What made this show a success?
I just noticed the show had 11 seasons that is more than Beverly Hills 90210 had.
It was a great show. No secret behind or beyond that.
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MovieChat Forums > Married with Children (1987) Discussion > What made this show a success?
It is one of the most biting, uncompromising comedies of all time. The other was a terrible show about late 20 year olds in high school. The two don't exist on the same planet of quality.
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the guys (and some of the girls) had receding hair lines.
shareThe actors on MWC - ALL - were taken shots at for every personal foible they "had" - and they all gave back as good as they got - there are no egos on display in any of those 259 episodes -- that takes alot of thick skin - in the early years when everyone was going .... WTF???! AND in the later years when "do you know who i am" ego could kick in. That cast will be considered legendary - for its lack of ego/whining/bs - they set a unique standard.
Bruce Campbell:[When asked what he would want with him if stuck on a deserted island] A continent.
^^this
It was biting and compromising, but the comedy worked - almost every single time.
Later years would become a self-aware farcical cartoon. But with the first six years they rarely hit a dud. Loved season 11, though. The new blood added to the show worked wonders.
It's utter grossness and stupidity. Truly, the crudest and dumbest, most dull-witted thing to ever hit the airwaves. Of course, Americans ate it up.
shareTotally agree. I watched one episode and that was enough for me. This was a series pitched to the low intellect viewer and, unfortunately, that is a category that includes most Americans.
share"It's utter grossness and stupidity. Truly, the crudest and dumbest, most dull-witted thing to ever hit the airwaves. Of course, Americans ate it up."
"Totally agree. I watched one episode and that was enough for me. This was a series pitched to the low intellect viewer and, unfortunately, that is a category that includes most Americans."
Agreed 100%--you both nailed it. That and the fact that it's about a sleazy white trash family -- which relates to most Americans out there... :P
This show was very edgy especially in the late 80s and early 90s. I do wish the show had a better series finale. The series finale was not very good at all.
Because it wasn't an actual series finale. They didn't know it was gonna be the final episode when they filmed it.
RIP Wayne 'Trapper John' Rogers. MASH wasn't the same w/o you. RIP Tony Burton. RIP George Kennedy
Because it was so off the chain.
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Off the chain and brainless. It would have been funnier if they had tried to inject just a teensy bit of realism into the show. As it was, they took a witless approach that made "Gilligan's Island" look like Shakespeare.
shareNo way, the show was funny enough just the way it was. A mark of greatness is when you are copied, Rosanne, malcolm in the middle, unhappy ever after and the Simpsons to a degree tried to imitate the dysfunction blueprint laid out. But to no success MWC is a classic.
shareBeverly Hills 90210 - is that about Jewish dentists? --- OH - Doctors? Lawyers? WHO would watch that show?
Bruce Campbell:[When asked what he would want with him if stuck on a deserted island] A continent.
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1. Brilliant writing (at least in the first 5-6 seasons)
2. Perfect casting of Ed O'Neill as Al
3. Kelly
4. Fox, being a brand-new network, allowing the show to be edgier and push the envelope. Could you have ever imagined MWC on NBC? Me neither.
5. Admittedly, anything over 15,000 viewers probably kept a show on Fox another year. Only The Simpsons and MWC were able to pull in a decent number each season, unlike Get A Life, Babes, etc.
^ this.
i would add to item #3 Kelly's SEXY outfits.. hawt damn