|
Archive-name: tv/married-w-c-faq
Version: 43
Posting-Frequency: every month
URL: http://world.std.com/~tob/mwc.faq
Subject: 0.0. Introduction and Intent
A short FAQ for alt.tv.mwc, the Married... With Children newsgroup.
There are other informative documents for this group, notably Dean
Adams' program guide. Unlike those, this file attempts to answer
frequently asked questions that keep coming up.
You may freely copy and distribute this file for personal use provided
that it is distributed in its entirety, with all original author and
copyright information intact. Any sales of this document are expressly
forbidden, without the specific consent of the author.
Subject: 0.1. Table of Contents
0.0. Introduction and Intent
0.1. Table of Contents
1. Internet resources.
1.0. Where can I get Dean Adams' MWC program guide?
1.1. Is there a list of interesting quotes from MWC?
1.2. Are there MWC ftp sites? WWW pages?
1.3. (removed)
1.4. How do you know the names of the episodes?
1.5. How can I buy a NO MA'AM T-shirt?
1.6. How can I contact FOX TV on the net?
1.7. How can I order MWC-related books over the net?
2. Being a good newsgroup neighbor
2.0. Should I post binaries here? (GIFs, JPGs, WAVs...)
2.1. Someone has crossposted to all the tv groups!
2.2. But there are no rules. I'll post what I want.
2.3. What about UEA/Unhappily Ever After?
3. About the show itself
3.0. What was the deal with Seven? (The little blond boy)
3.1. What happened to David Garrison (Steve Rhoades)?
3.2. Peggy and Marcy were pregnant and suddenly they weren't.
What happened?
3.3. What was The Lost Show?
3.4. What was the deal with the episode about the radio
station? ...the episode about the Verduccis? ...the
episode with Kelly in a weird double-date at some
restaurant?
3.5. Who sings the MWC theme song?
3.6. What was the deal with the red convertible?
3.7. What was the deal the strange scene at the end of "The
Unnatural", where Al plays baseball?
3.8. What does "NO MA'AM" stand for?
3.9. What name is "Al" short for?
3.A. How come in some episodes Peggy only has one scene ...
3.B. What is the full name of the hispanic woman reporter ...
3.C. What happened to Marcy's niece Amber?
3.D. What are the words to the Psycho Dad theme song?
3.E. Does anyone know why MWC was cancelled?
3.F. In syndication, why do they keep showing just the episodes from
the last few seasons?
4. About the stars
4.0. Has Christina Applegate ever posed nude? (No)
4.1. Isn't Amanda Bearse a lesbian?
4.2. Why did they replace Buck The Dog?
4.3. How can I write to members of the cast?
4.4. Is Christina related to the porn star Colleen Applegate?
5. What else have the MWC stars appeared in?
6. Acknowledgements
6.0 Maintainer
6.1 Contributors to this FAQ
7. The obvious.
7.0. What was the best show on TV?
Subject: 1.0. Where can I get Dean Adams' MWC program guide?
This used to be available at http://www.nyx.net/~dnadams/mwcguide.zip
but that link recently want dead. If anyone has a live url, please
let me know.
Subject: 1.1. Is there a list of interesting quotes from MWC?
Bob Pack used to post a list, but none of the links to it seem to work
any more.
Joachim Raue has collected some in English
http://www.weihenstephan.org/~joaraue/goto/ebquotes.html
and in German translation
http://www.weihenstephan.org/~joaraue/goto/dbquotes.html
Also see http://www.bundydomain.com/ for another list
Subject: 1.2. Are there MWC ftp sites? WWW pages?
I have made these as up-to-date as I was able, but the net changes all
the time and I don't have time to constantly recheck everything. If the
addresses given don't work and you can get me better information, please
do.
Having been informed that it's unwieldy to type in the URL's by hand, I
have placed an index of all the MWC web pages I know of at:
http://world.std.com/~tob/mwc.htm
Note that the extension is _3_ letters. The page also includes links to
Dean Adam's guide and Bob Pack's list (Subject 1.1 and Subject 1.2), an
interview with David Faustino, and miscellaneous MWC-related material.
