It wasn’t until 2002 that the episode-minus a few particularly controversial lines-aired on American television (this time on FX). Eventually, Fox caved to the complaints and pulled the episode from the schedule and any syndication lineups (though it was seen overseas). Though it’s all relatively tame by today’s comparisons, some critics of the show felt the story line took the series’ signature crudeness to new depths and initiated a letter-writing campaign.
So the Bundys and the Darcys decide to take the hotel to court, where they’re subjected to a series of embarrassing questions about their love lives-not to mention those videos. Ever-helpful neighbors Steve and Marcy Darcy recommend they spend the night at a hotel that they like to frequent for the very same reason, but it turns out that the hotel owners are secretly recording their guests’ carnal trysts. In 1989, during the show’s third season, an episode entitled “I’ll See You In Court” sees Al and Peg decide to spice up their love life by spending the night in a hotel. The series’ never-ending onslaught of crude jokes were typically aimed squarely at a member of the Bundy family, yet none of it seemed to affect them or change their bad behavior. Sure, the couple tolerated each other, but barely. At a time when other networks were intent on showing what a perfect nuclear family looked like, Al and Peg Bundy were the complete antithesis of the American Dream. In fact, some might say that was the very reason why the show enjoyed an 11-season run. Running afoul of censors was a pretty regular occurrence on Married… With Children. Married… With Children // "I’ll See You in Court" Were these 25 previously banned television episodes deserving of the backlash they received? Now you can judge for yourself. Thanks to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and iTunes, history-making-and controversy-causing-television is just a click away (though sometimes it'll cost you a couple of dollars).
But as time passes, tempers simmer, hearts begin to heal, and once-forbidden entertainment can make its way back into the mainstream. The company that raked in $13 billion (€10.6 billion) in box office receipts in 2019, releasing no fewer than seven $1 billion (€821.9 million) films, has been able to take comfort in the fact that at least there were few better years than 2020 to be in the streaming game.While there are any number of reasons why a specific episode of a television series might be pulled from the airwaves or from reruns (some of them innocuous), poor timing tends to be one of the biggest culprits. Timely launchĪs it transpires, Disney got its streaming service up and running just in time. It already owned US network ABC, but the acquisition of 20th Television, FX, 20th Century Studios (previous 20th Century Fox) and Searchlight Pictures (previously Fox Searchlight) has given it a strong, broad position from which to launch its assault on streaming leader Netflix and other contenders. That deal, despite the massive outlay it involved, looks increasingly wise on Disney’s part.
Mulder, Scully and Jack Bauer were not always Disney properties, but they became so when Disney swooped to buy various US television and movie assets from Rupert Murdoch’s former company 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion (€58.6 billion). The pendulum swings down for insurance costs - but for how long?
Today, the company will add Star, its less-obviously-Disney brand, to Disney Plus in 17 markets, with Irish subscribers among those to see the tab line up next to its existing “superbrands”, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Disney. But to get where it is today, the business has shown the kind of cut-throat ambition that wouldn’t seem out of place on the Death Star. “Disney” is a byword for sentimentality and happy endings.
The 98-year-old media conglomerate is a survivor of Old Hollywood, a pioneer of theme-park culture and now a streaming behemoth. The Walt Disney Company is a funny old animal.