Whose Room Is It Anyway? is the 4th episode of Season 1 of the FOX sitcom Married... with Children, as well as the 4th overall episode in the series. Written by Marcy Vosburgh and Sandy Sprung, the episode was directed by Zane Buzby and premiered on FOX on April 26, 1987.
Synopsis[]
Steve and Marcy plan to add a new room onto their house with their tax refund money. Al convinces Steve to make it a pool room, while Peggy and Marcy decide on an exercise room. Who will win?
Plot[]
It is that time of the month at the old Bundy homestead. Al gathers his family around the kitchen table to talk about the monthly bills. Peggy asks why he didn't dress in rags like last month and Al says it was to prove a point that wasn't taken too seriously. Then he states that we need to cut down on unncessary expenditures. When nobody answers, he says that we can cut down on our electricity and then asks Bud if we are in the living room.
Bud answers no and Al commands him to go to the living room to turn off the light. But he stops at the switch.
Bud: Dad?
Al: What?
Bud: Uh, I'm in the living room now.
Al: You are also on thin ice. Turn out the light.
Bud turns off the light to the living room and rejoins the family at the kitchen table. While rummaging through some bills, he states that his family will learn to save and then asks where are the rest of the bills? Peggy states that they are under Al's new $75 glow-in-the-dark tackle box. Al heads to the couch and everybody gathers around him.
There is just one problem, the light is off and Al asks somebody to turn it on. Bud does so and he picks up a couple of bills from the table. He then asks Kelly if they are in the kitchen. After she answers no, Al then asks what she needs to do next. Kelly goes to the kitchen and turns off the light before returning to the couch.
Al looks at another bill and wonders why everybody else in the world gets a tax refund but not him. Then he asks Bud where else aren't we? Bud answers in a good neighborhood before being told to turn off the upstairs lights. Al turns toward Kelly again and tells her to cut down on her entertainment expenditures including records, movies, and bleach. Kelly agrees to give up everything except bleach before heading upstairs.
Peggy sits down next to Al and he asks who spent $39.95 at a place called "Ten Little Toenails as the doorbell rings? Peggy answers the door to Marcy who gives the Bundys a bag of nuts and asks if they had a nutcracker. Al says that Marcy is looking at her gesturing at Peggy. As Peggy is looking for a nutcracker, Al asks Marcy to close the door because she is letting out the heat. Marcy then stands behind the couch and laughs as she is looking over Al's shoulder. She asks if that is all Al makes and he responds by saying that Marcy is gaining a bit of weight before she rejoins Peggy in the kitchen.
Peggy presents a hammer as the nutcracker as Marcy asks her if she is gaining weight. Peggy gestures in the affirmative as the doorbell once again rings. Peggy asks for Al to get it only to get "who spent 60 dollars on a granular facial scrub before answering the door herself.
It is Steve who announces that she misses Marcy even though it has only been a few minutes. They kiss before Al tells Steve to close the door because he is letting the heat out. Steve responds by saying that Al should install extra insulation in order to cut down on heating bills, and Marcy adds that not only cuts down on heating bills, but equals a nifty little rebate from the government.
Steve adds the kicker by mentioning the big tax refund they just got. But they don't know what to do with the money. Al answers by saying that they should have kids which will suck up all the money like a Hoover. Peggy looks at him disapprovingly which leads Al to confirm that it is a vacuum.
Steve wonders if they came at a bad time, but Peggy assures the Rhoades that it is only Al's time of the month before asking how they want to spend the tax refund. Marcy says that they want to take a romantic trip to Paris with Peggy saying that she wants to go too, but Al is against a trip to Paris.
Al: Oh Yeah, Paris. Where they hate Americans. Where they Won't let our bombers fly overhead - oh yeah, until they get invaded. Then they come crawling back to us, beret in hand, for us to bail them out with my tax dollars. That's where you wanna go?
Steve: No, No. We just said that. You know, to kid you. We hate the French.
