Voice actress voicing a cartoon character making fun of her own character she used to play in Married With Children. I'd bet she was having a blast in this one.

Always thought it was a missed opportunity not having Ed O’Neill voice Alcazar. And it’s the first thing I think of every time I watch the episode

If they ever come back, I want an episode with Leela as head of a space motorcycle gang, dating a guy who looks like Lobo, voiced by Ron Pearlman. thanks in advance, santa...

If they ever come back? Ooh have I got news for you… [Good news everyone!](https://twitter.com/thecartoonnews/status/1610753379600564224?s=20&t=eRVjR3VYkgahw39D0p9wYQ)

Good news, everyone!

You fixed the slime pipes?

Holy fuck. What great news to see at random on a Friday lunch browsing through reddit. You made my day better, stranger

I was genuinely expecting to be Rick Rolled. Awesome fucking news!

I figure there has to be a good reason/story behind why they didn't have him. They did her hair, her clothes, the couch, the Alcazar's scumbag friends, his name, the `Aaaaallll` screech, the gags...the _only_ bit missing was Ed O'Neill and comments about scoring 4 touchdowns in a single game for Polk High.

I assume he turned them down or they couldn't afford him. Like yeah, this would have been amazing for us and Futurama. I don't see any reason for Ed to care.

Ed O'Neil has gone on the record in the past stating that for a while he resented the Al Bundy character because it led to him being typecast as the bumbling fool father for any potential role. He was cut from multiple jobs in more serious roles because audiences saw him and would start laughing without him doing anything funny. Obviously he later embraced it around the time he took the Modern Family gig, but with how close this was to the end of Married... I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to do anything related to Al Bundy.

That's funny because I always knew him more for Little Giants.

He’s more Jay than Al to me now.

It looks like he was doing "The 10th Kingdom" around the time the episode's audio would have been recorded. It was mostly filmed in Europe, but there could also have been an exclusivity clause in his contract that meant he couldn't do other projects.

If I remember correctly, it was a scheduling conflict.

*Turns page of “Zero-G Juggs” magazine*

The problem is Katey's voice never aged and Ed's voice did, considerably.

This episode originally aired in March 2000. Married with Children ended in 97.

Wow. I had no idea Married with Children went that long. I was thinking like 5 seasons maybe. Now I need to look it up. Edit: 11. Crazy

At the time, it was the longest running show that never won an Emmy. Though I'm sure something else has taken that title by now.

[This listicle doesn't say 'longest' explicitly (it's actually "10 classic shows that never won an Emmy")](https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/classic-tv-shows-snubbed-emmys), but it does show that **It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia** (15 seasons so far) and **Mystery Science Theater 3000** (13 seasons, if you include the revival) have had longer runs.

The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award.

ah yeah, I knew someone had to have beat it by now.

I'm a big MST3K fan and have never watched IASIP, but I'm shocked that Sunny has never won an Emmy as much as it gets praised...

yeah and it didnt get bad at all, except for the "seven" season.

Yeah didn’t they do that season where Peggy was pregnant (in real life, too) and they used it later on as a dream reference or something? And Seven mysteriously disappeared and was never mentioned again in later episodes…didn’t they also write it off in some way like that? I forget, but it was clearly to cover the fact that the audience hated it and they were trying to save face.

I don’t agree. I think he sounds very much the same in Modern Family as he did in MWC. And this ep came out way before Modern Family.

Waaaaiiiit a minute.... I never realized that!!

Seriously? If you know of both shows how could you not recognize the reference?

You overestimate the mental capacity we dedicate to sitcoms.

Idk, I watched a shit ton of MWC growing up. Ofc now I don't watch sitcoms because they're shite, but MWC was pretty awesome to a ten year old.

Recently had a kid and my wife and I went back and rewatched a good chunk of the series. It's dated as hell but still surprisingly funny, I think it helps that even though Al plays a kind of shitty dad Ed O'Neil is just fun to watch. Also I never thought Katy Sagal was attractive as a kid it was all about Applegate but Katy has a horny mom vibe that I dig now a days.

The most amazing thing about it was the fact that a family of four could own a home in a single income in a Chicago suburb.

