Tag Archives: Married…with Children

Power Rankings: Married…with Children, Part 2

10 Jan

Part 2 of the Married..with Children Power Rankings, where we get to the real meat of the rankings, the top 3.  Part 1 can be located here.

3.  Christina Applegate (as Kelly Bundy) – There’s a huge gap between the bottom four and the first three.  All of the top three have had incredibly impressive careers and I’m not really confident in how I ranked them; the continuing level of success of their current shows could change their ranking at any time.  Applegate gets points as the main star of her current show, but it’s only been on for one season and hasn’t reached the level of success of the current shows of the top two.  Applegate was the initial breakout star of the show and has had the most film work.  She appeared in The Big Hit and quickly got her own series, Jesse, which was given the prized but cursed 9:30 Thursday slot on NBC and lasted two seasons.  Over the first half of the 2000s, she appeared in films Just Visiting, The Sweetest Thing, and View from the Top, and appeared in two episodes of Friends as Rachel’s sister.  She was in Employee of the Month, Surviving Christmas and Will Ferrell smash Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy as Veronica Corningstone.  She got another series called Samantha Who? which aired on ABC and lasted two seasons.  She lent her voice to the last two Alvin and the Chipmunks movies as one of the Chippettes, and appeared in Going the Distance and Hall Pass.  She’s now starring in the first season of NBC’s Up All Night with Will Arnett.

2. Ed O’Neill – In the year Married…with Children ended, he appeared in small David Mamet movie The Spanish Prisoner.  He was in 1999’s The Bone Collector and appeared in 2000 NBC fantasy miniseries The 10th Kingdom as Relish, the Troll King.  In the early ‘00s, he starred in a couple of failed TV series.  First, on CBS, he starred as a police officer in Big Apple, which lasted just eight episodes.  Next, he starred in a Dragnet remake on ABC, which lasted a whole season, changing dramatically halfway through, and failed either way.  He appeared again in David Mamet films Spartan and Redbelt.  He shows up in four episodes of The West Wing as Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, who campaigns on and off for the Democratic presidential nomination, and eventually is offered the Vice Presidency in Matt Santos’ administration. He was in episodes of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Twenty Good Years and The Unit, and co-starred in failed one season David Milch show John fromCincinnati.  In 2009, he was cast as family patriarch Jay Pritchett in Modern Family, and seems likely to play that role for many years to come as the show has become a bona fide hit.

1. Katey Sagal (as Peggy Bundy) –  She appeared in three episodes of That ‘70s Show as Hyde’s mother.  She was in TV movies Mr. Headmistress, Chance of a Lifetime, God’s New Plan, and Smart House.  She voiced a character in several episodes of kids’ cartoon Recess. She co-starred in the short-lived 13 episode series Tucker on NBC in 2000 and in Hank Azaria-led Imagine That in 2002.  She was a regular cast member in 8 Simple Rules, playing the wife of John Ritter, who died soon after the first few episodes of the second season were filmed.  The series lasted three seasons.  Starting in 1999, and continuing on and off to the present day, she has voiced the character of Leela, a one-eyed mutant space captain, in Futurama.  She was in a handful of episodes of Disney Channel kids show Higglytown Heroes.  She was in TV movies Three Wise Guys and Campus Confidential.  She was in episodes of Ghost Whisperer, The Winner, and two of The Shield.  She was in a five episode arc of Boston Legal and a four episode arc of Eli Stone, and was in three episodes of Lost as John Locke’s girlfriend.  Currently, she stars as Ron Perlman’s wife on FX’s Sons of Anarchy, now in its fourth season.  She beat out Ed O’Neill by appearing in another series other than her current one that aired multiple seasons, along with her continuing apperances in now 114 episodes of Futurama.

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Power Rankings: Married…with Children, Part 1

9 Jan

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well.

Married… with Children lasted a crazy 11 seasons and 262 episodes, which is kind of mindblowing.  For some reason David Faustino always makes me think that this cast has gone nowhere, but the rest of the Bundy family’s careers argue strongly otherwise.  Without thinking too hard about it, I’m tempted to say this is the most popular show ever with an ellipsis (scripted show at least, talk shows are much more likely to use one – Later…with Jools Holland, a British music show is for some reason the other that comes to mind).  Included here are the four main family members, neighbor Marcy D’arcy, and her two husbands (not at the same time).  Let’s begin.

7.  Amanda Bearse (as Marcy D’arcy) – She’s the loser David Faustino wishes he could be.  She was in one episode of Nikki and has been in two of Drop Dead Diva.

6.  David Faustino (as Bud Bundy) – I automatically assumed that Faustino’s career would warrant just a short sentence and a joke, but while it’s not going to land him high in the rankings, it could have been a lot worse.  He was in single episodes of plenty of series, including Jesse (which starred Married…with Children co-star Christina Applegate), The New Adams Family, Unhappily Ever After, The X-Files, Batman Beyond, The Bernie Mac Show and two of Nash Bridges.  He was in a McDonalds commercial and two episodes of Entourage as himself.  He was in some low-budget National Lampoon drek as well, such as National Lampoon’s Pucked and his own web series called Star-ving.


5.  David Garrison (as Steve Rhoads) – He was in individual episodes of series Welcome to New York, Family Law, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Judging Amy, Nikki, Ed, That’s Life, and Arli$$.  He was in three episodes of The Practice as a U.S. Attorney, four episodes of The West Wing as an MSNBC talking head, and five of Law & Order as a judge.  He was also in single episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, Without a Trace, and NYPD Blue.

4.  Ted McGinley (as Jefferson D’arcy) – He appeared in sequel Major League: Back to the Minors and in eight episodes of Aaron Sorkin dramedy Sports Night.  He was in three episodes of The West Wing and one of The Practice and appeared in TV movies Family Curse and Frozen Impact.  He co-starred in the short-lived Nathan Lane series Charlie Lawrence.  He starred in three seasons as Faith Ford’s husband in sitcom Hope & Faith.  He’s been in single episodes of ‘Til Death, Psych, Wizards of Waverly Place, and Breaking In, and provided his voice to two episodes of Family Guy.

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