Married... with Children: The Complete Series

but I love the show and well the pricing makes the packaging bearable. The box comes with two plastic spindles which hold the dvds, so six seasons share one season and five the other spindle. while this is a great space saver. I do not understand why the spindles are so cheap why not make the tray/spindle a hard plastic? and the slip cover is ok, but not as sturdy as it should be.now onto the show itself. I lost track of the series during the last few seasons. I did not realize it was on for 11 seasons. and even though fox was screwing around with the schedule I had seen more of these episodes than I thought I did. But watching them straight through and seeing the evolution of the characters worked out great. there are a few featurettes that have interviews with the cast as well as easter eggs that have additional unaired clips from a reunion special. and there is an episode from the third season that wasn't aired (or so it says, but I swear I've seen it before...and in hindsight I wonder why it wasn't shown originally as they had done far more controversial episodes throughout their run.One thing I did notice (which is the beauty of watching a show season by season...as you can see things you missed when they first aired) is that the show never really jumped the shark, as it pretty much was an over the top production to begin with. the show seemed to relish in its absurdities. There were times when a character fell off the roof and it was obvious it was a dummy, and someone would say, ok we can see that's not a real person, well those people didn't get the joke. the writers invited us into their twisted little world. and they let us in on the jokes, so in some ways the show was a satire of all other family based sitcoms, and on the other hand it was a very unique take on the family sitcom. The cast was perfect, the writing was spot-on and no matter how absurd it got, you couldn't help but laugh. It never took itself too seriously and it never tried to be something it wasn't. this was blue collar tv, before Rosanne (though many give that show credit for being the one that started the trend, even though Married with Children did it first....and best).Perhaps fueled by the controversy that surrounded it, the show became rather iconic even if it never was a number one show (fox was just starting out after all). But, I had never heard of a show that had such strong word of mouth and was as identifiable without being a Nielsen powerhouse. Well, not until this show turned up, same as with The Simpsons, everyone knew of the Simpsons and the catchphrases without it being a number one show either. My favorite part is how when the show started you find Bud playing a believable son to fictional Al (who was a bit of a caricature unto himself, perhaps a character no one else could have played but Ed O'neil) and you kind of saw him as a "bundy" and you saw Kelly as what Al could never be (popular, loved and happy) so when the show progressed and it was Kelly who became more like Al, you kind of find it more believable when Al says what his life could have been. The young and beautiful Kelly seemed to have a promising life ahead of her, but in the end you find that life can shatter even the most promising of dreams. She was more like Al than you would have thought. He was popular in high school too. now...he's married with Children.Katy Segal plays Peggy perfectly. You can see why Al can both love her and be frustrated with her at the same time. Though you really can't understand why he wouldn't want to go to bed with her. as she is a beautiful woman, perhaps too extreme at times. There were times when the writers made her rather unlikable. I guess it helped the story along, but at the same time it made you wonder why Al would have put up with her for so long.though the details can be rather inconsistent, I don't think it matters, or that they care. Obviously they could not have done anything they did or have what they had if he really didn't make any money as a shoe salesman, and at times the over-exaggeration can be a bit trying, but they somehow managed to make you forget all of that with some great lines. Though I found Peggy wasn't given as many great lines as Al. maybe they needed more female writers I am not sure. But overall the show was great and highly rewatchable.One last thought, since this show got a lot of bad press about it's dysfunctionaltiy I would like to say that with this show, no matter how over the top they got, no matter how mean they would be to each other at times, when it really got down to it they loved each other. and they always had each other's back. While they might harass each other without a second thought no one else could. They had each other's back. that's something you don't really see in most family oriented shows, or they were more talk than action. In Married with Children you got the sense that even though they seemed like they hated each other when it came right down to it they actually cared about each other. You get the feeling too that the cast got along in real life as well, as the chemistry is strong, and though the supporting characters may seem to despise the bundys you feel as if the actors respected each other. and in the end, I believe that if a show is to be successful you not only need talented actors but you need them to have the right chemistry together. The actors all seem to respect and care for each other (you can see this more when you watch the featurettes) and that comes across In the show, and that's why it's not hard to like this rather strange but relatable family

Married With Children was the often controversial series that aired on Fox from 1987 to 1997, starring Ed O'Neil as Al Bundy, Katey Segal as his wife Peg, Christina Applegate as their daughter Kelly, and David Faustino as their son Bud. It was basically marketed as the "anti-Cosby" show centered around Al Bundy as the stereotypical loser whose life peaked in high school where he was a star quarterback. Reality smacks him, however, and he ends up with a job he hates (as a shoe salesman), and a family he does his best to avoid. Peg is a housewife who never does anything around the house, Bud is a loser that cannot get any dates and Kelly can get any date she wants. They are a typical trashy suburban, non-politically correct family whose neighbors Marcy (played by Amanda Bearse) and Steve (played by David Garrison) and later Jefferson (played by Ted McGinley) are total politically correct snobs who take great pleasure and looking down on (and yet sometimes getting in the mud with) the Bundy's.The complete series is just a repackaging of the individual season DVD releases. All of the discs are stacked together on large spindles that are accessible after the case is unfolded. Of course, you want to watch the discs pretty quickly to see if any are scratched as the stacking of the discs is not the best way to store them. Everything that was included on the single-season releases (even the replacement of the "Love and Marriage" theme song after the second season) carries over. This means that all of the extras (or lack thereof in the later seasons) are included, but there are no extras specific to the complete series release.Overall, the show was good but is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The humor was meant to be offensive and there are definitely things that got aired that would never be aired today. It was not politically correct by any stretch of the imagination, and it made fun of pretty much every topic under the sun. The final couple of seasons were definitely not as good, and the series never did get a proper ending. The final episode most definitely did not have a series finale feel...it was just another episode that not all of the characters even appeared in. If you are easily offended then this is not a show that will appeal to you, but if you like more offbeat sitcoms, it holds up fairly well even thirty-plus years later.

This review is regarding the "Married... with Children: The Complete Series" 32 DVD version that is listed for sale. I hear it's a good version with a not an excessive amount of compression so the picture looks pretty good.The difficulty with ordering the 32 DVD version is that Amazon keeps shipping the 22 DVD version to me (that has more compression and a lower video quality). Not sure if there is a way to obtain the 32 DVD version from Amazon now - I have not been able to (but I've only tried twice.)

I always liked this show. However, in today's PC society you won't see shows like this anymore. This makes this show all the more appealing now. This DVD set is a good quality and seems to be the real deal. You have to watch out because there are some copycat versions that have bad video quality out there.

This is a great set. The only issue I have is with the picture of the box. The actual box is a different box than what is advertised. The only reason that made a difference to me is because the original box was made out of cardboard, which is not very durable and I was hoping this was made out of plastic so I spent more on it. When I received it the box was identical to the other cardboard box. The picture is different on this site. If the picture had been the same as the one that was sent I would have known it was the same box set. I would not have spent more on it. That's the only complaint I have. It's still a great show.