The House that Peg Lost is the 16th episode of season 3 of Married...With Children, also the 51st overall series episode. It originally aired on FOX on April 23, 1989. Directed by Gerry Cohen and written by Steve Granat and Mel Sherer. The title name is a spoof of the nickname of Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built."
Synopsis[]
Peg an Al are called to house-sit for the vacationing Steve and Marcy, leading to the Rhoades' house being taken away by a moving man looking for a roadhouse. Meanwhile, Kelly has a slumber party with her friends, which leads to chaos when Bud reveals that Kelly slept with her one best friends' boyfriends.
Full episode summary[]
After asking the Bundys to watch their house for the day, Marcy and Steve return to find a big hole where their house once stood. It seems that Peggy had earlier that day mistakenly told a wrecking crew looking to demolish a place called Steve's Road House and she directed them to Steve 'Rhoades' house instead. So the Rhoades are forced to spend the night at the Bundy house. Meanwhile, Kelly throws a slumber party for four of her girlfriends, but Bud ends up disrupting it and turns it into a "cat-fight" riot!
Recurring cast/Guest stars[]
Regulars[]
Guest starring[]
- Allison Barron as Lauren
- Tracy Justrich as Tasha
- Jonathan Coogan as Workman
- Kristin Pearcey as Karen
- Laurie Shiers as Charlene (as Laurie Plaksen)
- Howard Stevens as TV Announcer
- Buck the dog as Buck Bundy
Quotes[]
- Kelly: [to Al] Now, you promised that I could have another pajama party. [pulls out and unfolds a tattered note from the top of her right knee-high stocking] It's right here in black and white. You signed it when I was eight. [reading stiffly] "Absolutely no parties involving pajamas, music, or shaving Daddy's head while he sleeps until you're 16. Signed, your father, God help me, Al Bundy".
- Al: You can't hold me to that. I thought I'd be dead by now.
- [Bud comes downstairs and sees the rest of the family on the couch]
- Bud: Hey, Kel, word through the peephole in the girls' shower room is that you're having a pajama party. Is this true? [begins feverishly licking his lips and tugging on his sweater collar to cool off] Girls?! Here?! In pajamas?!
- [the rest of the family look at Bud in disgust as he continues licking and tugging in excitement]
- Kelly: Bud, please, your pimple is squirting me. [turns to her parents] Mom, please, it's girls only. Can't you send him somewhere? Like Steve and Marcy's. The zoo. The feeb tank at Marineland.
- Peg: Bud, while Kelly's having her party, you will stay in your room. And you're only allowed out for dinner... which means you'll be in your room. [Bud lets out a disappointing sigh]
- Kelly: Oh, come on, Bud. [walks over and puts her arm around him as she sits atop of the armrest] Just pretend that it's a normal Saturday night. Turn the lights down low, put on some soft music, and dial 1-800-NO-DATE. [grins smugly]
- Bud: No, Kel. If it was a normal Saturday night, I'd be busy selling low numbers to the guys outside your window. [grins as Kelly is now upset]
- Kelly: Eat toe rot!
- Bud: Lick road kill!
- Al: [to Peg] Y'know, I'm getting hungry.
- Al: Y'know Peg, this is my house. I pay for it, I live in it, I like to think I can roam around it like any other desperate, caged animal. What am I supposed to do locked in a room with you all night?
- Peg: [in a flirtatious voice] Well, I too have a promissory note you signed when Kelly was eight... [pauses, as Al suddenly becomes horrified] It's for sex, Al.
- Al: Oh, no! Is it 1989 already?!
- Peg: Yes, and I believe it's the Year of the Snake. [pats Al on the leg just as the doorbell rings]
- Al: [gets up to answer the door] Oh, please let this be a bullet with my name on it.
- Peg: [sighs] Gee, Al, they grow up so fast.
- Al: [playing with a large radio clock] Yeah. Kelly's a young woman. Bud's a Peeping Tom. Where does the time go?
- Kelly: Daddy, we don't have any food.
- Al: [puts the radio down and turns to Kelly] My underwear has no elastic. [points behind him with his thumb to Peg] Take it up with June Cleaver here.
- Peg: So who died and made me Mom?!
- Al: I'm sorry, I'm being selfish, aren't I, June? [begins walking towards the front door] Well, I'm going shopping. So if I don't come back in four days, eat without me. [stops and turns around] And if I do come back, call a doctor, 'cause obviously I don't know who I am.
