THE GRISWALDS + THE BUNDYS FROM MARRIED WITH CHILDREN

Anyone ever brought this up ? Doesn't it seem that the Bundy family- from Fox 11's 1987-1997 show Married With Children - appear to be inspired by, a tad modeled on and altered from the Griswalds ? It sure does to me.

Long before the dysfunctional family antics of the Bundys hit TV screens, the Griswald had their family antics on the big screen in 3 movies - Vacation (83), European Vacation (85) and Christmas (89). The differeces are big but there are slight, subtle similarities. First of all, the Griswalds's comic stylings was not as crude, not as in-your-face, not as politically incorrect as the Bundys, who really made it big in the 90's. Married With Children was considered quite the racy show for its time. The Griswalds were in comparison a lot tamer. They might have been saying things that were a tad looser than previous families on film but it was not that crude.

Clark Griswald/Al Bundy.

Chevy Chase's character Clark Griswald, the family father, is a hard-working, middle class American man from Chicago, Illinois. He has a wife and a son and daughter. He is a failure though in his own way he tries to be a good father and successful person. He had his arguments and share of altercations with his wife but they always made up and things weren't that bad. Clark has an eye for pretty yong girls (as in Vacation when he ogled sexy Christine Brinkley in the Ferrari or exemplified with his bringing his wife to a sexually charged Paris revue show at the Folies Bergere in European Vacation). However, he never cheated on his wife, never joked about cheating on his wife nor was openly critical of his wife or his desire for another female. Clark was not the best father because he worked a lot but he did have "talks" with his son and was in his own way a good dad who at least tried. Ed O'Neil's character of Al Bundy is the total opposite and yet not that different. Al Bundy is also a working class American man from Chicago. He also has problems with his wife and has a son and daughter. Al is a failure (his only claim to fame or success was high school football - 4 touchdowns in 1 game. Al is far more open and outspoken about his dislike for Peggy his wife and of his interest in younger women who are not his wife. Al is open about his sexual interests in "hooters" and nude women. And yet...He never cheated on her or got divorced. Although there were many problems and issues, he never left his wife or his kids. However, he is by comparison to Clark, a bad lousy deadbat dad. Too focused on his own misery, complaining about his job as a shoe salesman, he has long neglected his kids who brought themselves up. He is a dysfunctional dad who is not a good father or husband and yet the family unit is miraculously functional and united. The Bundys always lived together as a family even when Bud and Kelly turned the adult age. Bud moved into the basement and Kelly always lived with her parents. So it's the opposite. While Clark Griswald kept hidden what could have been potential true deadbat dad issues, Al reveled in them and was always open about them. Both fathers were disyfunctionally functional.

Both the Griswalds and the Bundys, when complaining about something the father did, always sarcastically SAY THE SAME LINES: "MOTHER: THANK YOUR FATHER KIDS"..KIDS.."THANKS DAD!"

Elen Griswald/Peggy Bundy. Two very different moms. Ellen is a good mother. She prioritizes her family before her ownself does a lot for the sake of the family, is frugal and not a spendthrift. She cares for her house, cleans her house and keeps the family together. She loves her husband, even during the bad times. She is wiser and a lot more practical than her husband and although at times at odds with him, and at times they argue, she manages to make things right. Peggy Bundy is the biggest joke of a deadbeat mom or lousy wife. Peggy does not work, even though her husband is only a shoe salesman and doesn't make enough money to truly live as comfortably middle class as most families. Even the Griswalds had more money than the Bundys. Peggy is lazy, a spendthrift - and spends her husband's money through credit card and is always shopping. She is a TV-holic and never cleans or cooks. She has never been a good mother to her children. She is open and outspoken about her dislike of her husband Al Bundy, while never admiting her own faults. She constantly complains and nags about his failure and how she wishes he made more money but she never held down a job of her own. Peggy is as open about her interest in other men sexually as Al is about his interest in other women. Peggy is the total opposite of Ellen Griswald. She appears more as a joke character and is less realistically drawn out as Ellen. I know mothers like Ellen Griswald but no mother like Peggy Bundy. If there is a mom out there like Peggy, how horrible that must be for her family!

Bud Bundy/Kelly Bundy/Rusty Griswald/Audrey Griswald: Audrey and Russ are normal siblings who argue, especially because they are of different sexes. Audrey and Russ constantly bicker and live seperate lives, especially by the time they are teenagers. Audrey is focused on her love life or more specifically lack of oddly enough the way that Bud Bundy does on Married With Children. Kelly Buddy has a successful "sex life" because she is a slut, which is the opposite of Audrey's character. Both Bud Bundy and Rusty Griswald are normal teenage boys who have an interest in sex, sexy girls. But Bud's interests are greatly emphasized and he's a horny pervert, far more so than Rusty who is not as open or as focused on this same interest. Russ is more of the 80's style of a teenager while Bud was more of a 90's teenager. Audrey is definitely an 80's type of girl and Kelly a 90's type of girl. Both kids appear to be at odds with each other as siblings but have also long gotten along with their dysfunctional families respectively.

So there you go. I think that the Bundys were inspired by the Griswalds and altered a lot to fit a racy adult comedy show on Fox.