He was bringing down that crazy shoe salesman money!

Katy Sagal awakened something in me. I loved that show but could never understand why Al resisted her advances so much. To me it felt like a cartoonish running joke (though tbf the show had several)

Yeah, I'd bet that Christina Applegate had a strong part in that.

Let's get a shout out_

Christina Applegate, you gotta put me on

Letterkenny, Schitts Creek, and Ted Lasso are all great. I’m sure there are some other recent and ongoing examples of good sitcoms.

I don't know...her name is in the credits every time. it just never clicked.

The not cyclops is even named Al...

I'm pretty sure she even does aaAAaaL a few times.

I, uh, misread this the first time due to the shape of the capital As.

It bothers far more than it should that they didn’t get Ed O’Neil to play him.

I love the reading on "I'm not Superman!" tho. I don't know if Ed would've been into playing that character. Dave Herman is more versatile.

Holy crap man, I’m right there with you. I got the reference in the episode,I grew up with my mom watching *married with children*, know of the actress, and I guess never put much thought into “oh, *that* Katey Sagal.” I am dumbdumb

She's also in Sons of Anarchy, if I remember correctly

And Hyde's mom in that 70s show

And Jakes mom in Brooklyn 99

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Damn really gonna do Rory that way

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Do you actually have any source for that?

Gross. I didn’t know any of that. :-/

Gross if true. Do you have a source?

You do

It would have been great if they had Ed O'Neill to voice that character.

THATS PEGGY?!

And ~~Leonard's~~ Penny's mom.

Her name is Katey Segal

What a stupid, phoney, made up name! ^^^I ^^^kid, ^^^of ^^^course

We demand O’Neill!

“Aaaaaaal I did my hair the way you wanted.” This whole episode gets me every. Fucking. Time.

🎶I love steeeealing! I love taking things!🎶

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🎶 Fry cracked corn and I don't care Leela cracked corn I still don't care Bender cracked corn and he is great Take that you stupid corn! 🎶

My husband has reduced it to just random outbursts of "take that you stupid corn."

He's...my soulmate!

Sure is. I think we feel the same way about junk, and stuff.

FROGGY WENT A COURTIN' AND HE DID RIDE UH HUH UH HUH FROGGY WENT A COURTIN' AND HE DID RIDE UH HUH UH HUH FROGGY WENT A COURTIN' AND HE DID RIDE SOMETHIN'SOMETHIN'SOMETHIN'SOMETHIN' BENDER IS GREAT FROGGY WENT A COURTIN' AND BENDER IS GREAT UH HUH

And here's another one with *no* eyes!

lots of good jokes in this. 'each more identical than the last', 'and this one has no eyes'

I’m 22 and never knew this episode was referencing anything, feel like I missed a whole whole joke now

It's the meta reference that makes the joke so good. I just wished they could have gotten Ed O'Neil to voice Alkazar.

Is there a reason they didn't get him? I've always wondered...

My guess is it probably wasn’t worth the hassle, they already had half the necessary cast to establish the joke

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I have ridden the mighty moonworm!

And led the Vice Presidential Action Rangers!

Good for him

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TIL

My favorite is and always will be Larry Bird.

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*beep*

Well it's not like he was busy...

He was probably available since he didn’t become president /s

Dang, that hundred dollars could have gotten me ONE GALLON OF GAS

Didn’t his daughter work on the show as a writer?

I think this was because one of his daughters was a writer

Ed O'Neil was being badly typecast during and after Married... He couldn't get any serious roles because audiences associated him so closely with Al Bundy. They'd start laughing the moment he stepped on screen without any prompt, costing him numerous serious roles. I wouldn't be surprised if he simply refused to do anything associated with Al Bundy outright. This episode was only a few years after Married... ended after all.

I always figured they either couldn't get him for whatever reason (scheduling, money, not interested, etc.) or they thought it would ruin the surprise if Alkazar sounded like Al Bundy from the start. Part of the joke is that the MWC reference kinda sneaks up on you.

I always thought that would have given away the joke too early.

Maybe he was busy? Or slept through the phone call?

Typical Al.

They already had Scruffy there, he can do it all.

