Married... with Children
The Worst Noel
TV Flash files “The Worst Noel” as hour 170 of 259 in the TV Flash guide — Married... with Children (1987–1997) on Fox, season 8, episode 13, aired 1993-12-19, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S08E13: listed hour 170 of 259 in the Married... with Children guide, hour 13 of 26 in season 8. It aired 1993-12-19 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “A Little Off the Top” (S08E12). Next is “Sofa So Good” (S08E14).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
On Christmas Eve, Kelly and Bud try to sneak in a jukebox to give to their parents who spend the entire show sitting in front of their TV set arguing with each other over the proper speed for channel switching. Also, Marcy and Jefferson throw a wild Christmas party next door and do not tell Al about it.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Worst Noel sit in the Married... with Children guide?
S08E13 is listed hour 170 of 259 — hour 13 of 26 in season 8, season 8 episode 13.
When did Married... with Children S08E13 air?
The Worst Noel aired 1993-12-19 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is this the anti-Cosby sitcom on purpose?
Yes. Crude, anti-sentimental, and built to contrast the warm family sitcom. Fox used the Bundys to tell a young network who it was.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The anti-wholesome sitcom that made Fox a personality — O'Neill's Al is comic misery perfected, Sagal, Applegate, and Faustino the first family of gleeful dysfunction. Shoes, insults, NO MA'AM energy. Essential if you want 1980s TV to sneer back. The Rakolta boycott only made the Bundys more infamous.
The couch is the look. Not a hearth — a slouch in a worn throne, shoes as theology, a wife in leopard who refuses the Cosby sweater. Fox's Married... with Children (1987–1997) dressed gleeful dysfunction as a fourth network's personality: Ed O'Neill's Al Bundy, Katey Sagal's Peg, Christina Applegate's Kelly, David Faustino's Bud. Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt's crude counterprogramming. *Worn leather, cigarette haze, a football score as jewelry.* Style is the plot, even when the plot is an insult. **This was…
Filed against
- Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy
Ed O’Neill’s Al Bundy made Married… with Children a shoe-salesman religion of misery — 1980s catalog Fox sneer, then Modern Family recasting the slouch as Jay Pritchett’s blended-household deadpan. TV Flash files him as the couch that…
- Katey Sagal as Peggy Bundy
Katey Sagal’s Peggy Bundy made Married… with Children a leopard-print weather system — 1980s catalog anti-wholesome, Fox’s first family of gleeful dysfunction. Futurama and Sons of Anarchy proved the same instrument could sing pathos and…
- Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy
Christina Applegate played Kelly Bundy on Married... with Children — the anti-wholesome sitcom that made Fox a personality, O'Neill's Al as comic misery, Sagal, Faustino, the first family of gleeful dysfunction. Shoes, insults, NO MA'AM…
- David Faustino as Bud Bundy
David Faustino’s Bud Bundy made Married… with Children a runt with a punchline — 1980s catalog Fox dysfunction, then The Legend of Korra stretching the voice into a bender’s politically edged sequel. TV Flash files him as the sitcom kid…