Al tells Steve and Marcy that he would add onto the house by building a little room for him to relax, sit back, and read the paper. AKA, another bathroom. This leads Steve to state that he and Marcy considered adding another room onto their house though it would mean the Bundys would need to sign a variance so they could build close to the property line. The Bundys agree to the variance despite the fact it would mean some extra noise and dust.
The next day, Al is relaxing on the couch while Bud is keeping watch by the front door. He tells Al that he has been a good boy and hasn't spent any money. But that isn't the truth regarding Kelly who enters with a shopping bag and pulls out a new pair of jeans. She states that Al told her to buy the new pair because he hated the way the old ones looked while Bud heads upstairs.
Steve enters and Al invites him to sit down. But Kelly's attempt to cut a hole into her jeans causes them to pause. She says that everybody is doing this and that she would jump off a building if everybody else did as well before Bud reappears and announces that Kelly has a collect call from Australia. She is upset and tells Bud that they had code words for calls and he responds that Kelly is late on her code payments.
Al and Steve sit down as the kids head upstairs and Al asks how the addition is going. After Steve says that they didn't have enough time to talk about it, Al talks him into getting a pool room with the reasoning being that Marcy already has a room. It is called the kitchen. Al states that Steve would have some privacy to do whatever he wanted. They then head over to the Rhoades house to talk about the room.
A bit later, Peggy and Marcy return following a workout to pie and ice cream. She asks Marcy what the room is going to be, and she responds by saying that it will be an all purpose room. Peggy counters by saying that she and Marcy should have an exercise room. The reason is that Steve has his own room. It is called the kitchen. Peggy also reasons that Marcy is sick of dragging her along every week to be her free guest at the health club and Marcy accepts that reasoning.
Peggy and Marcy are still eating as Steve and Al return. He tells Marcy that they want to get going on adding a room before leaving. Al states that it is going to be a nice little room where he could shoot pool and have fun while Peggy states that it will be an exercise room for her and Marcy if she can find the time.
An argument ensues where Peggy states that she is getting an exercise room because Marcy makes the money and she has the power. But it is clear that Al makes money but has no power. Still, he will get a pool room and Steve will give it to him.
They agree to get the Rhoades back to the house to settle the issue. As it turns out, a pool room is news to Marcy while an exercise room is news to Steve. Both are mad because they apparently made a decision without consulting their life partner. There is just one problem, Steve doesn't play pool anymore.
The argument takes a turn for the mushy side when Marcy suggests that she can exercise at the club while Steve suggests building the exercise room. They then kiss before Peggy pulls Marcy toward the kitchen for coffee.
Clearly Al is upset at Steve for not having a backbone. After Steve says that the room is not worth fighting over, Al states that women were there to please them and look after the kids while the men would have a good time. So what happened? It is simple, women started enjoying sex too. Al figures Marie Curie's husband is the "beginning of the end." The reason is because he didn't have his own room like Albert Einstein when he invented the theory of relativity. Finally Al tells Steve that a man's castle is his pants.
In the kitchen, Peggy wonders why men always get what they want. She states to Marcy that women are still subservient to men and uses the example of Adam asking Eve for an apple and parallels that to Marcy giving Steve a pool table. Peggy continues by saying that men start out normal and then puberty happens. This causes them to "act like peacocks and thinking they're Italian." She blames it on pool rooms instead of hormones.
Peggy tells Marcy why they brought their house, for the basement. She wanted a sewing room while Al wanted a room where he would build his boat, one that he would never finish.
Peggy tells Marcy to ruin Steve's dream for the both of us. The reason is because Marcy is a modern day Susan B. Anthony because the neighborhood women look up to her and build the Marcy B. Rhoades' aerobic studio.
The truth is that Marcy is conflicted because Steve is s unselfish, kind, and sharing. She looks at Al and Steve who are make-believing that they are shooting pool. They leave so they can go home and decide on the kind of room they want.
Soon they return and it is clear that they made a decision complete with Steve eating an apple. It is going to be an all-purpose room for both of them. The room the Rhoades envision is a sitting room with a bay window, love seat, and a loom.
"Steve: Yes. Because we've always wanted a loom with a view."
