Dud Bowl II is the 10th episode of Season 10 of Married... with Children. This was the 221st 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
Quotes[]
- Al: Anyway, this three-times-a-lady told me that the Kyoto National Bank was buying a new football scoreboard for Polk High.
- Peg: [sarcastically] Oh, much better than a new library.
- Al: That's exactly what I said. But the best part is, Peg, they're dedicating it to the most famous Polk High football legend. A hint: Four touchdowns in one game.
- Peg: [stunned] You?
- Al: [smiling] Well, it's not official yet but who else went to Polk scored four times in one game besides you? [they both share a chuckle]
- Peg: But, Al, why do you think you'd win? I mean, Marcy works at the Kyoto Bank and she hates you more than I do.
- [Bud is entering through the front door as Al and Peg continue talking]
- Al: Oh, hold on, now, Peg. Marcie and I have a lot in common.
- Bud: [looks around, confused] ...Wrong house. [steps back to look at the address on the door]
- Al: We both live on the same side of the street. Both married deadbeats... [Peg looks slightly hurt as his remark] I eat chicken. She is one. [grins]
- Bud: Dad, she's had you arrested over 20 times and you call her "the little neighbor boy."
- Al: [shrugs] A pet name.
- [Marcy has arrived at the Bundy residence and talks to Peg]
- Marcy: The nominating committee wants to dedicate the new Polk High football scoreboard... [pauses, then faces Al] to you, Al.
- Al: [smiles, feigns surprise] Moi? What a surprise.
- Marcy: Well, before you brush off your good underwear there is still one obstacle that lies between you and the eternal happiness you seek.
- Al: You heard her, Peg. Get out.
- Marcy: Not her, Al... [stands up] Me.
- Al: You know, Marcie, I used to call you a chicken but in this light you look more like the stately peacock.
- Marcy: Save it. I told that committee that there had to be a better football player that came out of Polk. [smiles] So they've given me 24 hours to find one.
- Al: They can give you 24 lifetimes, and a new set of tail feathers. You'll never be able to find a better one.
- Narcy: Maybe so. But I will not rest until someone else's name is on that scoreboard.
- [Jefferson is sitting on the Bundy's living room couch, looking over several yearbooks to help Al out]
- Kelly: [holding a large stack of yearbooks] Here, Mr. D'Arcy. Here are all the yearbooks from my senior years in high school.
- Jefferson: Thanks, Kelly. So far we found only one football player in Polk High history who can hold a candle to your father. [looks over towards the kitchen] He's trying to reach him now.
- [Al is sitting at the kitchen counter, using the telephone]
- Al: Yeah, is Scooter MacPhee there? He is not? He's where? [suddenly happy] Leavenworth?! That's great! I mean... I mean, it's great that he's off the streets. Bye-bye. [hangs up the receiver, stands ups] Jefferson, he killed a whole mess of people. He won't be out for months. [Jefferson and Kelly smile and applaud for Al] That scoreboard is mine!
- [Kelly reaches out and gives him a big hug]
- Kelly: [smiling proudly] Ohhhh, Congratulations. Oh, Daddy, this is so great. It's kind of like a real father getting a promotion.
- Al: [smiling] Only better, pumpkin. Because I may not have a lot of money or a job I can stand or people I wanna come home to but now I'm going to have a scoreboard that proudly bears my name. See, that's my legacy, pumpkin. And when I'm gone... [pauses, unaware that Marcy is entering the room] and I hope it's soon, you can look up and say, "That fine-looking scoreboard is dedicated to A...
- Marcy: [interrupting] "Terry Bradshaw"!
- [Al immediately turns around, with all of the joy gone from his face, as Marcy stands there with a pile of yearbooks]
- Al: [confused] Te.. Terry Brad... Terry Bradshaw? I never had no nickname, "Terry Bradshaw".
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to "Bud Bowl", a stop-motion animated advertising campaign by Budweiser that aired during the Super Bowl from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.
- The episode is not directly related plot-wise to the Season 9 episode "Dud Bowl", in which Al and his former high school football teammates compete in an exhibition game against Polk High’s rival school.
Trivia[]
- Bud said that Marcy has had Al arrested over 20 times.
- This is the final episode to feature Polk High School.
- 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 ate 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 episodes, 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 it 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’s attention, one of the names that Kelly mistakenly calls him is "Terry Bradpitt", conflating his last name with 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 Jeopardy! 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 promotional ad is heard for the ABC sitcom Family Matters, stating that Steve Urkel finds out that his real dad is Terry Bradshaw.
- Following the Family Matters promo, another promo for the PBS special featuring the operatic trio The Three Tenors and Terry Bradshaw.
- Jefferson mentions that Terry Bradshaw 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 than 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".
- Al had previously dreamt of himself as a Bond-type character during one of his fantasies in the Season 4 episode, "You Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em (Part 2)".
Locations[]
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.