Married With Children: The Complete Third Season

Love and marriage. Fox's first hit TV show back in the '80s could tell you everything you needed to know about those two subjects. Married With Children's brutal, sadistic look at the Bundy family and their miserable lives premiered in 1987 but didn't really find its footing until season three. While the first two seasons were busy trying to establish the characters and make the crude humour actually funny, the show finally found its legs when Kelly (Christina Applegate) became dumber and sluttier, and the writers took on riskier, more provocative storylines. Some of the show's funniest episodes premiered in its third year. In the "The Dateless Amigo," a mulleted Bud (David Faustino) tries to impress his friends (Stephen Dorff and Giovanni Ribisi) by dating Monique, a hot mannequin, and build up his reputation as a stud, but he finds his hands full when his date's limbs fly everywhere. "Poke High" is full of classic Al (Ed O'Neill) comedic moments, as Kelly dates a jock threatening to break his only glory: the longstanding "four touchdowns in one game" record. "Life's A Beach" follows the Bundys on their trip to the local beach, where Bud "Bon Jovi" finds unwanted jailbait love, Kelly loses her sexual magnetism, an old flame macks on Al and Steve's (David Garrison) car gets disembowelled. The only bonus to this collection is the infamous lost episode "I'll See You In Court," in which both Al and Peggy (Katey Sagal) and Steve and Marci (Amanda Bearse) sue a sleazy motel when they find out their sexual escapades were videotaped by management. Considered too controversial at the time because of its sexual nature, it's nice to see something unfamiliar, even though nowadays the supposed controversy is nothing short of something you could see on 7th Heaven. (Columbia/Sony)