Season 4 Episode 11: It’s a Bundyful Life (1)
December 17, 1989
Al has done something unprecedented: he has saved money, and he intends to buy his family Christmas presents with it. The episode then takes it away from him, in stages. A late rush of customers at the shoe store keeps him from reaching the bank before it closes, and what follows is a Christmas Eve spent trying to get at his own money while every institution and person in the city declines to help.
It is one of the most sympathetic hours the series ever gave Al, because for once his failure is not his fault. The intention was good, the saving was real, and the obstacles are entirely external, which is precisely the setup needed for part two, where he gets to ask whether anyone would be worse off if he had never existed.
Peggy supplies the context that makes the effort matter: Al spent the previous Christmas playing pool with his friends and gave the family nothing, a detail that lines up with his remark about missing pool in season three’s “The Bald and the Beautiful.”
The two-parter went out on December 17, 1989, the same night The Simpsons premiered as a series on FOX with “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” Both aired out of production order, and both titles lean on the same Christmas song, which Al references directly. FOX re-ran this two-parter on December 15, 2003, the year of the Married… with Children reunion special. The exterior shot of the Bundy house is partially computer-generated to add the snow, the earliest such shot in the series, and Marcy mentions that Steve’s mother lives in Cincinnati.
Episode Facts
- Original air date: December 17, 1989
- Season 4, Episode 11, and the 68th episode of the series
- Part one of two. Part two is It’s a Bundyful Life (2), which aired the same night.
- Written by Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye
- Directed by Gerry Cohen
Guest Cast
- Don Sparks as Santa
- Thomas Ian Nicholas as Bobby
- Trevor Eyster as Franklin
- Ann Nelson as the elderly woman
- Eve Smith as the mom
- Kate Romero as Midge
- Kristeen Buxton as Denise
Sam Kinison’s guardian angel belongs to part two. Amazon lists one shared credit block across both halves, so you will sometimes see him credited here as well.
The Setup, and the Santa Fight
Al has saved all year in a Christmas Club account and is finally going to buy his family what they actually want. A late rush at the shoe store keeps him from reaching the bank before it closes, which is the whole of part one’s plot and the reason part two exists.
On the way out he is jumped in the mall by a gang of Santas. Marcy, abandoned for the holiday because Steve is in Cincinnati visiting his mother, frets about going stag to the bank party and gets no sympathy whatsoever.
Part one is a half hour of setup, so it only really works watched back to back with part two, which is how it originally aired.
Famous Quotes
- Santa: “Remember, I know when you’re sleeping!” Al: “And I know when you’ve had beans!” The mall Santa fight, in two lines.
- Al: “Needed some help, eh Horowitz?! I guess you’re not Santa enough to face me alone!” Al, outnumbered.
- Marcy: “I can’t go stag, what will people think?” Marcy’s crisis, which nobody in the Bundy house ranks above the bank.
Notes
- The two-parter aired the same night The Simpsons debuted as a regular series with “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.”
- Produced after Who’ll Stop the Rain but aired before it.
- The Kyoto National Bank interior is the same set used as The Leading Bank of Chicago in “976-SHOE.”
- The exterior shot of the house at the top and tail is partly computer generated, for the falling snow, rather than the usual still frame.
- Bud’s “Toaster Shakings” gag comes back in season 9 as “Toaster Leavins.”
- FOX re-aired both parts on December 15, 2003, the year of the reunion special.
- Goof: Bud takes Marcy’s wedding ring off her right hand, but she looks at her left hand later.