Email me if there are any problems.
Subject: 1.3. Is there a MWC drinking game?
Yes, there is again, at:
http://home.t-online.de/home/ManuelWEB/drink.htm
Subject: 1.4. How do you know the names of the episodes?
There are several ways. The Sony site has them (See Subject 1.2), Dean
Adams' program guide has them (See Subject 1.0), and at least one
electronic TV guide has them.
Subject: 1.5. How can I buy a NO MA'AM T-shirt?
See Ed Bell's webpage, http://members.aol.com/eeb2/nomaam.htm
Subject: 1.6. How can I contact FOX TV on the net?
There is an email link at the Fox site,
http://www.foxworld.com/ptsun.htm
or you can email Fox directly at
mailto:askfox@foxinc.com
Also suggested, which I couldn't access when I tried to confirm it:
http://bbs2.iguide.com/cgi-foxworld/podium
Subject: 1.7. How can I order MWC-related books over the net?
There are at least 2 MWC-related books that can be ordered over the net
with just a credit card, all from amazon.com:
Bundyisms : The Wit and Wisdom of America's Last Family
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1572972513/theworldwidebullA/
Pig out with Peg
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0380764318/theworldwidebullA/
Amazon.com says that "The Big Book of Bundyisms : Married With Children"
will now not be published, as with the show out of production, it is no
longer seen as a viable project. [thx to Stuart Manning]
Subject: 2.0. Should I post binaries here? (GIFs, JPGs, WAVs...)
Please don't. There are better options, such as putting it on your web
page, on your ftp site, or posting it to a binaries group.
The binaries group alt.binaries.multimedia.the-bundys was created
specifically to be an appropriate place for binaries that would
otherwise be posted on alt.tv.mwc. Note that all on-topic material is
appropriate to either one group or the other (alt.tv.mwc or
alt.binaries.multimedia.the-bundys), so no-one is being asked to not
post their stuff.
Also, if you're posting just to hear whether that nude pic is really
Christina, it isn't; see Subject 4.0.
Subject: 2.1. Someone has crossposted to all the tv groups!
Please just killfile the thread until it dies. Spammers usually do not
go back and read the replies to their posts in dozens of newsgroups. It
does no good to post a complaint within the group.
By replying to a spam in public, you inadvertantly become a spammer
yourself by cross-posting your reply to all of the groups the spammer
originally posted to. Complaining to the poster's internet service
provider is recommended.
If you feel you must answer, please answer by email instead of publicly,
so that your flamage only afflicts the one that crossposted it.
Subject: 2.2. But there are no rules. I'll post what I want.
It's true that no unmoderated group (alt or otherwise) has enforceable
rules. If they did, we'd see a lot less spam but a lot more censorship.
Nevertheless, there's a reason Usenet has lots of different newsgroups,
rather than one big one. There's value in following a consensus about
what things belong where. Everybody (except spammers) benefits.
Subject: 2.3. What about UEA/Unhappily Ever After?
Unhappily Ever After is a TV show on the WB that was modelled in many
respects on MWC, and shares many of MWC's former writers and producer.
alt.tv.mwc has become the ~de facto~ home for traffic about UEA.
alt.fan.nikki-cox (for one of the UEA stars) exists on some sites, but
for some reason has not garnered noticeable traffic.
I believe the general feeling in alt.tv.mwc runs as follows: Most
readers seem to have no objection to it, and many appreciate it to some
degree. However, a minority of readers vocally object to UEA traffic.
For the moment, I don't believe it's wrong to post UEA traffic as long
as the subject line clearly says "Unhappily Ever After" or "UEA".
