Kelly's Gotta Habit

Kelly's Gotta Habit is the third episode of Season 11, and the 238th overall episode of Married... with Children.

Plot Synopsis

In order to get a $20,000 contract of a model for a national olive oil brand, Kelly has to sign a Morals Clause, which requires that she remain chaste. This proves to be a difficult task, until she learns some tips from Peggy. Meanwhile, Al hears that Officer Dan is appearing in Al's favorite TV show Cops and blackmails him to become his partner.

Recurring Cast

• Dan Tullis, Jr. as Officer Dan

Guest Cast

• Nancy Linari as Sister Benedicta
• David Pressman as Mike
• Peter Kerr as Cab Driver
• Terrence Flack as Real Cop
• Bryan Rasmussen as Burglar
• Gerry Lock as Old Lady
• Lewis Dauber as Sketch Artist
• Bert L. Cook as Cab driver #2
• Tina Yothers as Herself

Notes

Title

• The title of this episode is a reference to the 1986 film, She's Gotta Have It and a religious habit, the clothing worn by the members of a religious order. In this case, a nun's religious habit, as Kelly tries out to play a chaste nun for a commercial.
  • Habit may also mean the more literal definition of a person having an addition to something or doing a repetitive movement that is involuntary. In this case, Kelly's habit of being promiscuous.

Trivia

• This originally aired as a cross-over from the FOX reality series COPS, with Al and Jefferson watching the end credits to the show airing before "Married with Children" and making references to events in that show's episode.
  • At the time this episode originally aired, COPS had been a long time staple of FOX's Saturday night programming airing at 8pm, while MWC had moved to Saturday nights at 9pm at the beginning of season 11.
• The closing scene with Tina Yothers is edited out of ViacomCBS reruns, as is the part of the cold open with Al and Jefferson commenting on Married with Children still airing while the "Love and Marriage" instrumental plays over the TV.
• The handgun Al uses when he invades Marcy and Jefferson's house is a Beretta 92FS.
• Actress Tina Yothers make a brief cameo as herself during the epilogue, revealing that she is one of Bud's clients.
  • As of 2020, this was Tina Yothers final credited acting role, although she still continues to make guest appearances on talk shows and reality television programs.
• Bert L. Cook, a production crew member on MWC play the second cab driver in the red shirt and black hat who refuses to take Sister Benedicta back to her hotel.
• When Kelly puts her arms up after Officer Dan kicks the Bundy's front door in, you can see Christina Applegate's ankle tattoos on both legs.

Cultural References

• Bud tells Sister Benedicta that Kelly has an offer from the Jehovah Witnesses to be their next "Watchtower Girl".
  • The Watchtower is an illustrated magazine published by Jehovah Witnesses.
• Sister Benedicta mentions that she could tell Bud stories about Mother Teresa a nun who was known for her charity work, but had also been critized for things that she had done.
  • She passed away less than a year after this episode originally aired.
• Kelly (and later, Tina Yother) reveal that they played Pebbles and Dino in the production of Flintstones in the Park.
  • Flintstones in the Park is a reference to the Shakespeare in the Park festivals, where productions of William Shakespeare's plays are done on an outdoor stage instead of an indoor theater, and the cartoon series, The Flintstones.
  • Pebbles Flintstone is the daughter of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Dino was a dinosaur who served as the family's pet dog.
• During Al's attempt to convince Officer Dan as to why Al should be his partner, his list off famous duos from cop shows:
  • Starsky and Hutch
  • Jake and the Fatman
  • Cagney and Lacey
• While sitting in the car, Al grabs the speaker and says "Car 54, where are you?" a reference to the NBC sitcom of the same name than ran from 1961 to 1963 that focused on the life of 2 cops from the Bronx.
  • Al later makes references to police dramas Hawaii Five-O ("Floor it, Danno!") and Hill Street Blues ("Let's be careful out there.").
• When Kelly works with clay in the kitchen, she was able to make:
  • Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy
  • Eiffel Tower in Paris, France
  • Washington Monument in Washington D.C.
• When Sister Benedicta arrives and sees Kelly molding clay, she mentions that she and the other nuns make dozens of elongated shaped ceramics and she had sent the Pope one of hers made in the shape of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington.
• When Bud and Sister Benedicta sort through other head shots, she rips up the one featuring actress Tina Yothers. After his dismay, Bud claims she was the best thing on Family Ties, while Sister Benedicta says that she preferred Skippy.
  • Family Ties was an NBC sitcom about parents who were hippies during the 1960s and now are raising kids in the conservative 1980s. It ran from 1982 to 1989.
  • Tina Yothers played the youngest daughter, Jennifer Keaton, on the show, while Skippy is in reference to Irwin "Skippy" Handelman, the family's nerdy neighbor who is friends with the oldest child, Alex Keaton and had a crush on the oldest daughter, Mallory Keaton.
  • Both David Faustino and Christina Applegate appeared on Family Ties in the early to mid 1980s, while Tina Yothers would later appear as herself at the epilogue of this episode.
• After Al captures the burglar and the cameraman for 'Cops' sees the party at the Bundy residence, he say that he thinks he can sell "Nuns in an Orgy" to Hard Copy.
  • Hard Copy was an American syndicated tabloid show that ran from 1989 to 1999.
  • One of the show's hosts, Terry Murphy, previously appeared on MWC as herself in the season 9 premiere, "Shoeway to Heaven".

Music

• "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle plays as Al and Jefferson watch the end of COPS.
• "Love and Marriage" by Frank Sinatra plays after COPS has ended.

Locations

• Bundy Residence
• Chicago P.D. Patrol Car
• Downtown Chicago
• Elder Woman Residence
• Rhoades/D'Arcy Residence
• Commercial Sound Stage

Sets

• Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
• Chicago P.D. Patrol Car
• Elderly Woman's Front Yard
• Johnson's Market Exterior / Downtown Chicago Sidewalk
• D'Arcy Front Yard / Living Room
• Extra Extra Virgin Olive Oil Commercial Set

Goofs

• When Peg says she just finished her painting, its obvious that its a brand new paintbrush that had not even been used yet.
• When Al accidentally fires off the shotgun in the squad car, it ends up going through the roof of the car and killing a spotted owl, Yet, when the car is shown later in a wider shot, there is no visible damage to the roof.