I'll See You in Court is the tenth episode from the third season of Married... with Children, making it the series 45th episode overall. Originally intended to air on February 19, 1989, this episode remained unaired within the United States until June 18, 2002 due to its content and the Rakolta Boycott against Fox. Once dubbed as "the lost episode" by the producers, this episode has since not only aired, but can be found on volume one of the most outrageous episodes as well as the complete third season DVD set.
Synopsis[]
In the famous 'lost episode', Al and Peg learn they have been video taped getting intimate at a sleazy motel. The same thing has also happened to Steve and Marcy. They decide to take the matter to court.
Summary[]
On her couch in the Bundy living room, Peggy Bundy is watching Dr. Sally as her children, Kelly and Bud come down the stairs from the second floor. While the commercial air, Kelly, Bud and Peggy discuss Al's wallet and the fact he has taken it into the shower with him after hiding it in his underwear the previous night. Peggy informs the kids that Al does not have an original wallet, but a duplicate with xeroxed money, reasoning that if Al dared to spend money without them, then he deserved to go to jail. Peggy gives money to Bud and Kelly before the two leave as Dr. Sally resumes, this time responding to viewer mail sent in for on air correspondence. Dr. Sally reads a letter from "Peggy Pundy" that her husband, "Sal" has lost interest in their sex lives. Upon reading the letter, Dr. Sally offers suggestions, such as the living room, the kitchen table or even the bathroom which Peggy, revealing she in fact wrote the letter, confirms neither of these have been done. In closing out the correspondence, Dr. Sally urges "Mrs. Pundy" to try this, as she claimed that she had, and that it worked.
After seeing this, Peg decides that the best way to rekindle her relationship with Al is to have sex in a different location. Upon Marcy's recommendation, Peg and Al go to the Hop-On-Inn and discover a videotape waiting for them in their room. After watching some of the tape, the Bundys realize that the couple having sex on the video is Steve and Marcy. Although Al is disgusted, the action turns Peggy on and the couple has sex.
Peggy and Al return home and show the tape to Steve and Marcy, who are embarrassed by the film, much to the delight of the Bundys. The Rhoades express their dismay that they were secretly recorded, but Steve points out that the Bundys may have been videotaped as well. Marcy and Al are upset by this violation of their privacy and propose physical violence against the owners of the motel. Steve and Peg, on the other hand, want to take action against the Hop-On-Inn and make money from the incident.
Peggy convinces Al to sue the motel with her and the Rhoades. Steve, not wanting a lawyer to take any of the million dollars he expects to win from the case, decides to act as one for the two families. The case begins with Steve presenting a lengthy opening statement, during which the stenographer and the judge fall asleep. Next, Steve shows the subpoenaed sex tapes from the motel, despite objections from his wife. After a few hours, the tape runs out and the courtroom applauds Steve and Marcy's romp. Next, Steve shows Peggy and Al's tape, which ends after a few seconds.
After the plaintiff rests, the defense lawyer calls Marcy, Al, and Peggy to the stand. She asks Marcy a series of embarrassing questions, hoping to prove Marcy knew that the camera was there. Her tactic with the Bundys is to try to prove sexual intercourse did not occur on the videotape. In the end, the Rhoades are awarded $10,000, but the Bundys receive nothing, because the jury does not believe that sex occurred. After everyone exits the courtroom, Al attempts to prove that he can perform when he wants to, and has sex with Peg for hours on the judge's bench, unwittingly while being recorded by the courtroom camera!
