Married... with Children
Turning Japanese
TV Flash files “Turning Japanese” as hour 229 of 259 in the TV Flash guide — Married... with Children (1987–1997) on Fox, season 10, episode 20, aired 1996-03-17, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S10E20: listed hour 229 of 259 in the Married... with Children guide, hour 20 of 26 in season 10. It aired 1996-03-17 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Spring Break (2)” (S10E19). Next is “Al Goes to the Dogs” (S10E21).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Marcy is up for a promotion, but to get promoted, she needs to impress her Japanese boss, Mr. Shimokawa, by serving him dinner and presenting him her grateful neighbors, the Japanese Bundys! Of course, she needs to bribe the real Bundys to stay out of sight for the duration of the visit. However, it just happens that Mr. Shimokawa hears the sound of Al's Dodge 1971 - a car missing form his collection. To ensure her promotion, Marcy needs the car for Mr. Shimokawa. But what will it take to get Al to give up his car?
Viewer FAQ
Where does Turning Japanese sit in the Married... with Children guide?
S10E20 is listed hour 229 of 259 — hour 20 of 26 in season 10, season 10 episode 20.
When did Married... with Children S10E20 air?
Turning Japanese aired 1996-03-17 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…