If you honestly feel strongly about not seeing it, it's easy to killfile
UEA/Unhappily Ever After. In rn and its derivatives:
/UEA/K:j
/Unhappily Ever After/K:j
It's also relatively easy to create alt.tv.uea, alt.tv.unhappily-e-a, or
alt.tv.the-malloys. If someone wants to do that, I'll adjust this FAQ
appropriately.
Subject: 3.0. What was the deal with Seven? (The little blond boy)
In the 7th season, in what appeared to be an attempt to appeal to a more
mainstream audience, the producers hired Shane Sweet to play the
recurring character Seven.
The storyline (in the 7th season opener) is that relatives come to visit
the Bundys and stick them with their kid.
It quickly became clear that the fans were not happy with the new
direction or the new character. The writers at first wrote fewer lines
for him, and then wrote him out altogether. His disappearance was never
explained in the show, although "Rock Of Ages" (NOT his last show) hints
at an explanation.
Shane Sweet's last appearance was on "Peggy and the Pirates". However,
his face appeared in two later episodes. I will not spoil the jokes by
explaining this.
Subject: 3.1. What happened to David Garrison (Steve Rhoades)?
David left the show to further his Broadway career. He was not fired, he
bought out his own contract.
The last show that aired with Steve Rhoades as a regular character was
_Rock and Roll Girl_. This was slightly confusing to some viewers, since
R&RG was not written to be his last show. _A Taxing Problem_ was
actually the last regular Steve Rhoades episode to be shot, and sets up
his departure better.
In _You Gotta Know When To Fold 'Em_, Steve's disappearance is explained
-- he left Marcy to become a forest ranger in Yosemite national park.
He has returned 4 times, in "The Egg And I", "Peggy and the Pirates",
"Get the Dodge out of Hell", and "Radio Free Trumaine".
Subject: 3.2. Peggy and Marcy were pregnant and suddenly they weren't.
What happened?
Katey Sagal was pregnant in real life, as she was in the first half of
the sixth season. Unfortunately she miscarried. She was reportedly
willing to continue the story line, but the producers decided against
it. In the episode "Al Bundy, Shoe Dick", both pregancies were explained
as a bad dream.
Subject: 3.3. What was The Lost Show?
"The Lost Show" was slated to be episode 310, "I'll See You In Court".
The producers could not come to an agreement with the network censors,
and the episode has never aired in the US. It has aired in Europe.
Producer Michael G. Moye has said about the episode: "If it aired today
people would wonder what the problem was."
There is a much fuller explanation in Dean Adams' program guide. (see
Subject: 1.0.)
Subject: 3.4. What was the deal with the episode about the radio
station? ...the episode about the Verduccis? ...the
episode with Kelly in a weird double-date at some
restaurant?
Married... With Children was Fox's longest-running show. As such, they
have used it three times as a "launching pad" for attempted spinoffs:
"Top of the Heap" (the episode that begins with Charlie Verducci
throwing a cat out a window)
"Radio Free Trumaine" (the episode about a college radio station).
"Enemies" (the episode where Kelly is dating a guy who cheating on
his girlfriend who is cheating on him with Alan Thicke)
These three are technically episodes of MWC, but focus mostly on the new
series' characters. In my opinion, they are better considered the first
episodes of the spinoffs.
The episode "Top Of The Heap" in the fifth season introduced the spinoff
"Top Of The Heap". Al Bundy appears in one scene, and also very briefly
at the end; other than that, no regular characters appear. The spinoff
lasted a short time, with several cameos by Bundys.
The episode "Radio Free Trumaine" in the ninth season introduced an
unnamed spinoff. All of the regular characters appear in the episode,
but only Bud, Marcy, and Steve Rhoades appear more than briefly. Fox
changed its mind about actually ordering and airing the spinoff, so
that's all there is of it, to the best of my knowledge.
The episode "Enemies" in the tenth season introduced "Enemies". All of
the regular characters appear in the episode, but only Kelly appears
more than briefly. There was talk of Fox airing the series _Enemies_
this season (1996-1997) but it didn't happen.
