Married... with Children
The Desperate Half-Hour (1)
TV Flash files “The Desperate Half-Hour (1)” as hour 257 of 259 in the TV Flash guide — Married... with Children (1987–1997) on Fox, season 11, episode 22, aired 1997-05-05, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S11E22: listed hour 257 of 259 in the Married... with Children guide, hour 22 of 24 in season 11. It aired 1997-05-05 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Damn Bundys” (S11E21). Next is “How to Marry a Moron (2)” (S11E23).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Al is kicking Peg and the kids out so he can watch Death Wish 6 3-D in privacy on pay per view. But Bud also needs the house for himself: his pen pal Starla is getting out of prison and is coming to see him. Unfortunately, Starla decides to rob the Bundy's at gunpoint. It turns out that she has escaped and is on the run, so she ends up holding the Bundys hostage. Starla also has a dim-witted boyfriend, to whom Kelly becomes attracted to. And the feeling is mutual. Then the D'Arcys, who are about to leave on a charity masquerade cruise, barge in and end up hostages as well.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Desperate Half-Hour (1) sit in the Married... with Children guide?
S11E22 is listed hour 257 of 259 — hour 22 of 24 in season 11, season 11 episode 22.
When did Married... with Children S11E22 air?
The Desperate Half-Hour (1) aired 1997-05-05 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…