But Al and Peggy refuse to sign the variance citing the noise and dust. Plus, Al states that they don't need another room. Peggy even states that she couldn't believe that they would entice the Bundys with a room they might enjoy when all they needed was for them to sign the variance. The major problem is that Al and Peggy wanted them to build a room in the first place in addition to the news that Marcy already ordered the loom.
This causes a new fight between the two couples due to the rejection of the variance. But the only thing Steve could get out of his mouth, after Al shuts the door in his face, is a short statement praising France.
Al wonders if there would be room in the basement for a pool table, but only if he wants to get rid of the boat. The latter is out of the question because he one day dreams of sailing the great lakes in that boat once he finishes it. Peggy states that she will vacuum one day too.
Al announces that he has thought of a name for his boat which causes Peggy to smile. But that turns to a frown when he announces that the boat will be named after himself.
Al heads downstairs to look at his boat while Bud comes it. Peggy asks him if they are in the basement and then asks what he needs to do since they aren't. The answer, Bud turns off the light to the basement. This causes Al to fall complete with crash.
Cast[]
Regular Cast[]
- Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy
- Katey Sagal as Peggy Bundy
- Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy
- David Faustino as Bud Bundy
- Amanda Bearse as Marcy Rhoades
- David Garrison as Steve Rhoades
- Buck the dog as Buck Bundy (uncredited)
Quotes[]
- Marcy: Hi. We've been nut-picking and we brought you a bag.
- Peggy: Aw.
- Marcy: You got a nut-cracker?
- Al: You're looking at her.
- Al: How're you doing, Steve? Are you comfortable?
- Steve: Sure Al.
- Al: How could you be without a backbone?!
- Al: Well, sure! Our rights are not important! Anything a woman says is fine with us! Jeez, when did men become such losers? Used to be so great to be a man. Women were there to please us, they'd look after the kids and we'd go out and have a good time. That's the natural order of things. What happened, Steve?
- Steve: Well, Al -
- Al: I'll tell you what happened, Steve! Somebody told women they should start enjoying sex too. That was the beginning of the end. Now they like it, but it's work for us. Everything's work for us. It's this equality thing. It's killing us!
- Peggy: You know, no matter how far we've come, we are still subservient. It all started with Adam. You know, when he said: "Yo Eve, get me an apple, would you, babe?". And she did. And now you are going to repeat that same mistake by giving Steve a pool table?
Notes[]
Title[]
- The episode title refers to the movie Whose Life Is It Anyway (with Richard Dreyfuss) which was originally a play.
Trivia[]
- This is the first time Al expresses his distaste for the French people.
- This is the first time someone (in this case Al) is heard falling down the basement stairs.
- This is a "bottle episode", an episode with limited cast and sets produced due to limited budget. The entire episode takes place in the Bundys' living room, with only the main cast appearing and no other characters.
- Al mentions wanting to add a room to their house where he can relax and read the paper, which Peggy deciphers as a bathroom. In "A Dump of My Own" he fulfills himself that wish.
- As evidenced by the production code, this was the sixth episode to be produced for the season, though it was the fourth episode aired.
Cultural References[]
- Steve says "a loom with a view", referring to the movie A Room with a View.
- Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) was an early women's rights leader in the US.
Locations[]
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room/Kitchen
Goofs[]
- Bud announces there's a collect call for Kelly from Australia yet the phone is never heard ringing.
External Links[]
Whose Room Is It Anyway? at the Internet Movie Database- Whose Room Is It Anyway on Bundyology
- Whose Room Is It Anyway - Illustrated Transcript on albundy.net
- #04 Whose Room Is It Anyway - MWC Podcast on Horrorphilia
| Season 1 Episodes | Season 2 ► | |
| Pilot • Thinnergy • But I Didn't Shoot the Deputy • Whose Room Is It Anyway? • Have You Driven a Ford Lately? • Sixteen Years and What Do You Get? • Married... without Children • The Poker Game • Peggy Sue Got Work • Al Loses His Cherry • Nightmare on Al's Street • Where's the Boss? • Johnny Be Gone | ||