History YMMV / MarriedWithChildren

** The show has been airing on Creator/{{Logo}} since 2019 in spite of there being several episodes that either have uncomfortable jokes about the [=LGBTQ=] (season three's "Her Cups Runneth Over") or are outright homophobic/transphobic (season ten's "Calendar Girl").

** The show tends to attract fans from the right wing, particularly men's rights activists, who see Al Bundy as a hero standing up for traditional values and masculinity, not realizing that the show is ''parodying'' such notions by showing Al as a loser whose situation is as much a result of his own shortcomings as it is the result of women, fat people, the government, etc. The showrunners were well aware of this segment of their fandom while the show was on the air and mocked it by making Al a fan of ''Psycho Dad'', a show that is about an ultraviolent lunatic who's also a "durn good pa", that eventually goes off the air because the star becomes disturbed by the kinds of people who like his work.
** It's also quite surprising given the number of jokes aimed at the expense of Republicans, considering that the GOP-leaning ''National Review'' praised it for its alleged conservative values. Ironically, when the show was originally on the air, the mainstream Right considered it immoral trash (as illustrated by Terry Rakolta's boycott against the series during the third season, which [[StreisandEffect ultimately]] [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity backfired]]).

** "Assault and Batteries" has Al thrawted in his attempt to see the John Wayne movie ''Hondo'' which he claims airs "once every 17 years." Just months after the episode aired, the movie was released on VHS.

* FairForItsDay: The language and AcceptableTargets of the 90's wouldn't fly today, but for the most part, the show's heart was in the right place.

* AcceptableTargets:
** Fat women, at least in Al's view, and they hated Al right back, snarking back at him. "Hundreds of organizations are claiming credit for the bombing of the Al Bundy Scoreboard, including: The National Organization of Women, The National Organization of ''Fat'' Women..." In addition, Al had to hang out with fat women or have his plans ruined by them more times than one can count. Fat men also counted, although to a lesser extent.
** [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys The French]]. No one ever had anything nice to say about them.[[note]]Although their family dog Buck is a Briard, a breed of dog that originates from France, and even on a SadistShow like this, they at least had more respect for him than sometimes even each other.[[/note]]
** Oprah and other talk shows. They also seem to have some severe hatred for Phil Donahue; Al sees him almost like a traitor in the show's ''Battle of the Sexes''.
** Al (as well as others) had a constant hatred of Music/MichaelBolton and Creator/JoePiscopo for the entire run of the show.
** Additionally, most of the depictions of the DeepSouth were straight out of ''Deliverance.'' Especially funny since the Bundys were pretty much white trash themselves (and Peg's side of the family were a bunch of inbred hillbillies from Wisconsin).
** Of course, there's also the obvious fact that shoe salesmen were considered the absolute lowest of the low. Of course, most of the shoe salesmen in question wouldn't ''disagree'' with this.
** Dodge (or at least Al's Dodge)/American cars in general also counted.
** Feminists are stereotyped as your typical StrawFeminist: as all being unattractive, butch, [[ActionGirl overpowered]] stick-in-the-muds who want to take away everything men like just because they can and [[TheUnfairSex who abuse the fact that they're women]].
** Garry Shandling is the butt of many jokes. As is Fox, the network on which MWC and Shandling's then-current show aired.
** Any and all law enforcement and politicians are considered fair game. In addition to the Bundys never voting (and are implied to look down on those who do, especially [[StrawPolitical uptight conservatives]] like Marcy), such memorable insults include lawyers being referred to as "bad people [who] deserve to be put into a giant meat grinder" and a bumper sticker Al has that reads "Support higher learning; [[BadCopIncompetentCop send a cop to the first grade".]]

* The episode where Peggy has a pirate fantasy based on the RomanceNovel she was reading has Marcy's character being constantly ridiculed for her supposedly gender-ambiguous looks, outright named "Cabin Boy/Girl". To the point where she has to outright expose her breasts to Jefferson's character to prove that she's a woman and ''still'' has to keep insisting that she is one, as they're apparently so small that he still can't tell. Nowadays, it just looks like cruel mockery of a non-binary person. In fact, ''all'' of the jokes and taunts about Marcy's appearance--to the point of being repeatedly mistaken for a man--come across like this.

* ValuesResonance: In "Teacher's Pet", Bud is dating his very attractive teacher. Once Al, of all people, learns of the whole thing, he does the right thing and calls the cops to have her arrested. While the scene never loses hilarity due to Al accusing the wrong woman, thereby making Bud look like he slept with an old woman, and the hilarious cracks he makes at her age while chewing her out, this was surprising due to the fact both DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale and TeacherStudentRomance are defied given the time period. While the former is still present, if not as frequently, the latter would continue to be portrayed as romantic [[{{Series/Friends}} in]] [[Series/SavedByTheBellTheCollegeYears many]] [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer shows]] after this one before the power dynamic came under scrutiny.

** Also in the former episode, when Al is complaining about the times, he asks Bud and Kelly if they watch cartoons, to which she dismisses, saying "No, Dad. We're grown up" as to imply that he's immature. Given the rise of adult animation in the years since, and the fact that even shows primarily for children can be enjoyed by adults, very little fuss would be risen over his decision to watch cartoons.