Subject: 3.5. Who sings the MWC theme song?
Yes, that is Frank Sinatra.
Subject: 3.6. What was the deal with the red convertible?
This is actually the answer to _two_ frequently asked questions:
What happened to the car that Peg won in "Just Married... With
Children"? (The episode where Al & Peg go on a game show where
newlyweds torture their spouse for prizes, "How Do I Love Thee?")
Where did the Bundys get the red car they left on the freeway in
"We'll Follow The Sun"? (The episode where the Bundys are stuck in a
traffic jam on the freeway for most of the show)
Each question answers the other.
Subject: 3.7. What was the deal the strange scene at the end of "The
Unnatural", where Al plays baseball?
It is a takeoff on "Eight Men Out", a movie about baseball's Shoeless
Joe Jackson.
Subject: 3.8. What does "NO MA'AM" stand for?
National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood!
Subject: 3.9. What name is "Al" short for?
On the show it has always been simply Al. One of the few names short
enough that Peggy can scream it out during sex.
It has been said that Ed O'Neill was on AOL and said Al was short for
Alfonz. But was it really Ed?
Subject: 3.A. How come in some episodes Peggy only has one scene,
talking on the phone from some faraway place?
Because in real life Katey was/is pregnant. (See Subject 3.2) In the
show her absence is explained by:
Returning to Wanker county to be taken care of / it was all a dream
"BUCK HAS A BELLY ACHE" (606) thru "AL BUNDY, SHOE DICK" (611)
Returning to Wanker county to take care of her heart-attacked mother.
"SHOEWAY TO HEAVEN" (901) thru "BUSINESS SUCKS (part 1)" (905)
Travelling to find her wayward father.
"Calendar Girl" thru "Torch Song Duet"
Subject: 3.B. What is the full name of the hispanic woman reporter who
we keep seeing?
Teresa Parente, who plays Miranda, spells it "Miranda Veracruz de la
Jolla Cardenal" and she would know better than anybody.
Other spellings abound. It is even spelled inconsistently on the
credits... "Miranda Cardinal" (_Bud Hits the Books_), "Miranda Veracruz
de Cardinale" (_Children Of The Corns_).
Subject: 3.C. What happened to Marcy's niece Amber?
They never explained why she disappeared. A few episodes since Juliet
Tablak's last appearance had roles seemingly written for her, like April
in Radio Free Trumaine, but played by someone else. When the question
has come up on the newsgroup, no-one seemed to know whether Juliet was
unavailable or what.
Subject: 3.D. What are the words to the Psycho Dad theme song?
Courtesy of Dean Adams' program guide:
"Psycho Dad" theme song:
Who's that riding into the sun.
Who's the man with the itchy gun.
Who's the man who kills for fun!
Psycho Dad. Psycho Dad. Psycho Dad!
He sleeps with a gun, but he loves his son.
Killed his wife 'cause she weighed a ton... Psycho Dad!
[From AL... WITH KELLY (501)]
"Psycho Dad" new theme song:
A little touched or so we're told.
Killed his wife 'cause she had a cold.
Might as well, she was gettin' old.
Psy-cho Dad, Psycho Dad, Psycho Dad.
He's quick with a gun, and his job ain't done.
Killed his wife by twenty-one, he's Psy-cho Dad!
"Psycho Mom" theme song:
Who's the gal who needs no man?
Killed him dead with the frying pan.
Did it 'cause he missed the can.
Psycho Mom, Psycho Mom, she's Psy-cho Mom!
[From TEACHER PETS (621)]
Marcy's take on "Psycho Dad":
Who's the guy who's show is done?
Whose TV hero's on the run?
Who'll be watching VH-1?
Loser Al, Loser Al, Loser Al!
[From I WANT MY PSYCHO DAD, PART 1]
Subject: 3.E. Does anyone know why MWC was cancelled?
Not unless Philip Roth (CEO of Fox at the time) is lurking here.