- Peg: Oh, could you pick me up some pantyhose? Nude toes, sheer to the tummy... and uh, some tampons. [grins smugly]
- Al: [stares blankly at Peg] I'm dead. Why don't I fall down?
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of the episode is a reference to the song, "The House that Jack Built" by Aretha Franklin
Trivia[]
- Kelly confirms in this episode that she is 16 years old at this point.
- After Al and Peg come back from looting the Rhoades residence, Al can be seen with their VCR among the item they stole. He had stolen their VCR in the previous episode.
- Allison Barron, who played Lauren, one of Kelly's friends in this episode, later appeared on MWC as Tania, one of the girls who visits Bud after his failed attempt to win Candy over in the Season 7 episode, "You Can't Miss".
- The boys that Kelly stole from her friends include:
- Dan Peterson
- Greg Barnett
- Bobby Brucato
- When Kelly asks her parents if they can keep Bud out of the house during her pajama party, she tells them to send him to "Steve and Marcy's", which is rather odd, considering she usually addresses the neighbors as "The Rhoades" or "Mr. / Mrs. Rhoades".
- A similar incident happens later in "Route 666 (Part 1)" when Kelly says "When is Marcy going to wire us the money" instead of Mrs. D'Arcy.
- When Peggy confirms that it is 1989, after revealing the promissory note for sex that Al signed, she says that she believes it is the year of the snake.
- Although she is likely referring to Al's penis as a "snake", in the Chinese Zodiac, 1989 was in fact the year of the snake.
- After looting the Rhoades' residence, Al and Peggy reveal that the house is only in Marcy's name and that Steve's mom is the only beneficiary on his life policy.
- Several episodes earlier, in "Requiem for a Dead Barber", Marcy mentions to Peggy that he is worth $1 million on his life insurance policy.
- After Peg orders Bud to stay in his room during Kelly's party, Kelly tell him "Hah", before he defiantly asks her to spell it. A few episodes earlier, in "Can't Dance, Don't Ask Me", Bud tells his parents that Kelly vandalized a school bus with members of the Polk High School tap dance club and that he knew it was her because she couldn't spell "Ha Ha" correctly.
- Al tells Steve and Marcy that their house is now a chicken restaurant in Waukegan. Waukegan is an actual industrial suburb of Chicago, located 24 miles (39km) north of Chicago's city limits.
Cultural References[]
- The show that Al watches at the beginning of the episode seems to parody the television show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, with the announcer sounding like the host of the show, Robin Leach.
- Actor Joe Piscopo is mentioned in the show as one of the attendees at the "Luckiest Men on Earth" party and this would one of the first of many times the actor would referenced on MWC.
- During Kelly's slumber party, Bud is dressed up in a robe and smoking a pipe, in reference to Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine.
- Al sarcastically calls Peggy "June Cleaver" a reference to the mother from the show Leave It to Beaver.
- Jerry Mathers who starred on Leave It to Beaver later appeared on MWC as himself in "You Better Shop Around (Part 2)"
- Marcy mentions that she was dreaming that she was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and compares Al and Peggy to the Scarecrow and the Good Witch from the film.
- She then said that Steve was a naked Don Johnson, an actor who was known at the time for his role as Sonny Crockett on the NBC crime drama series Miami Vice.
Locations[]
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- Al & Peggy's Bedroom
Goofs[]
- Al tells Steve that their house became a chicken restaurant in Waukegan, Illinois. It is never explained how he would know that or how none of the movers noticed that they were in a residential house that a family was still living in and not a building designated for a restaurant.
- When Peg looks to see if the Rhoades' house is really missing (and later when Steve and Marcy return home early), she only looks out through the glass in the front door, which would imply that the Rhoades actually live across the street, even though their backyards are right next to each others.
- Also, even if she somehow meant to look to the side for their house, she would not see their house at all from that angle since the Rhoades' house would be on the left (as Peg is looking) and the Bundy garage extends past the front porch on that side, completely blocking any view.
External Links[]
The House That Peg Lost at the Internet Movie Database- The House That Peg Lost on Bundyology
- The House That Peg Lost - Final Draft Script on albundy.net
- The House That Peg Lost - Transcript on Springfield! Springfield!
- #53 The House That Peg Lost - MWC Podcast on Horrorphilia
