Bud’s Episode Vault
Season 7 Episode 18: Peggy and the Pirates
Peggy reads Seven a pirate story and the episode becomes it, with the cast recast into the book’s roles on the most elaborate set the series ever built. David Garrison returns as the villain, which gave him a chance to sing.
Season 7 Episode 17: You Can’t Miss
Bud competes on a dating game show hosted by Bill Maher, against a man he has no chance of beating, and makes his case with total honesty. Al and Peg hold a contest over who will fall asleep first. Kelly decides the family is conspiring against her.
Season 7 Episode 16: Mr. Empty Pants
Peg’s cartoon about her husband, titled Mr. Empty Pants, becomes a national hit and Al cannot go anywhere without being recognized. Then Playgirl asks him to pose for a centerfold, and Peg discovers she does not like the idea of other women wanting him.
Season 7 Episode 15: Heels on Wheels
Kelly buys a motorcycle and Al is the only one worried about it, while Marcy cheerfully encourages him to ride it himself as recklessly as possible. Bud signs up to pose nude at an all-girls art school. Al’s shoe store story this week is one of the series’ best.
Season 7 Episode 14: It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This
Al books a week alone at a mountain cabin and Peg and Marcy both invite themselves along, then spend the trip arguing with each other. Back home, Bud, Kelly and Jefferson discover Marcy’s credit card and put it to immediate use. Nobody involved has a good week except Jefferson.
Season 7 Episode 13: The Wedding Show
The family is preparing for a cousin’s wedding and Bud sleeps with the bride, whose groom is a large and short-tempered man who does not yet know. Bud’s swagger lasts about ninety seconds. Cousin Jimmy comes back twelve episodes later.
Season 7 Episode 12: Christmas
Al tells a bartender how he worked twelve part-time jobs in twelve days to pay for Christmas presents, the worst of them being the mall Santa shift. Flashbacks run back to 1974. The gifts he eventually hands out were taken from the bar. One of the uncredited children in the choir is Meghan Markle.
Season 7 Episode 11: Old College Try
Bud wins a twenty-five thousand dollar college grant and is off to Trumaine University. The money lands in the family account, where Al and Peg assume it is a bank error in their favor and spend all of it before Bud gets home to explain. Bud then gets a father-son talk he will not forget.
Season 7 Episode 10: Death of a Shoe Salesman
Al’s favorite Western star dies and Al buys the cemetery plot next to him, which Peg takes as a personal affront. The funeral director’s prices are the obstacle. Meanwhile Seven has quietly moved in with Marcy and Jefferson, who want somebody to come and get him.
Season 7 Episode 9: Rock of Ages
Al wins a first class trip to Hawaii in a shoe-selling contest, and Peg immediately trades it for four standby seats. Stuck in the terminal, Al talks his way into the first class lounge by claiming to be a rock star, where he meets six real ones. None of them can remember his fake name.