Yard Sale is the 23rd and finale episode of Season 4 Married... with Children, also the 80th overall episode of the series. Directed by Gerry Cohen, the episode was written by Sandy Sprung & Marcy Vosburgh. The episode originally aired on FOX on May 13, 1990.
Synopsis[]
When Al discovers that Peg has been spending money on old junk from everyone else's yard sales, the Bundys have one of their own. They find it difficult to attract customers and come up with a few ideas.
Episode summary[]
When he discovers how many pointless and expensive knick-knacks Peg has picked up at yard sales, Al decides the family are going to have one of their own to raise some cash. Their collection of junk, however, fails to whet the appetite of the buying public, and they turn to ever more extreme ideas in the hope of attracting customers. Peggy, who will buy anything at a yard sale, brings home a boar's head, but there's no more room in the garage to put it. So, Al decides enough is enough and he decides to have his own yard sale, despite Peggy's protests. But the stuff he is selling is stuff only Peggy would be stupid enough to buy. Al's next idea is to create "Bundyland, the happiest place on Earth," which is a collection of all the junk items Peggy bought in their own back yard! Meanwhile, Marcy has a date.
Guest starring[]
- Alex Walters as The Statue
- Andy Steinfeld as Tom
- Kate Morrison as Alice
- Josh Carroll as Mark
- Brent Corman as Freddy
- Cynthia Sullivan as Mildred
Quotes[]
- Al: Son, what do you want to be when you grow up?
- Bud: Well, I was...
- Al: [interrupting] See, I wanted to be a football player. [points to Buck, who is laying on the ground] Now I just wanna be like him. Sure, you have to eat a bowl full of the private parts of horses, but... then you go to the bathroom on the lawn and someone says you did good! That's all I wanted. To lie in the sun, run in the grass, see a good looking bitch through a chain link fence... Ah, what's the use, it'll never happen. [sings] Dog is an animal with big floppy ears. [breaks down] Oh God! [puts his face into his hand and sobs]
- Kelly: What's with dad?
- Bud: He's having the "Dog Dream" again.
- Kelly: [walks behind Al and pats him on the back of his head] Good boy! [Al lifts his head and smiles]
- Kelly: Can't understand why we can't sell any of this junk.
- Al: Well honey, See Yard Sales are based on the "Bigger Idiot" Theory. You know, Junk that is so dumb that a Bigger Idiot won't come along and buy. The Flaw to that Theory is that eventually, you get to the head idiot [Looking at Bud and Kelly to reveal the Head Idiot Identity] and you call her mom.
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to the Bundys having their own yard sale.
Trivia[]
- Peggy smokes for the last time in this episode.
- At the very beginning of the episode, Al is shown in the kitchen paying the bills and asking Bud to confirm that he paid them last month.
- Two episodes, earlier, in "Rain Girl", which aired the previous month, also showed Al paying bills at the very beginning of the episode, with Peggy and Bud standing in the kitchen with him
- While talking to Peggy and Al about being nervous about her date, she mentions that it had been three months since she had sex. She also mentions to them that Steve's strengths included sex and show tunes trivia. This is likely a reference to David Garrison who had left MWC after the episode "Rock and Roll Girl" due his desire to perform in live theater. That episode premiered about 3 months prior to this episode.
- Marcy reveals that her parents sold off many of her personal possessions when she was 13 years old to fund a weekend trip to the mountains without her. This included a dog named Chester which causes her to wake up at night screaming for him to come back.
- Peggy reveals that she has been going to yard sales around the four corners of the neighborhood for over 10 years.
- Bundy Burgers are sold at the yard sale, though unlike their previous appearance, no one wants to eat any of them.
- Al tells the kids about the Bundy Credo again.
- The neighbors mentioned in this episode are the Feedmans and the Schultzes.
- According to Al, Yard Sales are based on a Theory called "The Bigger Idiot" Theory where someone who is an idiot will buy junk that no smart person would buy, then they would sell those items to a bigger idiot and the cycle would continue until it reaches to what Al refer to as "The Head Idiot", meaning the person who is the biggest idiot of them all and revealed it to be Peggy as the head Idiot.
Cultural References[]
- Bundyland and the slogan "The Happiest Place on Earth" is a reference to the amusement park, Disneyland.
- Upon visiting Bundyland, Marcy calls Al "P.T. Barnum", a reference to the founder of the traveling circus group, Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
- At one point, Bud asks Al if they should "...give up and become "Sanford and Son"". This is in reference to the 1970s NBC sitcom, which focused on a pair of junk dealers who try various schemes to pay off their debts.
- After Peg decides to start fresh, Al gives her money and tells her "No animal heads or paintings or Hoss Cartwright ceramic memorial hats", referring to the character Hoss Cartwright from the western television series, Bonanza.
Music[]
- Al briefly sings a variation of "Swinging On a Star" by Bing Crosby when wishing that he could be like Buck Bundy before sobbing.
Locations[]
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room & Kitchen
- Bundy Backyard
- Downtown Chicago
External Links[]
Yard Sale at the Internet Movie Database- Yard Sale on Bundyology
- Yard Sale - Transcript on albundy.net
- #81 Yard Sale - MWC Podcast on Horrorphilia