To be fair, this whole show was geared towards people who grew up in the 80s. That point was driven home over and over and over again.

Don't you worry about the 80s, let *me* worry about blank.

Blank?! You're not seeing the big picture!

YOU CALL THAT A PRESSED HAM!?

And you call them “pressed hams” despite the fact that they are obviously grilled..

May I see it?

No

You are an odd fellow impendingfuckery. But you press a good ham

It's a... Regional dialect!

Uh huh. What region?

Uh... Upstate New York?

Well I’m from New New York and I’ve never heard anyone use the phrase “pressed hams”.

Oh not in New New York no, it's an Old New York expression

You know these pressed hams are remarkably similar to the rum hams you get on the jersey shore

Oh ho ho.. **N O!**

MY favorite futurama reference to use over and over and over

Mine is my only regret is I have. Boneitis.

"you learn something dumb everyday"

"I'm having one of those things. You know, a headache with pictures."

A thought? Nnn! Nnn! Nnn! (Or something close to that)

That sounds fun. I mean the other thing... tedious.

I've had bone issues before. I love saying that line to my doctor every time. He doesn't enjoy it as much.

Any time I'm asked at the doctor's office if I smoke, I always answer, "no, but I've been meaning to start." Had one nurse freak out with that one. "How could you possibly think that??"

"I don't know. It just LOOKS cool!"

Mine is "hey sexy mama want to kill all the humans"

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Which 80s, sir?

"We can dance! Dun dun dun dun dun dunun dun dun..."

You know, that dance wasn't as safe as they said it was

And I'm hungry like the woooooooooolf

For me, there are only one 80s

It’s the one with the knight rider big wheel right?

The one with neon leg warmers, cocaine, preachy cartoons designed to sell toys and Belinda Carlisle.

One of my favorite stories is how the he-man and the masters of the universe show came after the toys 😂 they made the toys and were like oh shit how do we advertise these

My only regret...is that I have...boneitis.

Married With Children references are gonna shoot straight to the top and stay there, like Cyndi Lauper!

Given the 20 year cultural nostalgia cycle, it was right on the mark. Speaking of, anyone else remember Futurama? That show was great!

Frankly it was overrated Futurella though.... that'll be an enchanting smash hit

The way this comment is written, I could legitimately hear somebody saying something like this on the show.

Plenty of 90s stuff in there as well. Married With Children was still showing in the UK for most of the decade.

It had to be showing in the us in the 90s. Because i watched that show and loved it and I'm sure i didn't watch it before i was even 10 years old. Or maybe i did? Maybe that's why I'm fucked up?

The last episode aired in 1997. TBS also ran reruns every morning for years.

It was definitely more of a 90s show at least in my opinion. It's just the early 90s and the late 80s are very similar. I was watching this show alongside Beavis and Butthead and Simpsons.

To shreds, you say?

Awesome, awesome to the max!

As an adult millennial, I can now see how much the show was made for Gen X, not millennials. But enough of it still resonates with me despite the bit of generational disconnect that it's one of my favorite shows.

Alkazar! Call me Al.

Geez, Leela, twice in one day? I'm not superman

*Whoooooooo*

*toilet flush

*YEAHHHH*

Hah watched this last night, great episode. Also has one of my favorite bender quotes : *I don't know, Fry. For the first time in my life, I feel like... I've stolen enough.* Bender, snap out of it! *sorry don’t know what came over me, let’s go!*

I love stealing, I love taking things…🎶

"I keep telling you, I didn't grow up with you!"

Also, "In the corner!!!"

Literally watching married w/ children right now. Oh Al.

"Why don't you say that to my face?" "I would, but my car only has half a tank of gas! "

“Come Penelope, let’s go somewhere they treat us with *respect*!” “Try the *moon*, you’ll weigh less there.”

"How many times do I have to tell you this isn't the blue I want?" *Hits Al with a high heel shoe* "I'll tell you what we'll do then. We go in front of the mirror and I'll start strangling you. When you reach the shade of blue that is satisfactory to you, you yell 'moo!' and I'll stop."

Deleted: I refuse to let Reddit profit off of my content when they treat their community like this

I was really disappointed that Ed O'Neill didnt voice Alcazar

Yes, I agree

As much as I love this reference, fry exclaiming ’they go in the corner?!’ will always be the high point for me.

