For those who have been watching Modern Family and for those who haven’t this is their 10th and possible final season on ABC.

For those who don’t know this the star, Ed O’Neil, was on another groundbreaking sitcom on Fox network.  That show was called Marriage with Children.

I will discuss the comparison between the 2 shows with a little comparison to this family; who happens to be part of my family.

Let us look at Ed O’Neil.  He was no Hollywood’s heart throb by no means.  Yet, somehow, the stars who played his wives on both show,  are very sexy.  We all know how sexy Sophia Vergaras is; even with her accent.  Well, in the Marriage with Children’s days, Katy Sagal, I would say was also very sexy.  It got me thinking, only in Hollywood can a man like Ed O’Neil be so lucky.

I cannot imagine anyone else portraying Al Bundy or even his character on Modern Family than Ed O’Neil.  He just fit both characters.

But did you know that he once tried out for the role of Sam Malone on Cheers?  It wouldn’t had been the same.

On Marriage with Children, Al Bundy was married but really didn’t love Peg.  He complained about his life in every episode.  In Modern Family, Ed O’Neil divorce his first wife and married a hot sexy wife.

In both shows, he played a father of 2 kids.  The daughter was the oldest in both shows.  If you were to intertwine the shows, you can almost put Marriage with Children into Modern Family, because of the similarities.

On Marriage with Children, Al Bundy made a quote that was, “Golf is not a sport.”  Yet on Modern Family Ed O’Neil’s character played golf and was a member of a country club.

Remember, Al Bundy wouldn’t be allowed into the country club.

On Marriage with Children, Al Bundy was a struggling shoes salesman trying any get rich quick scheme he could think of.  Whereas, on Modern Family, he had succeeded.

Both shows were groundbreaking shows.  They both depict the true family dynamics.

When Marriage with Children first came on, they were the first show on a new network.  That network was Fox.  Before Fox, there was only 4 channels and they were: ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.  People had to get up to change the channel.  There was no remote for the TV.  They even had the old rabbit ears on top of the TV.  If you were lucky, you had an antenna on top of your roof as well.  There was no such thing as cable or satellite dish.

Another thing, Fox was a groundbreaking network at the time.  Now they are more conservative.  Fox news is probably more reliable than the other news network.

Marriage with Children was the first show that depict a dysfunctional family.  Before that, families on television seems to be so normal compare to everyday families.  Problems were pretty much solved within half an hour to an hour depending on the shows.  That isn’t life and Marriage with Children actually showed that way before Roseanne did.  Even the Cosby Show had this “perfect” family unit.

Modern Family was also a groundbreaking show in their own way.  They showed extended family with a second wife and a gay son with his gay husband who adopted a daughter from overseas.  They showed 3 smaller families; which is a part of one main family.

You probably wonder where that picture fits in with this blog?  I will try to explain it now.

As I mentioned earlier, they are part of my family.  Yet at the same time, they are what I would say a real life Bundy’s family.

As I mentioned in previous blogs, the Brady Bunch was a wish list of what I wish my family was like.  My family isn’t perfect.  It’s rather dysfunctional, and Marriage with Children depicts one part of my family.

The father, my oldest step-brother is very much like Al Bundy.  He has this entitlement belief, like  Al Bundy.  Even though he was married with children, was there really love or was it obligation.  He felt tied down like Al Bundy did.  They both looks for get-rich quick scheme.

Peg Bundy was very similar to my sister-in-law.  Peg was lazy.  She didn’t cook or clean.  She would foil Al’s scheme all the time.  She was a sex addict.

Kelly Bundy took after Peg in more ways than one.   She was also similar to my oldest niece, Tracy.  I love all my nieces and nephew; so I will get that straight first.  Kelly also had some similarity with Al Bundy as well.  She was looking for ways to break free from that dysfunctional family by any means possible.  I have to admit, I believe that Tracy is doing a wonderful job in breaking free from the bondage of the dysfunction.  I’m proud of her.  Yet at the same time, I’m very much concerned for her as well.

Now Bud Bundy, I would say was way smarter than his parents.  At least he was book smart.  He still falls in the same trap as all of the Bundy’s.  I’m very much concern about his real life counterpart, my only nephew.  He seems to be keeping up with the family tradition.

As dysfunction as the Bundy’s were, when push comes to shove, in the end, they always stood by each other.  This also goes with my family as well.

Even though my family is very dysfunctional, in the end when it’s all said and done, we are somewhat there for each other.  Some more than others!

I think that it would be fun to see the cast from Marriage with Children on Modern Family for their final season.  It will be just to show the connection between the two shows.

I love my family; despite of the dysfunction we all have.  Some days, some of my family members I would love to just give away.  All families have their problems.  There is no perfect family out there.  Even if they pretend to be perfect while in church.  They have their problems too.

I’m glad for the show Marriage with Children for showing the true dysfunctional family for a change.