Linda Day
Al and Steve sell Marcy’s twenty-year-old boxed Barbie to fund a baseball card collection, and then have to get it back after the shop is robbed. The search takes them through downtown Chicago — and across the exterior set of another show filming on the same lot.
The series’ first Christmas episode opens with a content warning. A parachuting mall Santa lands fatally in the Bundys’ back yard on Christmas Eve, and the neighborhood children start arriving with questions. David Faustino has called it one of his favorites.
Bud brings home an aspiring artist on her way to art school, and the whole household takes to her. Marcy does not, because the attention she gets is attention Marcy is used to having. It is also where Al establishes that Thursday is his bowling night.
Al, Peggy and Bud play for a mall softball team that keeps losing, so Al tells his wife to improve or get off the roster. Kelly, meanwhile, is trying to get a tattoo. The N on Al’s jersey is sewn on backwards, and nobody ever fixed it.
Peggy’s high school rival challenges the family to a bowling match, and Steve agrees to bowl as a Bundy, which should settle it. Then it emerges that Bud spent his lesson money. It is the first outing for the “Whoa, Bundy!” cheer.
Al fails the written driving test on the day Kelly passes hers, which leaves him stranded at home and unable to reach the racetrack. He gets one day off a week, so losing it costs more than the bet does.
Al will not pay for a call to Canada, so the phone company cuts off the house. Meanwhile a new neighborhood crime light shines directly into his face at night. Kelly’s whistle down the phone line ended up in the show’s syndicated opening credits.
Peggy takes Marcy out with the girls to a strip club, and Marcy enjoys it rather more than she will admit. Al and Steve are occupied by the repairwoman fixing the Bundy refrigerator. It was not written as a two-parter — the first draft was one episode.
Al discovers Peggy has been spending his money at the male strip club, and Marcy cannot explain to Steve where her wedding ring has gone. Then the dancer turns up at the D’Arcys’ door. It is also the first time Al mentions Tang by name.
Buck’s nocturnal habits have the neighbors threatening lawsuits, and the pressure is on Al to have him neutered. Al refuses, and not out of affection for the dog. It is the first episode the series built around Buck.
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