Season 3 Episode 3: Poke High (aka The Red Grange Story)
November 27, 1988
A Polk High football player is closing in on Al’s record, which makes him the enemy. Al sets out to stop him from breaking it; Kelly sets out to get a date with him during the game; and Bud is ordered to tutor the young man, who is not academically gifted. The three objectives are incompatible, and the episode runs them into each other.
This is where the series first uses Al’s football record as something to be defended rather than merely reminisced about, and the shift matters. Four touchdowns in one game had been a memory; here it becomes property, with a living person threatening it, and Al’s willingness to sabotage a teenager to protect a statistic from 1966 is the clearest early statement of how much of his identity is parked there. It is also the first time he uses the nickname Touchdown Bundy out loud.
The structure proved durable enough to run again. Season eight’s “Al Goes Deep” uses the same configuration, Kelly interested in an athlete, Bud pressed into tutoring him, and the athlete’s season ending as a result, which suggests the writers knew they had something that worked.
Two items of record: the Bundys’ telephone number is given as 555-2878, and this was the first FOX broadcast to draw an audience share above 25 in the Nielsen reports, a genuine milestone for a network that had existed for two years and a sign that this show was becoming the thing people tuned in for on Sunday nights.
Episode Facts
- Original air date: November 27, 1988
- Season 3, Episode 3, and the 38th episode of the series
- Also listed as “The Red Grange Story”
- Written by Pamela Wick, Susan Cridland and Carl Studebaker
- Directed by Gerry Cohen
Guest Cast
- Beau Dremann as Matt
- Cynthia Songé as Ms. Mount
- Ria Pavia as Kitty
- Carey Eidel as Mr. Groggs
- Gregory White as the coach
Members get the full episode breakdown, famous quotes, behind the scenes notes and the episode discussion.