In the initial announcement, Fox gave two reasons, the cost of the show
and the ratings. They later said "many different factors".
Fox's explanation isn't entirely taken at face value in alt.tv.mwc. The
newsgroup's collective wisdom leans towards money as a big reason.
Towards the end MWC reportedly cost in the area of 1.5 million US$ per
episode, a lot of money even for a hit TV series. The general feeling is
that ratings are a red herring. 9 million US viewers managed to find the
show in each of its many different timeslots during the final season,
despite little advertising.
So choose your own explanation.
Subject: 3.F. In syndication, why do they keep showing just the episodes
from the last few seasons?
The situation has changed since this entry was added. As of late
1998, older episodes can be seen in syndication.
If you're curious as to why syndication behaved like that, Brian
Petersen, webmaster of The Simpsons Archive (http://www.snpp.com/),
filled me in. What follows is essentially his explanation, with minor
editing for the current situation.
[Begin]
Syndicated episodes are sold on contracts that specifically specify
how many times each episode must run. For instance, when the deal for
MWC's syndication was inked, it may have stated that each episode was
allowed 15 runs in national syndication tops. Once that limit had
been reached for episode x, it can no longer be shown. The reason the
newer shows [were] running "exclusively" is because they entered
syndication later than the newer ones, and [hadn't] yet reached their
maximum number of runs...
The end result is that you have a high concentration of new episodes
in syndication now, just like when syndication for MWC began, you had
a high concentration of old episodes, as that's all that [was]
available at that point in time.
Luckily, this doesn't mean old episodes are doomed. Syndication is
done in two ways: on barter contracts, and on cash contracts. Barter
is the "national" form. The distributor decides what episodes air,
and all stations run the same shows on the same dates; kind of like
how it works on a network. The rules that say how many times episodes
may air only apply to barter runs. The reason it's called "barter" is
because the episodes are fed via satellite and contain a couple of
commercials that come from the distributor. In return for airing
those commercials, stations get to show the series at almost NO COST.
However, some stations may opt to sign for a cash contract. As the
name implies, they have to PAY for each airing. The reason is that
this type of contract has no commercials coming from the distributor;
stations use an in-house tape library to play the episodes, and THEY
decide what episodes air: including old ones. If your station has at
least one cash run, then they can just as easily decide to run old
episodes as newer ones. They aren't under the syndicator's control,
after all.
[End]
Also, be aware that stations that show MWC in syndication are not
neccessarily Fox affiliates, they are simply stations that purchased
the rights to show MWC reruns in your area.
Subject: 4.0. Has Christina Applegate ever posed nude? (No)
We used to get this question a lot. There exist nude pictures that claim
to be her, which fall into 3 categories:
* Other people who bear a small resemblance to her. Notably
Penthouse model Brianna Rae, Neriah Davis, Heather Lere and
playmate Barbara Moore. The Moore photo usually has attached the
story that it was sent "by an angry ex-boyfriend". If so, he very
oddly sent Ms. Moore's picture instead of his ex's.
Incidentally, Barbara Moore played Dee Anna in "The Wedding
Repercussions" and Neriah Davis played Anytime in "Flight of the
Bumblebee".
* Cut-and-paste jobs: Modified versions of genuine, non-nude
pictures of her. Usually her head or face pasted onto another
woman's body. I know of at least half a dozen, ranging from very
poor fakes to an almost-convincing picture on a white background
with flowers.
* Stills from _Streets_. These are really her, they just aren't very
nude.
Among the disputed claims about the scenes in _Streets_:
That she used some sort of fake breasts or fake top. (This
seems plausible to me, given the positioning and the
proportions.)
That there was a body double. (This does not seem plausible to
me because her face is visible. I'm reliably told that it is
really her)
If you want to be very technical, many years ago she appeared naked as a
baby with her mother in a commercial for Playtex baby bottle liners.
Subject: 4.1. Isn't Amanda Bearse a lesbian?
Yes, she has said so publicly.
