SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 23 Min.
Televised on the Fox network on March 6, 1988, this Linda Day-directed installment parodies daytime game shows. Sorely needing a new washer-dryer, boorish Al & Peggy Bundy brazenly impersonate their naïve neighbors, Steve & Marcy Rhoades, as contestants on a sadistic game show, How Do I Love Thee?. The gaudy program pits newlywed couples against one another in cartoonish fashion to win mostly cheap household goods. The game’s really afoot for the phony Steve & Marcy … once the real Steve & Marcy show up for the show’s grand prize challenge posing as Al & Peggy Bundy!
Al Bundy: Ed O’Neill
Bud Bundy: David Faustino
Peggy Bundy: Katey Sagal
Bink Winkleman: David Leisure
Steve Rhoades: David Garrison
Mona Squab: Catherine Rusoff
Kelly Bundy: Christina Applegate
Roland Squab: Geoff Pierson
Marcy Rhoades: Amanda Bearse
The Lovely Zelda: Jessie Scott
Note: Catherine Rusoff is Ed O’Neill’s real-life spouse.
REVIEW:
Unlike much of the first two seasons, this wacky episode depicts the blue-collar Bundy clan in full-on caricature mode (as fans of later seasons will easily recognize). With its crass slapstick humor in vintage form, this early episode is gut-busting hilarious! The regular ensemble cast’s chemistry is spot-on, especially when an incensed Steve & Marcy finally catch up to the shameless Al & Peggy. Also, the competition between the naive Squabs and the far more mercenary Bundys (as ‘Steve’ & Marcy’) is simply a hoot to watch. Guest star David Leisure gleefully steals this episode as the ultra-smarmy game show host. Spoofing Vanna White, lookalike actress Jessie Scott’s silly airhead ‘The Lovely Zelda’ adds some extra adult-friendly chuckles. Definitely recommended!
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 9 Stars
