Dud Bowl II

Dud Bowl II is the 10th episode of Season 10 of Married... with Children. This was the 219th overall series episode. Directed by Gerry Cohen and written by Kim Weiskopf, it premiered on FOX-TV on November 26, 1995.

Synopsis

Marcy tries to do her best to stop her bank from dedicating a scoreboard at Polk High to Al by getting Terry Bradshaw to usurp the honor. Al makes plan to sabotage the event with Bud and Jefferson's help. Kelly decides to save Al by speaking to Terry, and he agrees to help her.

Plot Summary

Al, with his own field.

Marcy's bank, Kyoto National, plans to donate a new scoreboard to Polk High and name it after a famous Polk High football alumnus. Al, having scored four touchdowns in a single game, assumes it will be him. But Marcy hates Al and is determined to find another football star - simply to spite him. When she learns that NFL all-star Terry Bradshaw attended Polk High for two months, she think she has found her man. Kelly talks Bradshaw into letting Al have the name, but Al, Jefferson & Bud conspire to destroy the scoreboard.

At the ceremony to dedicate the scoreboard, Al, Peggy and Kelly are there, while Bud (code name: Son of Frankenstein) and Jefferson (code name: Gold Digger) are under the bleachers, waiting to detonate the dynamite they placed there. Al has determined the optimal time to detonate, which is during the halfway through the school fight song, where there is a single crash of the cymbal. At the ceremony, Bradshaw announces that the scoreboard should be named after a true Polk legend: Al. Amidst chants of B-U-N-D-Y, Bud and Jefferson go along with their plan. Although Al tries to run towards the two by dodging the band, he is struck by two of the cymbals, as Bud and Jefferson detonate the dynamite, punching a hole in the scoreboard.

It is revealed that several groups have claimed responsibility for the bombing, such as the National Organization of Women, National Organization of Fat Women, and the government of France. Al's face is wrapped up in bandages, along with being (temporarily) blind. Bradshaw comes over to the house, saying that he still respects Al, calling him the greatest athlete of Polk history, and that he is his MVP. Kelly thinks that this is probably the greatest moment of Al's life, though Peggy notes that Al is also deaf and couldn't hear any of it.

Recurring Cast/Regulars

• Lucky the Dog as Lucky Bundy

Guest starring

• Terry Bradshaw as Himself
• Jennifer Wade as Cheerleader

Notes

Title

• The title of this episode is a reference to "Bud Bowl" a stop motion promotion used by Budweiser during the Super Bowl from the late 80s into mid 1990s.
  • It is also a reference to this episode being the second episode named "Dud Bowl"

Trivia

• Bud said that Marcy has had Al arrested over 20 times.
• Terry Bradshaw mentioned that he was at Polk for only two months and did not even suit up with the Polk High Panthers or play a game.
  • Actually, Terry never set foot in a school in Illinois as a student. He attended Woodlawn High School (now Woodlawn Leadership Academy), in Shreveport, Louisiana along with Boston Celtics great Robert Parish though they graduated six years apart (Bradshaw in 1966 and Parish in 1972.)

Cultural References

• After seeing Marcy ruin Al's dream about the scoreboard, Kelly goes into a rant about how Odie at Garfield's lasagna.
  • This is in reference to the cartoon cat, Garfield, a talking cat who loves lasagna and Odie, the pet dog that lives with Garfield and their owner, Jon.
  • In several past episode, it was mentioned that Kelly is a big fan of the character.
• After Marcy tells Terry that she didn't have anyone on the sidelines to give her plays, he becomes upset and yells out that he called his own plays and that is was Staubach who relied on sideline calls, before boasting that he beat Staubach in the Super Bowl twice.
  • "Staubach" is in reference to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach.
  • As Bradshaw noted, he and his team (Pittsburgh Steelers) defeated Staubach and the Cowboys in two different Super Bowls: Super Bowl X in 1976 and Super Bowl XIII in 1979.
• During her attempt to get Terry Bradshaw attention, Kelly called "Terry Bradpitt", in reference to actor Brad Pitt.
• During her talk with Terry, she calls him "Shawshank" in reference to the 1994 film, The Shawshank Redemption.
• While watching television, a woman is heard saying "I'll take 'Terry Bradshaw' for 100, Alex!".
  • This is in reference to the television game show Jepordy and its host at the time, Alex Trebek.
  • The woman's phrase is based on what a contestant typically says when he or she is tasked with choosing the category that the next question is picked from.
• Later, a commercial is heard for the the ABC sitcom Family Matters, stating that Steve Urkel finds out that his real dad is Terry Bradshaw.
• Following the Family Matters commercial, another commercial for the PBS special featuring the opera singing trio, The Three Tenors and Terry Bradshaw.
• Jefferson mentions that Terry Bradsaw was in the 1981 comedy film, The Cannonball Run and also mentioned that it featured country singer Mel Tillis, who played Terry's race partner.
• During his rant about how Terry Bradsaw has won more Super Bowls that Al has had good days in his life, Al then says "Marcy and her Hideo Nomo loving cronies at the bank want to give him what's rightfully mine!".
  • Hideo Nomo is a retired professional baseball player who became one of the first Japanese-born players to spend the majority of his professional career playing in the United States. At the time this episode aired, he had started playing professionally in the United States for the Los Angeles Dodgers in May 1995, seven months before this episode aired.
• Al's nickname, "Double O Shoe" is a reference to the fictional secret agent, James Bond and his code name, "007" (Pronounced "Double-Oh-Seven").
  • Al would use this code name again later in "I Can't Believe It's Butter".

Locations

• Bundy Residence
• Polk High School

Sets

• Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
• Polk High School / Al Bundy Field

Goofs

• When the scoreboard is first shown exploding, it is almost totally destroyed. A later scene shows the scoreboard mostly intact with only the center blown out. Evidently, two scoreboards were used for filming.