Al Bundy was my dad’s idol (let’s not talk about what that means for my childhood). I grew up in Canada, where it wasn’t at all surprising to have American television as an influence. But Married…With Children didn’t only cross the border to the north, it became a worldwide phenomenon, and not just the original. Plenty of countries have their own take on the groundbreaking Fox series.
Ever wonder what the Bundys would like like in say, Germany? Or perhaps Hungary? A Spanish Kelly? Well Neatorama has the goods on these and many more versions of the show. Twenty-five years after it first aired, Married…With Children is still influencing television. It’s been remade in these and many other countries around the world, with the characters and even the set as recognizable to Fox viewers as the original.
Check out the pictures from around the world; even Peg herself has got to be jealous of the height the Hungarian version of her character is getting on that hair. And you have to love the literal translation of the Hungarian title: A gruesomely decent family in Budapest. I think Fox missed the boat on that title.
The Polish version has been on the air since 1999, which is pretty successful, while the British version only saw 7 episodes (let’s face it, the Bundy’s aren’t a British bunch). Russia actually translated the scripts from the original for their series, which ran for many years.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Al, Peggy, Kelly, and Bud had a global impact. But nobody did it quite like America (where I like to think there's a little Bundy in all of us). Check out the U.K. clip from Married For Life if you need proof.
