MovieChat Forums > Married with Children (1987) Discussion > Inconsistencies/contradictions that detr...

Inconsistencies/contradictions that detracted from the show?

posted 8 years ago by monkeyalien
11 replies | jump to latest

1) Katey Sagal's numerous absences. To unfamiliar viewers it could look like the mother wasn't in the picture. I know she was pregnant at least once and had a miscarriage, but do what you have to do to film around that while including her.

2) Kelly's changing circle of friends. After she left high school she hung out with friends she supposed friends with in high school that we never saw.

3) Al's changing circle of friends. Before No Ma'am it was very inconsistent and the initially large number of members whittled down to a core group.

4) Officer Dan arresting Al numerous times (once as an FBI agent) before being his friend and even being a founding member of No Ma'am.

5) No explanation for how Al & Peg went to high school together in Chicago even though she was from & her parents still live in Wisconsin.

6) Jefferson used to be a spy but couldn't find a way to have a steady income without really working.

7) Al & Bud are the only remaining male Bundys, and later on they weren't.

8) What did Bud go to college for? He took courses in marketing, anthropology, literature, biology, and (in a dream at least) physics. After graduation he goes to work for the DMV and then is Kelly's agent. Maybe he got a degree in business or marketing?

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[–] ExplorerDS6789 8 years ago

Such is an unfortunate side-effect of a long-running comedy series.

4) Officer Dan arresting Al numerous times (once as an FBI agent) before being his friend and even being a founding member of No Ma'am.

It seems he came on board after hearing that Psycho Dad was canceled.

5) No explanation for how Al & Peg went to high school together in Chicago even though she was from & her parents still live in Wisconsin.

Perhaps Peggy's family moved to Chicago for a while? Her father might have been in the military.

6) Jefferson used to be a spy but couldn't find a way to have a steady income without really working.

He just became a lazy, gold-digger.

7) Al & Bud are the only remaining male Bundys, and later on they weren't.

After the England episode, no more male Bundys other than Al or Bud appear, so how is that an inconsistency?

8) What did Bud go to college for? He took courses in marketing, anthropology, literature, biology, and (in a dream at least) physics. After graduation he goes to work for the DMV and then is Kelly's agent. Maybe he got a degree in business or marketing?

General Ed, probably. Or maybe your theory of business and marketing is accurate.

[–] monkeyalien 8 years ago

True.

It seems he came on board after hearing that Psycho Dad was canceled.

He was a founding member of No Ma'am before Psycho Dad was cancelled.

Perhaps Peggy's family moved to Chicago for a while? Her father might have been in the military.

Her father was not the sort to be in the military, in Bearly Men it was show he was clueless about surviving in Chicago, and it's unlikely that her thoroughly redneck parents ever lived near the city. It's been theorized that she lived with an aunt & uncle while she went to Polk High, but Peg once mentioned fornicating with Al in her father's closet while they were dating.

After the England episode, no more male Bundys other than Al or Bud appear, so how is that an inconsistency?

At least two male Bundys were shown in And Baby Makes Money , which admittedly was before the England episodes. That means that the one in prison and the other Bundy guy both died. They were the only male Bundy's closely related to a deceased uncle. It'd be very unlikely that there would be no more Bundys descended from the Bundys who lived in Lower Uncton. I've known families who have no boys to carry on the name from their line, but there's always male second, third, fourth, etc cousins somewhere.

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[–] ExplorerDS6789 8 years ago

That means that the one in prison and the other Bundy guy both died.

Yep, both apparently working in a shoe store at the time.

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 8 years ago

Even if both of the other Bundy and the one in prison died, there was still the baby, who was a Bundy as well so either way it's an inconsistencies.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] moonmarvin 8 years ago

1) Jefferson being an ex-spy is just unbelievable, it makes no sense. First, Jefferson is a con man and opportunist. Then later Jefferson is also a gigolo/male stripper/dancer who walks in the footsteps of his parents. Then later we're told that Jefferson is a dangerous spy capable of killing. But in the first Dud Bowl we hear that Jefferson was a cheerleader in high school. Then Jefferson devolves into a male Peggy.

