Season 7 Episode 23: ‘Tis Time to Smell the Roses

May 2, 1993

Published 05/02/93

Al has worked out that he can take early retirement, and for roughly one act of this episode he actually does it, singing his way out of the shoe store and into a life of leisure. Then Peg goes shopping. By the time she gets home, three thousand dollars of the retirement fund is gone, converted into collectible Elvis plates and whatever else caught her attention, and the arithmetic no longer works. Al’s salary is revealed here for the first time as twelve thousand dollars a year, which makes the loss unrecoverable. So he goes back to work, taking a job at a rival store called Homeplate Athletic Shoes, where the staff are all issued coveralls bearing the same name the series had been joking about since “The Gas Station Show.” His plan from there is to buy the store outright, and when Peg puts an end to that, he commits what is left of the money, six thousand dollars, to lottery tickets. He loses. The episode ends with Al back behind the counter at Gary’s, exactly where he started, which is the only ending the series was ever going to give this story. Charlene Tilton of Dallas spends the episode in the Bundy living room demonstrating an abdominal exercise device, having come over in person because Peg telephoned with questions. It is the closest the series ever let Al get to escaping the shoe store, and the escape lasts less than a single episode, which is the point.The lottery tickets at the end are the detail that makes it land, because Al knows the odds and buys them anyway.

Episode Facts

Original air date: May 2, 1993
Season and episode: Season 7, Episode 23
Overall episode number: 154
Written by: Kevin Curran
Directed by: Gerry Cohen
Taped: April 9, 1993
Production note: Ed O’Neill genuinely had a cold during filming and his voice is noticeably hoarse. The line about Al having had a cold for three days and sleeping in the garage was written in at the last minute to explain it.
Production note: Al’s salary is given here as $12,000 a year.
Title note: From the saying about stopping to smell the roses.