When Did Married…With Children Jump the Shark?

https://popculturereferences.com/when-did-married-with-children-jump-the-shark/

WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK Okay, there are a number of tricky things in this question. First off, again, I get it, the show was never particularly great, so if you wanted to say “Jumped at episode one,” then that’s an option. I’d disagree, but it’s an option. The show was originally a bit more true to life when it started, and the Bundy’s neighbors were Steve and Marcy Rhoades (David Garrison and Amanda Bearse). After four seasons, Garrison left the show and Marcy remarried to Jefferson Darcy (thus making her Marcy D’Arcy), played by Ted McGinley. Some people like to point to that as the shark jumping moment, because that’s about the time the show started getting sillier, but come on, it obviously was not the shark-jumping moment. The show was very well-equipped to become more cartoonish, as the characters all WERE cartoonish, even when they were more down to Earth. So it totally worked. Even if you preferred Garrison to Jefferson, Jefferson was fine (he and Al became best friends, opening up a new dynamic for the show, as Al and Steve tended to be more at odds with each other). A possibility is Season 7, when the Bundys sort of “adopt” Seven, a new cute kid. He was an AWFUL addition, but I think it is safe to say that the show KNEW that and quickly adjusted to the problem, dropping him midway through the seventh season, and the show went back to normal, so I think they averted a shark-jump there. Season 9 saw the addition of Al’s friend and co-worker, Griff (Harold Sylvester), who was an excellent addition to the show, giving Al TWO friends, each with very different personalities.

However, I think Season 10 finally did it, with the family dog, Buck, dying early in the season, Peggy’s mother inexplicably moves in with the Bundys after leaving Peg’s father, and, of course, Peggy missing half the season looking for her dad because of Sagal’s real life pregnancy. Things began to fall apart, and Season 11 was then likely the worst of the series. So I think Season 10 is the shark-jumping moment. Maybe Peggy’s quest to find her dad specifically? It’s honestly surprising how much I almost would say the show never jumped at all.