Married... with Aliens

Married,.. with Aliens was the seventh episode of Season 5 of Married... with Children, also the 87th overall episode in the series. Directed by Gerry Cohen and written by Ellen L. Fogle, the episode originally aired on FOX, premiering on November 4, 1990.

Synopsis

After a severe head injury, Al begins to see aliens who steal his socks, which they need to fuel their ships to stop a cosmic disaster. Al's unwitting help saves many worlds from destruction... including Earth.

Description

Plot summary

When Al realizes that aliens or little green men are stealing his used socks, nobody believes him. Especially after he hit his head at the mall, Peggy brings him home to recuperate when they start coming and taking his socks. It's one of the funniest episodes of the series. Peggy finds Al frightened and barefoot in the closet. At night, he sets up the socks to hope that the aliens would find them. When he learns that a tabloid is willing to pay a million dollars for pictures, he decides to cash in on the event. Eventually, the aliens are thrilled for their photos being taken. While we think Al has it almost set for life, it turns out tragically wrong. We find out what the socks was used for; fuel for the ailens' spaceship!

"Crazy" opening credits

The closing titles read: Long ago in the Galaxy Euryops, a great menacing comet was born. Colossal in size, deadly in trajectory, it hurled unstoppable through the universe on a collision course with many inhabited planets. Among them was a small green planet called Earth. But on the planet Philydion, they still sing songs about the Earthman who made it possible for the comet to be destroyed. The man that saved Philydion, Earth, and a hundred other worlds by providing fuel for the ships that diverted and destroyed the comet, and that man is: AL BUNDY.

Guest starring

Leonard Lightfoot as Oliver
Phil Fondacaro as Alien
Debbie Lee Carrington as Alien
Tony Cox as Alien
Patty Maloney as Alien
Felix Silla as Alien
Susan Rossitto as Alien (as Susie Rossitto)

Trivia

Kelly mentioning Darth Vader and the scrolling text towards the end of the episode are references to the Star Wars series.
Oliver, the cashier at Photorama is played by Leonard Lightfoot, who is best known for his role as Leonard Rollins on the 1980s sitcom, "Silver Spoons", which was produced by MWC creators Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye.
The song Al sings when he goes to pick up his photos is his version of "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)".
This episode was nominated for a Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Costuming for a Series.
Al slips off his shoes which were loafers in anticipation for his first encounter with the aliens scene. You can see his shoes at the bottom of the coffee after his encounter.

Goofs

Al shows his bare feet to Peggy and demands she explain his absent socks, to which Peggy replies, "Well, if we were in Russia, I'd say Chernobyl." Chernobyl is not in Russia, but in Ukraine. At the time of production (1990) one of the fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics, SSRs, that constituted the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR). Contrary to popular belief, the terms 'Russia' and 'Soviet Union' cannot be used interchangeably.
When Al comes home from work, he has his shoes on. When he sits on the sofa, he is in his socked feet without ever taking his shoes off.