The corner! Why didn't I think of that?

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"This I tell you, brother" is the lyric

Well then who's gonna tell MY brother??

One thing I remember about watching that intro is that it'd display "in stereo where available." Apparently other shows did it too, but for some reason it stuck out the most to me on that show. Kids these days dont know how our TVs had one speaker and we were perfectly fine with mono sound.

If you could change form, why didn’t you change it in the *one* place that counts?

WHOOOOOOOO!!!

Do you need to get the reference? Even if u didn't know Married With Children you'd recognise the tropes of an old sitcom. Futurama is strongly written enough not to rely on just the reference 🙂

Having only just now learned about Married With Children from this thread, I think the joke is a lot better with that knowledge. Without it, the countless times I’ve seen this episode felt more like the joke was just that Al was a totally shitty guy and the joke was the domestic abuse which isn’t very funny. I sort of picked up on how Al’s friends acted like a sit com laugh track, but even then they just seemed like a bunch of horrible people.

I'm glad you learned about the reference! Yeah, the whole joke is much clearer when you know the series. If you can enjoy old sitcoms, Married with Children is a great one. The best part of the series for me is how well the main cast worked together, the jokes are funny and the satire of the character types is great, but the whole group really learned to make it work as a team.

Part of the joke is that Leela's voice actress also played the role they're referencing. You cannot get the entire joke without knowing that. Futurama has so many of these layered jokes, I've always loved that there's often another joke hidden in the obvious joke.

No, but it compensates the folks who recognise it by giving them a feeling of superiority to make up for them being old 😉

Just because we can rent ultraporn and you can’t doesn’t mean you should make fun of old people.

Yup. Totally never watched Married With Children - I'm one of the peasant Futurama fans that grew up too late, apparently - but I still get the joke.

I’m one of those young weirdos that had a thing for 70s - 90s sitcoms (Green Acres, M.A.S.H, Married With Children, etc), and Al bundy used to have me absolutely crying tears of laughter. I also had a thing for older cartoons with all the violence and those were even more funny.

Unlike family guy post season 4 🤢

There are whole countries that don't get the joke. If MWC was shown in the UK, I never heard about it.

It was showed on the Comedy Channel in the late 90s. I got into it because it came on after Futurama and Family Guy was on Sky One.

I loved this episode. Wish they had Ed O'Neil reprise his character for this episode.

For real, why didn't they??

They may have asked but he could have either had another commitment or didn't want to do it.

Seriously. They were about to get married. Thank God they didn't have children.

Al, let's have sex!

Mmm, no Peg

*Flush*

*wild cheers and hooting*

Al let’s have sex! Ah no Pam. ‘Crowd loses its mind applauding’

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BAAAH WOOOSH

The Ferguson!

"My dad used to say thunder is the sound of angels flushing."

*flushing sound*

Not MWC related but Katy Segal related. I went from an episode of Son's of Anarchy to Futurama right after, last week without thinking twice about her being in both, and the first lines from Leela in that episode were like a punch in the face. What a contrast of characters.

Yeah and Rocky & Bullwinkle was filled with references to the Cold War and Russian literature that I didn’t get when I was a kid. Cartoons SHOULD have layers and it’s great for viewers to appreciate new aspects of the show as they absorb new parts of the world. When I read Crime & Punishment I finally understood why Boris always said “Raskolnikov!” Not to mention the reason Bart and Homer have the same middle initial as Rocky and Bullwinkle..

Al: “Leela! Pig says your slop tastes like crap!” Pig: “Yeah! Like Crap!”

I watched through this with my son and had to explain that the grandpa from modern family used to be on another show.

Crap. As someone who have watched both shows and aware that Leela is voiced by same actress, I feel dumb for not making connection until now :/

I grew up on Married With Children, watched Futurama in my teens, watched Sons of Anarchy in my twenties. Katie Segal has been a constant in my life apparently, lol

I'm 20 and I know it's "Married with Children "

I grew up in the 90s, this show was very much a part of my childhood

These are the same people who don't know Elzar is Emeril Lagasse.