Background Information[]
Production[]
This episode was written by Jeanne Baruch and Jeanne Romano, both of whom were newcomers to Married... with Children, and was directed by Gerry Cohen. It was taped on January 6, 1989 with an intended air date of February 19, 1989. However, trouble began when the Broadcast Standards department of the Fox Broadcasting Company declined many lines of the script. Along with other changes, which totaled fifteen (a typical episode of Married... with Children at the time contained two or three at most), of which thirteen of them were conceded to by the editors and producers (who did not agree with the changes to begin with), Fox censors felt that the shows overall topic, sex, was not something that was (at the time) something vocally and openly discussed on television. In addition, Fox was currently the target of a boycott lead by Terry Rakolta over the content of "Her Cups Runneth Over" which aired earlier in the year and the episode's punchline, namely, the length of Al's performance (which prevented the Bundys from getting monetary compensation) was considered an unacceptable revelation for the airwaves. As a result, the episode did not air within the US (but did elsewhere in the world throughout 1990) until June 18, 2002, a full thirteen years, five months and twelve days after the episode was taped. Even then, the channel which aired the episode FX, edited out four lines from the episode's broadcast, effectively causing the episode to still not air in its entity (even though it had throughout the world) until the episode was released on DVD. [1][2][3][4]
Critical Reception[]
With the episode not airing in the United States until 2002, the contemporary critics of the time did not have ample opportunity to review it. DVD Verdict's review was that the episode was, in fact, not overly racy, even by the standards of the era (which were used to not air the episode), claiming that by 2003 its content was "so sedate as to be comatose."[4] The episodes grade given by Film Freak Central was a C+, which went on to call the episode "quaint" and further warning viewers to "[n]ever trust the hype."[5]
Home Media Releases[]
This episode was released on the Married... with Children The Most Outrageous Episodes Volume 1 DVD on February 4, 2003, as well as the The Complete Third Season DVD set on January 25, 2007[6].
Recurring Cast/Guest stars[]
- Amanda Bearse as Marcy Rhoades
- David Garrison as Steve Rhoades
- Lora Zane as Ms. Weigel
- Lillian Lehman as Judge
- Ken Thorley as Jury Foreman
Quotes[]
- [Peggy quickly switches off the TV, just as Al comes down the stairs, adjusting his neck tie.]
- Al: Well, Peg, I'm showered and ready to go to work and edge ever closer to the grave. Wish me luck.
- Peggy: Al!...[quickly gets up and walks over to him] take me!
- [Peg dashes towards the dining table, then sweeps everything off with her arm and sits atop of it]
- Peggy: I wanna have sex on the kitchen table! [Al stares at her for several seconds with a dumbfound look]
- Al: I wanna have a meal on the kitchen table... Learn to live without. I did... Goodbye.
- [Al and Peg enter an over-decorated, gaudy looking guest room at the Hop On Inn]
- Al: I think I know what's going on here; the chocolates in the car, the oil on my zipper - you want sex, don't you?
- Peggy: No, I want a fur coat, [walks up to Al] but I'll take what's behind zipper number one.
- Al: Peg, if you scare him like this he'll never come out.
- [Peg immediately grabs Al by the collar in a rather threatening manner, pulling him even closer to her]
- Peggy: Look, Al, I want sex! Do you want to be conscious, or not?
- Peggy: OK, Al, pop in the movie, pop in a breath mint and let's coax the mummy out of his crypt!
- Al: [whining] I don't want to have sex! You're my wife, for God's sake! Hasn't having the kids taught you anything?! Nothing good comes of it!
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to the saying "I'll see you in court!", usually said when a person intends to file a lawsuit against another individual and sue them in a court of law.
Trivia[]
- This episode was filmed on January 6, 1989, and was slated to be shown during season 3. But due to the Rakolta Boycott, the producers could not come to an agreement with the network censors and decided to pull the episode rather than change the script.
- The episode did air worldwide in 1989 but not in the U.S., eventually becoming known as "The Lost Show". The episode was finally shown in the U.S. on the FX network on June 18, 2002, five years after the series ended its original run on FOX and thirteen years after it was filmed.
- Lillian Lehman, who plays the judge in this episode, has played a judge on numerous show, such as L.A. Law, JAG, The Waynes Bros., Seinfeld and The Closer.
- David Garrison, who plays Steve Rhoades, later played a lawyer turned judge in four episodes of Law & Order between 1998 and 2009.
