Ted McGinley
David Garrison, who played Steve Rhoades on Married with Children, left the show after Season 4 to pursue his true love, Broadway theater. In this clip from the Bundy Breakdown, we talk about why he walked away from a hit show and the incredible directing career that followed.
David Faustino reveals he worked with Ted McGinley on The Love Boat at age 9, years before Ted joined Married with Children as Jefferson D’Arcy. Amanda Bearse shares her own Ted crossover from the show Hotel.
When Ted McGinley walked in as Jefferson D’Arcy, the whole show got a new comedic gear. Jefferson wasn’t a Steve replacement. He was the anti-Steve: shameless, scheming, sweet-talking, and hilariously useless. Ted turned him into chaos with perfect hair.
Fans ask all the time which neighbor was better, Steve Rhoades or Jefferson D’Arcy. That’s the wrong question. They represented two completely different comedic philosophies, and the show needed both.
Peggy reads Seven a pirate story and the episode becomes it, with the cast recast into the book’s roles on the most elaborate set the series ever built. David Garrison returns as the villain, which gave him a chance to sing.
Steve Rhoades returns to reclaim Marcy and finds she has remarried, which puts both her husbands in the same room. He is also on the run from the police, so the Bundys have to decide whether friendship beats the reward money.
Marcy wakes up after a banking convention married to a stranger named Jefferson D’Arcy, and Al offers to arrange the wedding so he can profit from it. Ted McGinley joined here on terms uncertain enough that his billing was held in the closing credits.
A guardian angel shows Al what his family’s life would be like if he had never been born, and the answer is that they would all be much better off. Sam Kinison plays the angel — he had been the producers’ first choice to play Al Bundy.