I would be able to believe that Jefferson is indeed an ex-spy, if he wasn't such a wimp and mama's boy who can't handle tools for simple crafts like installing a satellite dish and who always seems like a irresponsible person.

2) Kelly devolving from a teenage girl with street smarts to a total super idiot in season 11. Even worse is the explanation for her stupidity and superficiality in Requim for a Chevyweight where she hits her head in the Dodge and according to the flashback that happened years before she was a teenager.

[–] moonmarvin 8 years ago

Oh and

3)Marcy's turn from shy, self-conscious and sexually inexperienced to the opposite of that.

[–] monkeyalien 8 years ago

1) Agreed. Con man, opportunist, schemer, gigolo, and stripper could believably go together since he would try to make a lot of money here & there rather than have a steady job and wouldn't shy away from using his looks, but a male high school cheerleader turned spy who it's useless when it comes to normal manly tasks is weird. James Bond is suave but he has practical skills & isn't afraid to literally get his hands dirty.

2) This is cited by people time & time again as a glaring plot hole. The level of stupidity was probably easier to write funny material for than what she started out as. Meanwhile, the writers went the other way with Bug, having him progress from a juvenile delinquent to a book-smart straight-A student.

3) Marcy's evolution could be explained by her becoming more empowered and self-reliant as she got involved in feminism after divorcing Steve. This is muddled by her staying married to the male version of Peggy. A person's political views aren't always one-sided, but several times it's mentioned that she's a Republican which would liekly conflict with her being a feminist and a big supporter of the arts.

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[–] moonmarvin 8 years ago

1) Absolutely. Also, I associate loyality to law and order of the state with a spy and even ex-spy when he is still on the side of that state. But Jefferson is introduced to us as a criminal who spent time in jail. He told Al that he is a "thief, love me for what I am." That spy revelation comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden that feminine "I dream of being the First Lady" man who is dominated by Marcy, presents himself as a major player in political games. I would like to be able to believe that some of his traits or parts of his story are just a disguise, but that's impossible.

2) To me the irony is that without that short flashback in the Dodge I wouldn't mind Kelly's progressing stupidity that much. I mean, there are some really super funny Kelly moments throughout the whole duration of the show.

3) I can see that. Marcy got stronger with time, she is very active socially and she never avoids a fight, especially when she sees a chance to humiliate Al and his friends. And she's academic. She reads books, talks about her experiences with a lot of people, for example her women's group(s?) and unlike Peggy and Al she learns and improves. So it's conceivable that she got experienced in the period after Steve left her and Jefferson married her.
I guess, just like the explanatory flashback, it's a minor detail that bothers me. Marcy never had sex in the backseat of a car and several seasons later (probably the seventh, in the episode where Bud founds his own college society in the garage) she talks to Peggy as if she had been as sexually active and successful as Peggy in her teen and early adult years.

[–] MaximRecoil (4598) a year ago

"Kelly devolving from a teenage girl with street smarts to a total super idiot in season 11."

She was a "total super idiot" long before season 11. I don't know when exactly they first made Kelly unbelievably dumb, but it was definitely closer to season 1 than 11. For example, in the season 4 episode where Peg bowls a perfect (300) game, Kelly repeatedly tries to take pictures with the camera facing the wrong way, blinding herself with the flash every time.

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 8 years ago

I think the show felt somewhat responsible for the miscarriage (Well stillborn considering that she was 7 months when it happened) and just featured her less when she got pregnant the second time on the show.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] MaximRecoil (4598) a year ago

- It didn't make any sense that Al's early 1970s Plymouth Duster (which they referred to as a "Dodge") would be the butt of jokes. The late '80s is when muscle cars, pony cars, and similar American cars from the mid 1960s to early 1970s started becoming highly sought after / valuable, especially Mopars. Al's car probably didn't have many, if any, desirable factory options, but it had a lot of potential, since the body appeared to be straight and rust-free. Put a 340 in it (which was a factory option) and it would have smoked any new car on the road at that time in the quarter mile. It was, and is, an infinitely cooler car than Marcy's 1987 BMW 325i.

- Kelly often teased Bud about his pimples, even though he didn't appear to have any.

- Kelly can't read, except when she can read perfectly.