Married... with Children
Breaking Up is Easy to Do (1)
TV Flash files “Breaking Up is Easy to Do (1)” as hour 249 of 259 in the TV Flash guide — Married... with Children (1987–1997) on Fox, season 11, episode 14, aired 1997-02-24, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S11E14: listed hour 249 of 259 in the Married... with Children guide, hour 14 of 24 in season 11. It aired 1997-02-24 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “T*R*A*S*H” (S11E13). Next is “Breaking Up is Easy to Do (2)” (S11E15).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Al agrees to let Peg invite the Darcy's and Griff (plus one) to an evening party in exchange for a month of no sex. As a party game, the pairs test their knowledge of the other half. Unfortunately Al has forgotten the most romantic night between him and Peg, who throws him out to the doghouse, literally... Meanwhile, Kelly is auditioning for a role, but faces stiff competition from her nemesis Heather Talrico, another blonde bimbo. Kelly challenges Heather to a boxing match. The loser has to give up the role. Cue training montage.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Breaking Up is Easy to Do (1) sit in the Married... with Children guide?
S11E14 is listed hour 249 of 259 — hour 14 of 24 in season 11, season 11 episode 14.
When did Married... with Children S11E14 air?
Breaking Up is Easy to Do (1) aired 1997-02-24 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…