For many years, Married… with Children was one of the funniest sitcoms on television for anyone looking for adult humor. The series was made to be risque and controversial, and the storylines often dealt with topics that most uptight people found uncomfortable. This actually led to one woman taking it upon herself to try to bring the show to its knees by threatening boycotts and calling advertisers to voice her concerns and threats. What resulted was the show becoming more popular than ever, but it also caused one episode to get banned and not shown for 13 years. This became known as the “Lost Episode.”
That Married… with Children episode can still be seen today, after finally airing June 18, 2002, which was over 13 years after it was supposed to initially air in January 1989. It makes it one of the most notorious episodes in sitcom history, and the boycott never really achieved what the woman had meant for it to.
The Married… with Children Episode That Was Banned For 13 Years
In 1989, a woman named Terry Rokolta sat down and turned on the television for her and her two children. Even though she knew nothing about the show, she chose to watch Married… with Children with her kids. The episode was titled “Her Cup Runneth Over,” and before long, she sent her kids from the room and watched in “horror” as the episode had a man wearing garters, a woman taking her shirt off in front of Al Bundy (while not actually showing anything), and a man acting like he had a boner. Rokolta was so horrified that she determined no one should be allowed to watch this show.
Rokolta called the studio and admonished the woman who wrote the episode, Marcy Vosburgh. The writer said they chose to do what Europe does and allow viewers to decide to watch it or change the channel. That wasn’t good enough, so Rokolta called all the advertisers she saw on the show, as she watched it for a few more weeks, to get as many as she could. Eventually, she convinced Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, and more to pull their ads from Married… with Children.
The studio refused to fire Vosburgh to save face and pushed on. The studio did choose to lessen the offensive jokes and scenes from episodes, and they refused to air one episode that was deemed risque, called “I’ll See You in Court.” Fox called it their “Lost Episode,” and it was never seen during the show’s run. The plot had Peg and Al go to a motel to try to help their stagnant sex life, only to find a videotape in the room that showed their neighbors, Steve and Marcy, having sex. It excited Peg, and she and Al had sex too. Soon, they found out they were also secretly taped, and the four sued the motel.
The episode was never seen until June 18, 2002, and it is now available on the home video releases and on the replays of the seasons of the show. That banned episode was the only real fallout from the boycott. According to the producers, as well as stars Ed O’Neill, Katey Sagal, and Christina Applegate, the boycott made the show more popular, and the ratings went up. In fact, the cast said they would send a bouquet of flowers to Rakolta at the start of each season, thanking her for making them more popular than they were before. Additionally, the show’s staff began sending her a fruit basket every Christmas for her backfired boycott.
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