Subject: 4.2. Why did they replace Buck The Dog?
Because the original Buck was very old. 12 1/2 years when he retired,
which is longer than most briards live. Remember, Buck was a trained
adult dog in the first season. Buck the character-dog died in "Requiem
For A Dead Briard" and was re-incarnated as Lucky; Buck the actor-dog
retired and has since died.
Subject: 4.3. How can I write to members of the cast?
Unfortunately it's been hard to get clear information on that. I'm told
that the address below still works even tho the show is cancelled:
<name>
c/o Married... With Children
c/o Sony Picture Studios
10202 W. Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
You could write c/o their agents. Note that these are their *agents* (at
their offices or something, I assume), so please don't send me mail
saying "Augh! What about stalkers?"
Christina Applegate
c/o Tami Lynn
20411 Chapter Drive
Woodland Hills, CA. 91364
Ed O'Neill
2607 Grand Canal,
Venice (Los Angeles) CA 90291
Katey Sagal
7095 Hollywood Boulevard, #792,
Los Angeles CA 90028
Thanks to Andreas Carl <ancarl@studi.unizh.ch> for these. Note that the
agency address that Mr. Showbiz gave for Christina Applegate
(International Creative Management) is apparently wrong.
Subject: 4.4. Is Christina related to the porn star Colleen Applegate?
No. She's not the same person. They're not sisters. The only relation
between them that the entire collective knowledge of alt.tv.mwc and
alt.fan.christina-applegate has ever discovered is that their names
sound alike.
Applegate is an uncommon surname but hardly unique, for instance,
columnist Liz Applegate.
Christina has no full siblings. She has a half-sister and half-brother,
both of whom are emphatically not dead porn stars.
Subject: 5. What else have the MWC stars appeared in?
This section has moved to http://world.std.com/~tob/mwc-credits.txt
Subject: 6.0 Maintainer
This FAQ is maintained by tob@world.std.com, and is available at
http://world.std.com/~tob/mwc.htm
Subject: 6.1 Contributors to this FAQ
The list of stars other projects (See Subject 5) was originally compiled
by e141-bc@scorpius.berkeley.edu (John Rinck), but has roughly doubled
in size with later contributions.
Other contributors to this FAQ include
93k007@chestud.chalmers.se
Alex.DeRouck@Cyberkafee.be
JADCORTI@ARTSU1.watstar.uwaterloo.ca
Stan Hill <shill@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu>
abeechey@aol.com
aderouck@cyberkafee.be
annlindgk@aol.com
arkhive@apusapus.demon.co.uk
bmeier@netgate.net
Cincy43235@aol.com
cmary@earthlink.net
dolf@apd.dec.com
e9026447@student.tuwien.ac.at
ecannon@mail.utexas.edu
gem <gem@atlantis-bbs.com>
inefuku@worldnet.att.net (Harrison Inefuku)
j#d#.moore@canrem.com (J. Moore)
jjoseph@interlog.com
jsinger@nyx.cs.du.edu
keithi@kalama.doe.Hawaii.Ed
kenned10@ix.netcom.com (Dan Kennedy)
lee@hp.rmc.ca
linnea541@worldnet.att.net (John B. Chessor)
lloyd3@ix.netcom.com (Lloyd Salisbury )
mapmaker@smartlink.net
maxim@astro.ocis.temple.edu
mcgee@umich.edu
nls7146@vms1.tamu.edu
oliver@tom.aworld.de
rachford@ecn.purdue.edu
rnjana@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
rwright@indirect.com
svaranas@ic.sunysb.edu
sjadams@citynet.net
vendrig@fwi.uva.nl
Subject: 7.0. What was the best show on TV?
Married... With Children.
But in _Kelly's Gotta Habit_, Al says that _Cops_ is the best show on
TV, putting an ol' FAQ maintainer in an awkward position...
--
This FAQ is also available through http://world.std.com/~tob/mwc.htm
[ Note that the extension is _3_ letters ]
|
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: