Kevin Curran
David Faustino on the three iconic voices behind Buck the dog: writer Kevin Curran (the regular deadpan), Cheech Marin (featured episodes), and Catherine O’Hara (Buck’s girlfriend).
Al’s driving licence has lapsed and he has to sit the test again. The examiner turns out to be Bud, who has taken a job at the licensing office and has a grudge to settle. Kelly loses the Verminator gig and ends up advertising a bank in a bikini.
Al takes early retirement, and Peg spends three thousand dollars of the fund before the first week is out. He goes back to work at a rival shoe store, tries to buy it, and then puts the last six thousand into lottery tickets. Charlene Tilton spends the episode in the living room selling an exercise device.
Al’s bedroom reputation has become public knowledge and a neighborhood joke, so he sets out to get back in shape. The training goes badly enough that the Darcys have to carry him home unconscious. Peg spends the episode protecting his confidence. The scene everyone remembers involves a flattened squirrel named Zippy.
Al and Bud finally notice the nooses behind them, and Kelly gets them off the gallows. The chase ends at the border between the two villages, where both mobs want the Bundys to die on their own side. The dispute is settled by a joust. Conclusion of three.
The Bundys can no longer afford a TV Guide, so Al muscles his way into Jefferson’s psychic hotline scam and builds it into an empire. Then he crosses Madame Inga, who controls the west side and turns out to have real powers. The family ends up as monkeys.
Bud falls for a woman who is only attracted to men who do dangerous things, which lands him in an airplane he does not want to jump out of. Back at the house, Al is being forced to play a relationship board game called Ethical Dilemma with Peg and the Darcys.
Peggy is pregnant and the household has instituted formal baby meetings, which is where “Hail baby!” comes from. It is also the first appearance of Grandmaster B, and the last appearance of Al’s friend Norris after six seasons.
Al and Jefferson reach their limit with the pregnancies and retreat to a bar called the Paternity Ward, where a vendor sells fake identities to men looking to disappear. Al prices out becoming an ex-football player with a cool name. Conclusion of the two part premiere.
A new neighbour calls Al cute after he moves her couch, and the women on the street start requesting his handyman services and then admiring the handyman. Al becomes obsessed with his own appearance. It is the last appearance of Jade, the shoe store customer who had been propositioning him since season 2.