say how great it was, but what about the quality of the DVDs, what about the extra features? Fine, the second season of Married With Children gets 4 out of 5 stars. It's a slight improvement over the first season, and still beats out some of the goofier/sillier/cartoonish later seasons (you know, for example, like where they show episodes about Kelly landing her own TV show in Hollywood, or where Al sees Aliens stealing his socks - the sort of outlandish - but still hilarious - stuff you'd NEVER see in these early seasons of the series).

As for the DVDs themselves, they're average looking. They aren't what you'd expect of top quality DVDs, but they are serviceable. It's not like you're expecting to watch a widescreen presentation of some awesome sci-fi or fantasy show that dwells on visuals. This is just a comedy, meant for laughs, and what you're seeing on these discs is better than what you'd record on VHS. They squeeze 22 episodes onto 3 discs, which is a tight fit. So there's noticeable compression in the overall look of the show, plus it's grainy and blurry at various times. But it's not so noticeable that it takes you out of the stories. You soon lose yourself in the laughter and forget about the so-so look of the picture.

The much talked about easter egg "bonus features" are simply unaired portions of the cast talking during the reunion special they aired in early 2003. Most of the clips are short, between 30 seconds to a minute. Sometimes it's interesting, sometimes it's like, "Huh?" But I hated the easter egg idea. It's not fun when you goof around with your remote looking for a specific clip, and then you are "rewarded" with a quick 30 seconds or so of cast members talking over each other in a chaotic way about what they thought of the show. Yikes. Stop with the easter eggs. No more! Just place any special features in the menu in a regular way in the future, thank you!

Oh, did I mention they include on the DVD a bunch of advertisements for other shows? Yeah, gee...thanks Sony.

To sum up:
Married With Children: *****
Season Two: ***1/2
Season Two DVD set: ***