- At the beginning of the episode, Peggy watches a television program with sex expert Dr. Sandy, who reads a letter from "Desperate a.k.a. Peggy Pundy" and complains about intimacy issues involving her husband "Sal". In the season 8 episode "Banking on Marcy", Al calls into the Dr. Angela radio show as "Sal Undy" and explains that he is having trouble with his penis.
- In this episode, Al seems to be unfazed and amused to see a video of Marcy and Steve having sex. Yet, in "Banking on Marcy", Al becomes sick when hearing Marcy have an orgasm while delivering a speech and eventually suffers from impotence. In another episode, "Naughty but Niece" he mentioned that seeing Marcy naked left him clinically dead for an hour and a half.
- It is very likely that Al and Peggy were too shocked to see Steve and Marcy that they didn't have time to react negatively.
- In "The Egg and I" (from season 6), Al becomes blind when Marcy takes off her pajama top during her fight with Steve. Peggy later becomes blind too when Steve opens his shirt during the same fight. A similar thing happens to Al in that same episode.
- Two of the jurors, the elderly Asian man in the plaid suit with pink tie and Asian Woman with short hair sitting next to him, were previously seen in "I'm Going to Sweatland" in the first large group taking pictures of Peggy in the kitchen.
- There is a painting above the bed in the motel room; it is the same painting from an episode of Sanford and Son titled "The Family Man." It is described as a "naked lady with her fingers in her mouth," but the name of the painting is not provided.
Cultural References[]
- Marcy tells Peggy that one of the places she and Steve had sex at was "the observation deck at the John Hancock Building."
- Although there is an actual John Hancock Building in Boston, Massachusetts, she is likely referring to the John Hancock Center in Chicago, which has an observation deck on the 94th floor called "360 Chicago Observation Deck".
- When Steve looks around the courtroom and wonders why everyone else is standing up when the judge arrives, Marcy sarcastically calls him "Mr. Darrow", in reference to American criminal lawyer Clarence Darrow.
Music[]
- The song that plays while Steve gives his opening statement is the opening theme song for the legal drama television series, Perry Mason.
Locations[]
- Bundy Residence
- Hop On Inn
- Courtroom
Goofs[]
- The clock in the courtroom is not consistent.
- When Steven starts his opening statement, its approximately 1:27pm
- After Marcy hides her face and Steve starts to talk about his grandfather and uncle, its is now 11:30am
- When the Perry Mason theme song plays, the clock is at 3:00pm
- When Steve finishes his opening statement, it is back to 1:27pm
- When the bailiff puts the tape in, it is 1:30pm and then ends at 4:32pm
- After Ms. Weigel cross examines Marcy, Al and Peggy, the clock is stuck at 4:32pm
- When the jury foreman announces the verdicts, it is 5:30pm
- When Al takes Peggy behind the Judge's podium, it goes from 5:30pm to 9:35pm
- It is unknown why there are different opening credits for this episode, that's not on other episodes this season.
- In the Mill Creek DVD version, the opening credits are the same as the rest of the season 3 episodes.
- There are some notable issues regarding the trial:
- A trial like this would take much longer than one day.
- Neither the Rhoades nor the Bundys are sworn in before they take the stand in the courtroom. Nevertheless, the judge reminds Peggy that she is under oath and risks perjury for giving false testimony.
- The Hop On Inn owner never took the stand.
- A closing argument is never shown
- After all the testimony is heard, the jury foreman only reads out the punitive damage and not the compensatory damage or even if the Hop On Inn owner was found guilty of invading the privacy of the Rhoades and the Bundys in the first place. Punitive damages are often awarded if compensatory damages are deemed an inadequate remedy.
- When Peggy puts in the video cassette, she didn't turn on the tv nor press the play button on the VCR, yet she and Al are somehow watching the tape immediately after she puts it in.
Links and References[]
References[]
External Links[]
- I'll See You in Court at Wikipedia
I'll See You in Court at the Internet Movie Database- I'll See You in Court on Bundyology
- I'll See You in Court - Transcript on albundy.net
- #47 I'll See You in Court - MWC Podcast on Horrorphilia
