Season 8 Episode 1: A Tisket, a Tasket, Can Peg Make a Basket?

September 5, 1993

Published 09/05/93

Season 8 opens at an NBA All-Star game. Al and Peg have tickets, and when they get to their seats Peg talks Al into swapping, which turns out to be the most consequential decision either of them makes all year: her seat number is drawn for a halftime free throw contest worth ten thousand dollars. So Peggy Bundy, in a leopard print top, walks out onto an NBA floor to shoot one free throw for more money than her husband earns in a year, while Al watches from the stands having given away the chance himself. Kelly is at the same game, having attached herself to the All-Star cheerleading squad and also, dressed as Tina Turner, having been allowed near a microphone for the national anthem. Her attempt to pick up Vlade Divac during the dance routine produces the best exchange of the episode, and his two deadpan replies are better than anything the script could have given a professional actor. Clyde Drexler and Xavier McDaniel also appear as themselves. Whether Peg makes the shot is the question the episode is built on, and Al’s response to the outcome is the most concise statement of his worldview in the entire series: he wanted it, he needed it, he deserved it, so how else could it have turned out. It is a strong opener, and it establishes the shape of season 8 immediately: the Bundys get within arm’s reach of money and it goes nowhere.Peggy Bundy standing alone on an NBA floor is also one of the better images the show ever produced.

Episode Facts

Original air date: September 5, 1993
Season and episode: Season 8, Episode 1
Overall episode number: 157
Written by: Kim Weiskopf
Directed by: Tony Singletary
Production note: New opening credits clips debut with this episode for every regular except Christina Applegate.
Production note: Marcy has shorter brown hair for the first half of season 8.
Title note: From the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.”

Guest Cast

Vlade Divac as himself
Clyde Drexler as himself
Xavier McDaniel as himself
Roy Fegan as the team official
Ray Clay as the P.A. announcer
Gerald Emerick as the man behind Al
Kari Cuartero, Marianne Herme, Tracy Lindley, Alexis Martinez, Shannon Roy and Kathalene Taylor as the All Star Girls