** As stated before, the French is one of the biggest targets on the show. Given their strong alliance with the U.S. and other events that have improved their reputation, making fun of them today is much harder to swallow.
** In 2021, the joke wouldn't fly at all, but if you pay close attention to the "Poke High" episode, a mix of FunnyBackgroundEvent and RefugeInAudacity will give you the name of the opposing team: the Aryans. Including team members ''Hitler'' and ''Rommel.'' Plus, they win the game.
** The episode "Turning Japanese" would have a difficult time getting on the air given the sheer amount of cultural appropriation displayed throughout it, even with Marcy and Jefferson wearing kimonos in an attempt to appeal to the former's boss, a Japanese man played by the late Creator/PatMorita. To the show's credit though, the boss did find the display equal parts embarrassing to watch and condescending with the joke being Marcy and Jefferson were looking incredibly racist.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Name a sitcom involving Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye that was cancelled after 11 seasons without a proper finale, and where the cast didn't find out until after the last season ended. Is your answer ''Married... with Children''... or ''The Jeffersons''?

* AuthorsSavingThrow: It's hard to overstate just how much the character of Seven was reviled by the fans, the cast, and (eventually) the writers. He was unceremoniously dumped and had his face slapped on the side of milk carton with not one single character caring enough to notice it.

-->'''Death!Peg:''' Oh, please! It took ''six'' of is just to get him out of there! We had to take the hinges off the door!

** One episode has Kelly as a weather girl. I guess all weather people are [[Film/AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy idiots]].

* FairForItsDay: The episode "The Dance Show" centers around Peggy regularly going out to a lounge where she dances with a man she met there. However, when the man's husband comes to complain to Al about how Peggy is essentially stealing his husband, Al is at first wierded out, but then comes to appreciate him because they can talk about sports and the guy's a good cook. Eventually Al feels sorry for the guy and they go to the lounge where Al convinces Peggy's dance partner to go back to his husband, and appreciate what he has or he'll lose him forever, and will have no one to to blame but himself, and the couple decides to talk through their issues and make up. At the end, Al dances with Peggy and tells her that her dreamy guy was "a homo." Although the episode features some gay stereotypes, as well as the casual use of the word "homo," it also does show the guys as a regular couple who's going through a rut, and shows that they are together because they genuinely love each other.

** The episode "Turning Japanese" would have a difficult time getting on the air given the sheer amount of cultural appropriation displayed throughout it, even with Marcy and Jefferson wearing kimonos in an attempt to appeal to the former's boss, a Japanese man played by the late Creator/PatMorita.

* FairForItsDay: The episode "The Dance Show" centers around Peggy regularly going out to lunge where she dances with a man she met there. However, when the man's husband comes to complain to Al about how Peggy is essentially stealing his husband, Al is at first wierded out, but then comes to appreciate him because they can talk about sports and the guy's a good cook. Eventually Al feels sorry for him, and they go to the lounge, where Al convinces Peggy's dance partner to go back to his husband, and appreciate what he has or he'll lose him forever, and will have no one to to blame for it but himself. At the end, Al dances with Peggy, and tells her that her dreamy guy was "a homo." Although the episode features some gay stereotypes, as well as the casual use of "homo," it also does show the guys as a regular couple who's going through a rut, and shows that they are together because they genuinely love each other.

** One episode had Al trying to sell his car, and one of the interested buyers are two stereotypical MiddleEasternTerrorists with a clock bomb, asking Al to give them the car and directions to the Sears Tower. This was cut in reruns in 1993 (during the first World Trade Center bombing), 1995 (during the Oklahoma City bombing) and 2001 (during the second one on September 11th), but is now reinstated.
** The "Peg is pregnant" story arc after Creator/KateySagal lost her baby. To retcon this, the writers had to make the whole thing Al's dream... which was, itself, Al's initial reaction upon hearing that Peg was pregnant.

** In the "Hi, I.Q." episode, at one point, when trying to console Kelly, Al mentions that Buck used to run around all happy and with a lot of energy, but stopped because "obviously, he didn't like [doing] that." This statement becomes pretty sad in the later seasons when you realize that the reason Buck didn't run around as much as he used to is because the Briard who played Buck, Michael, was stricken with arthritis and was physically unable to run around and climb the stairs anymore, to the point of being relegated to just sitting on the stairs. The dog actor eventually had to retire.

** A ninth-season episode has the NEA being dismantled after the work of an idiot (Al's shoe films). [[http://www.npr.org/2017/03/16/520401246/trumps-budget-plan-cuts-funding-for-arts-humanities-and-public-media Fast-forward to 2017...]]

** One early episode had Peg insist that Al give an equal amount of money to Bud and Kelly, saying that they can't show [[ParentalFavoritism favoritism.]] Later episodes had them both showing obvious preference to Kelly (this is namely because she's more successful than Bud and her jobs/significant others offer more money for the family than his do, but still.)
** In the season five episode "Kids! Wadaya Gonna Do?", Buck quips to Bud that, unlike him, he has the decency to die at the age of thirteen. The real-life Briard portraying Buck, Michael, died years after the episode aired at the age of thirteen.
** In the episode "Kelly Knows Something", one of the game show's questions is about Creator/OJSimpson (specifically, what the initials O.J. stood for). [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_murder_case Less than a month after this episode aired...]]
** In the season 8 episode "Take My Wife, Please", Al pleads with TheGrimReaper (who is played by Creator/KateySagal) to not take him and instead take "whoever wrote ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'' theme song". The person in question who wrote the theme song is none other than Creator/AlanThicke, who would pass away for real on December 13, 2016.