Unhappily Ever After (1995–1999)

A "Married with Children" take-off with the twist of a schizophrenic father.

Creators:

Ron Leavitt, Arthur Silver

Stars:

Geoff Pierson, Kevin Connolly, Nikki Cox

3 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Geoff Pierson	...	Jack Malloy (100 episodes, 1995-1999)
Kevin Connolly	...	Ryan Malloy (100 episodes, 1995-1999)
Nikki Cox	...	Tiffany Malloy (100 episodes, 1995-1999)
Justin Berfield	...	Ross Malloy (100 episodes, 1995-1999)
Bobcat Goldthwait	...	Mr. Floppy (100 episodes, 1995-1999)
Stephanie Hodge	...	Jennie Malloy (77 episodes, 1995-1998)

Storyline

A slightly cleaner take-off of "Married with Children" with overstressed father Jack, whose life consists of a lousy job; a law-breaking, sex-starved wife; a skimpily dressing daughter with her eyes on an Ivy League school; an idiot son; and Mr Floppy, the epitome of Jack's raging schizophrenia, physically embodied in the form of a boozing, chain-smoking, perverse stuffed gray rabbit with whom Jack consults for advice in the rabbit's basement playpen, where Jack inevitably secludes himself.

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Plot Keywords:

rabbit | basement | stuffed toy rabbit | stuffed toy | imaginary friend | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Unhappily...

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (100 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the Halloween episode, "I Know What You Did in the Closet", Ross is listening to a boombox and the song that is heard is a rap version of the show's original theme song, "We Married Young."

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Quotes

Ryan Malloy: Mild mannored Ryan was sitting in the rain, he got struck by lightening, and now he's still the same. He's lightening boy!

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Jennifer Lopez (2001)

User Reviews

Similar to "Married With Children", but a few subtle diffs.

I'll admit, when I first started watching this show in 1995, I thought that this would be the new MWC once the old MWC went off the air. I mean, look at the similarities......the deadbeat, minimum-wage earning father; the wise-cracking, undersexed mother; a son who dreams of scoring but never does, and a totally hot daughter. There's a few differences, however:

1. The hot daughter is smarter than the boys. She's the straight-A student here. Of course, that doesn't stop her from wiggling around in the shortest skirts possible.

2. There's 2 sons. One combines the undersexed part of MWC's "Bud" character and the dumb part of MWC's "Kelly" character, the other is used primarily for comic relief.

3. Mr. Floppy. The talking bunny is Mr. Malloy's alter ego, and only he can talk to him. Of course, his family thinks he's crazy when he spends all that time in the basement.

4. Tiffany, the hot, short-skirted daughter, is a virgin. When I first heard this, I thought it was the biggest contradiction of the show. Here's a girl that looks this good, with all these guys drooling over her, and she's a VIRGIN? Oh please. As we all know, Kelly Bundy of MWC's favorite spot was the back seat of a car. We didn't see it on camera, but she was understood to be very promiscuous.

After the behind-the-scenes people seen who was watching the show, and who on the show they were watching, first the grandma was let go (after the first season!) and then Stephanie Hodge (who played the mother) was booted off the show. "Unhappily" was restructured around Nikki Cox's character, Tiffany. The show then became an exercise in watching Tiffany and her best friend glide across the screen in the shortest, skimpiest dresses allowed on TV-14 television. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this show, and when it went off the air I was pretty disappointed. The reruns are still around, and I really like watching those! I give this show a solid A.