Married With Children – The Complete
11th Season (1996 –
1997/Sony DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: B-
Maybe
existing a few seasons beyond its time Married
with Children still managed to catch audiences’ hearts and attention with
its offbeat, slapstick humor. This
reviewer has always sand the praises of Married
with Children as it has been a personal favorite for a very long time. The chemistry between the cast was amazing
and I could honestly feel the dysfunctional love between each and every one of
them. The Eleventh Season was the end of the road for the Bundys, but they
maintained the same great comic timing and captivating personalities right up
until the end.
The final
season consists of 24 episodes using the same old Bundy quirks to create new
stories that are as enjoyable as ever.
The Eleventh Season abandons
the family dynamic to an extent and focuses mostly on Peg/Al centric episodes;
ultimately leading to chaos between the couple that always works out in the
end. There are other episodes of the Eleventh Season also seem to have
consistent themes that either focus on Kelly’s road to fame, the shoe store or
other random acts of craziness. In the
episode “T*R*A*S*H” Jefferson gets Al and Griff to join the National Guard,
under the delusion that they would be on one big vacation, but instead are
deployed and get into a whole HEAP (haha) of trouble.
The
series was good from beginning to end and in this final season they drive that
old Dodge into the sunset in a very fitting way.
The
technical features of Married with
Children are the same as previous seasons as they are adequate, but far
from a Bundy “Whooooah.” The picture
again has crispness and color issues in its 1.33 X 1 Full Screen format (shot
on professional NTSC analog tape). The
sound is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo that often times sounds very
distant and/or muffled; needing (like the picture) a major restoration.
The
saddest part of this final box set is the lack of extras. The Married
with Children sets have never had very many extras (if any), but it is
ridiculous that for the final season that Sony wouldn’t put together some
commentaries, featurettes or even an updated cast interview.
The final
24 episodes made me sad to see them go, but what a great run it was.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
