Mary Ellen Litchfield, an old childhood friend of Al's, appears in the Season 8 episode of Married... with Children titled "Hood 'n the Boyz".
The part of Mary Ellen is played by actress Debra Engle, who is perhaps best known to TV sitcom viewers as Rebecca Devereaux, Blanche Devereaux's daughter, in the long-running NBC-TV sitcom series The Golden Girls.
About Mary Ellen[]
Mary Ellen, an old childhood friend of Al's, owns the inner city convenience store, which her father once owned and ran, in the old neighborhood where Al and she grew up in. Al viewed her as the beautiful girl in the neighborhood.
When Al is visited by his friend and neighbor, Jefferson D'Arcy, he tells him that as a young man, he was madly in love with Mary Ellen and walk her to school everyday. Before she left for college, he told her that she could call him if she needed anything from him. Jefferson eagerly wants to know if Al had sex with her, but Al points out that he would not sex with someone he was in love with. He then continues with the story that out of the blue, Mary Ellen called him at the shoe store and wanted his help. She moved back to the area and took over her father's soda shop and is now dealing some teens who are hassling her. Jefferson then asks if he will finally have sex with her, to which Al points out that his days of having sex are done.
Although Al was intending to make it a short visit, to avoid any suspicion, Jefferson tells Peggy Bundy that Al is going to take her on a second honeymoon to a hotel close enough to Mary Ellen's store. As Al gets upset at the possibility of having sex with Peggy, Jefferson reminds him that "If you want to win the war, you have to burn the village".
After checking in and enduring sex with Peggy, Al sneaks out and visits the store. He is greeted by a young girl behind the counter named Jackie, who realizes that she is talking to the legendary Al Bundy. The moment of recognition causes him to tear up and believe that he is considered a legend in the neighborhood for his years playing high school football, until he realizes that she knew of him because of the poster at the register warning staff not to take checks from him. Jackie then reveals that she is Mary Ellen's niece and Mary Ellen was currently upstairs. Although Al was hoping that Mary Ellen was still a virgin and unmarried, Jackie tells him that all of her kids are grown up, leaving him feeling a little bitter.
Mary Ellen arrives and after they catch up, she points out that the leader of the group of teens that hassle her is named Ray-Ray (played by Matthew Borlenghi), who constantly visits the store and take things which he doesn't want to pay for. She says that he is not necessarily a bad kid and in fact remind her of Al when he was younger. When Al confronts Ray-Ray, he tells the young gang leader that as a "Former King of the Streets", he doesn't appreciate what he's doing to Mary Ellen and her store. He then tells Ray-Ray that they can settle things in the store like gentlemen or outside with violence. Ray-Ray decides to ignore Al's requests and calls out to his crew, who march in and beat up Al. After enduring the beatdown, he sneaks back to the hotel, where he suffers even more after Peggy makes him endure another round of sex.
He decides to make things a little more even, he calls up several of his fellow Polk High Panthers and confronts Ray-Ray again. Although the men with Al are old and completely out of shape, he believes the odds are more favorable now. Ray-Ray then calls out to his group, bringing about an even large wave of members. Al quickly laughs it off, until he realizes his own crew just left him there as they speed off, leaving him to take another beat down by Ray-Ray and his crew. He manages to get back to the hotel, hoping that Peggy would stay asleep. As he is about to close his eyes and sleep, she wakes up and forces him into another round of sex.
Even after his kids, Bud and Kelly, stop by and warn him that Ray-Ray and his gang are not to be messed with, Al tells them that he made a promise to Mary Ellen and that he intends to keep it.
Taking one more "courageous stand", the badly injured and disheveled Al calls out to Ray-Ray, who is rather amused that Al just keeps coming back for another beat down and asks him why. Al gives a speech explaining that men do stupid things to impress women, no matter how dangerous it could be, and hinting that he is coming back for the beating just to impress Mary Ellen. He then gives Ray-Ray two choices:
1. Ray-Ray and his gang leave town, so Al looks cool in front of Mary Ellen
2. Ray-Ray kills Al, so Ray-Ray can look cool in front of his girlfriend
Al throws his jacket down and tells Ray-Ray "Let's Rock!".
Ray-Ray then removes his flannel shirt and slowly walks towards Al, ready to fight him. But as he gets within inches, he suddenly diverts course and walks around Al as the rest of the gang follows, choosing to leave town and let Al look cool rather than kill an already injured and defeated man.
Mary Ellen, who had been watching the fight from her store window, comes out and thanks Al for he did. She also apologizes for leading Al on as his speech implied. Al accepts her apology and then asks Mary Ellen, "If I were single, say I wasn't married, If I did what I did for you, would I get to nail you?", she nonchalantly, but still curtly, replies "No!". Al responds with "Well, then it was all worth it!" and walks off.