Al's lack of manners and overt display of vulgarity towards his female customers keeps him bottomed on the pay scale while self-involved Peggy spends her time watching the shopping channel, eating bon-bons and premeditating her next shopping trip on Al's hard-earned salary. She is totally detached from her luckless husband's daily trials and tribulations and always joins with Jefferson and Marcy in ridiculing Al's miserable mishaps. Daughter Kelly is a "sight to behold" with her gift of beauty, but is totally brainless and incapable of making a logical decision. While Bud, on the other hand, is the only one in the family with intelligence, but unfortunately was not graced with good looks like his sister. As a result he is a "loser" in the dating arena. His constructive advice and wisdom is constantly ignored by the rest of the family as they pursue fruitless ambitions and aims. The calmest member of the family is Buck, their pet dog, who aimlessly watches this arena of foolishness.
My favorite episode is "A Little Off the Top" where Al accidentally injures his back while playing ball with the boys. Wife Peggy insists on a hospital visit and Al is misdiagnosed and receives a circumcision instead of the minor back surgery he was assigned. "Honey I Blew Up Myself" stars Peggy giving Al a birthday present of a sensually posed photograph of herself. The photographer is so impressed by her beauty that he enlarges the picture and places it on the front of his store just outside of Al's shoe store where he is subjected to the attractions of male on-lookers and their comments. "Valentine Day Massacre" occurs when Kelly forgets to give Bud a valentine from an old girlfriend and finds it a year later. He then tries to get in touch with her at a local hotel as she appears in concert. In the end, the girlfriend sends Bud another message through Kelly, who is distracted and once again neglects to give the message to Bud. "Change for a Buck" is a whimsical episode where Buck is disenchanted with his family, feels ignored, and runs away only to be captured and sent to death-row in the local pound. While waiting for his family to come and rescue him, he has to face the fact that they are so self-involved they may never realize he's missing. "The D'Arcy Files" peeks into the secretive past of Jefferson revealing him as a spy, while "Field of Screams" shows Marcy's ability to bring big business to her bank and community through the structure of an automobile factory... which will unfortunately be constructed on Al's high school football field!
Features include Minisodes of Ricky Schroder's Silver Spoons: "A Family Affair" where Christina Applegate appears as Ricky's girlfriend, and Pamela Andersons's V.I.P.: "Loh-Down Dirty Shame", along with some previews.
Married With Children: The Complete Eighth Season is full of ridiculous fun and laughs and opens our senses to the not-so-funny effects of prejudices in all shapes and forms. I gave this series an 85 because of its demeaning nature not just to women, but to everyone! It's sort of a back-door look at the faults of families and their struggle to overcome them in their senseless and idiotic way. The comedy, while humorous and well-written, would appeal to a special audience and should be reviewed for parental guidance. I believe this show causes us to look and laugh at ourselves and be thankful that our lives do not mirror those of the Bundy's.
