Trivia-MWC

Saturday, October 13, 2007


The last episode aired on May 6, 1997, on Fox TV. After that episode aired, Fox was trying to decide whether to renew the show. When they decided to cancel it, they didn't notify the cast. 'Ed O'Neill (I)' said he was on vacation and a couple staying near him read about the cancellation in the newspaper and told him about it. He bought them a meal in appreciation.
• Was the longest running show to never win an Emmy until "Baywatch" (1989) was cancelled in 2001
Many of the original producers later collaborated on the WB series "Unhappily Ever After" (1995), which bore many similarities to MWC.
• In some episodes, the Bundy home address is 9764 Jeopardy Lane, Chicago, Illinois. In other episodes, the address is 9674 Jeopardy Lane.
• According to Michael G. Moye, the name Bundy came from (at the time) well known World Wrestling Federation villain King Kong Bundy--who had challenged Hulk Hogan for the World Title at Wrestlemania II. Bundy later made an appearance as one of Peg's hillbilly cousins.... The name never came from the serial killer, Ted Bundy. King Kong Bundy also appears in a later episode as himself, wrestling Bud in a match on a televised wrestling show called "Wrestlepalooza". Bud ends up there because Al has asked him to get King Kong's autograph. Bud is trying to become a member of "NO MA'AM", so his task to gain membership is to get the autograph from King Kong Bundy.
• After the 1992-1993 season, Seven's mysterious disappearance is alluded to often, such as in the "Touchdown Trivia" episode, when Al is filling Kelly's head with sports facts and she forgets about Buck and Seven, and in the "Carpool" episode, where Seven's face is shown as "Missing" on the Bundys' milk carton
• The roles of Al and Peg Bundy were first offered to Sam Kinison and Roseanne.
• "Top of the Heap" (1991), later re-titled "Vinnie & Bobby" (1992), was a "MWC" spinoff. There were also two other ideas for spinoffs, "Enemies" and "Radio Free Trumaine". "Enemies" dealt with Kelly's friends fighting and falling in love again, while "Radio Free Trumaine" was about two unconventional disc jockeys at Bud's college. They remained as episodes for the MWC seasons, but never made the final cut for more episodes.
• The series makes several references to the movie Deliverance (1972). Ed O'Neill, who plays Al Bundy, had a small part as a police officer in the film.
• Makes references to Ed O'Neill's film, Dutch (1991). The film is mention in the first part of The England Show when Al is on the plane. In the episode where Al and Peggy go to the video store to rent a movie, a poster for the film is covering Ed's eyes.
• In the opening sequence the shot of the cars on the interstate interchange is part of a scene from Vacation (1983).
• The fountain shown at the beginning of the credits is the Buckingham Fountain in downtown Chicago.
• According to Ed O'Neill and David Faustino, much of their life was parodied on the show. O'Neill (Al Bundy) did play college football. Faustino (Bud Bundy) wanted to be a rapper, hence his character Grandmaster B.

• After the show was an unexpected success among young adults in Germany, broadcasting network RTL produced a German version called "Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt". The scripts and every single joke of the original's 1987-1988 season were translated and the family was called "Struck", but it was canceled after one season (1992).
• Bud's middle name is Franklin.
• Steve's middle name is Bartholomew.
• One of the show's creators said the reason Ed O'Neill was cast was that when he was auditioning for the pilot, he was required to simply walk through the front door into the Bundy home. Right before he opened the door, O'Neill let out a deep breath and slumped his shoulders, as if going home was a defeat. Producers said when they saw that, they knew O'Neill understood the show.
• Jefferson's middle name is Millhouse.
• "No Ma'am" stands for National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood.
• Like Seven, many of the show's extra characters lasted for one season. Al's colleague in the shoe store, Luke Ventura, appeared in season one; Amber, the D'Arcys' niece, appears in season nine; and Aaron, Al's first shoe sidekick, appeared in season nine too.
• Ed O'Neill is the only actor from the show to appear in all 260 episodes, from the lost episode to the failed pilots that stayed in the show.
• Throughout the show, the stars had their families as guest stars. Ed O'Neill's wife, Catherine Rusoff made two appearances. David Faustino's brother, Michael Faustino made a couple of appearances. Christina Applegate's mother, Nancy Priddy made an appearance, and Katey Sagal's brother, Joe Sagal made appearances. Elaine Hendrix and Juliet Tablak were also at one point David Faustino's girlfriends.
• In one episode, Kelly reveals the Bundy's phone number 555-2878.
• In one episode, where Kelly works at TVLand, a bunch of the kids come up to Jefferson and ask him for his autograph and he makes a reference to Happy Days and the kids ask him if he was also in "The Love Boat". This is a reference to Ted McGinley actually being in Happy Days as Roger Phillips and The Love Boat as Ashley Covington Evans.

• The house shown at the beginning and end of each episode is in Deerfield, Illinois.
• Ed O'Neill says that he focused on his Uncle while acting as Al because they shared so many personality traits.
• Instead of saying "Visa" the credit card sign in the shoe store says "Vista".
• Buck the Dog was on the show from the day it began, and was until the 10th season. Buck died on May 25th, 1996 at the age of 13 years old.
• Katey Sagal came up with the idea for her character Peggy Bundy to dress in 1960s-inspired clothing. Sagal's reason for the look was because she wanted to parody the 1960s housewife. For her audition, Sagal had brought her own red bouffant wig, and when she won the role, producers approved the image into the show. (Peggy's '60s wear included the bouffant hair, tight capris-styled leggings paired with a large belt, and slip on heels.)
• Prior to the series, Ed O'Neill had a career in dramatic acting in the theatre. The producers were doubtful O'Neill should be cast because they did not think that a dramatic actor would be able to be funny in a comedy series. However, when O'Neill auditioned for the role, producers were surprisingly impressed.
• Al's favorite movie is Hondo (1953).
• Al's favorite song is Duke of Earls.
• Transvestite film actor Divine was scheduled to appear as Uncle Otto, but died just before filming his scenes.