Sitcom: Married … with Children
Episode: It’s a Bundyful LIfe (2)
Year: 1989
Story line: Al gets a visit from a guardian angel and discovers what the Bundy household would look like if he was never born.
Details: Bad meta data again, but I think this time it was a good thing. Tivo was claiming this was a 1992 episode, but this second part of a 1989 show was a better snag. It features the hapless Al trying unsuccessfully to withdraw his Christmas club account from the bank in time for Christmas, ruining the holiday for everyone. Peg and the kids head off to Denny’s for dinner, leaving Al to string outdoor lights, which zap him and knock him out. Sam Kinison appears as an angel who shows Al what earth would be like had he never been born. And the answer is pretty good. Peg is a Betty Crocker type. Bud is a great guy. Kelly’s a brain. And Sam Kinison gets to scream a lot. At god. At Al. At anyone who will listen. Hey, it’s his schtick. And in the end, we realize Al’s life does have purpose — to make sure his family is miserable. And that alone is enough to convince him life is worth living. (As a side note: Missing the first part wasn’t a problem at all; this is Married … with Children, not Twin Peaks.)
Killer quote: “Much like a neutered dog, you don’t get it, Bundy.” Angel Sam Kinison, talking to Al.
Killer quote II: “What do we do next? Go back in time to the day I should have been conceived? Watch my father invent the condom?” Al, upon seeing how well the other Bundys did on a planet where he didn’t exist.
Ebenezer alert: It’s gotta be Peg. Her seething contempt for Al never ceases. And that hair. Simply amazing.
Childhood memory: Not quite a childhood memory, but I loved the early years of this show, when it still had its edge and presented the dark underside of married life in America. I think this is a transitional season, right at it was jumping the shark (which I define as the departure of Marcy’s husband to become a forest ranger.) I don’t recall this episode specifically, but it had several laugh-out-loud moments. Praise Tivo for bringing it to me.