Do you remember Charlie Verducci played by Joseph Bologna and his son, Vinnie, played by Matt LeBlanc? Well, the Married with Children people decided to have a spin off based on these two characters. Charlie wants Vinnie to marry a wealthy heiress so they can live in the lap of luxury instead of a tenement apartment building with their beautiful white cat. He arranges Vinnie to attend a lavish ball at a country club where familiar Diana Bellamy is cast as the club manager. She is the first woman ever insulted by Al Bundy in the show's premiere episode. Unfortunately, things don't go so well. Joey Lauren Adams is good as the seductive neighbor. The show's premise never really took off. It's nice to see thought that the show producers are loyal to their guests like Diana Bellamy who would return occasionally to the show. It's like seeing old friends. This episode would show Matt LeBlanc's earlier work before he hit it big on Friends.
5 Reviews
Not Married With Children
slightlymad2230 October 2014
This episode is NOT "Married With Children" it was the pilot for the spin-off series "Top of the Heap" featuring Kelly's old boyfriend Vinnie (Matt Le Blanc) and his Dad Charlie hatching a get rich quick scheme with Al.
Ed O'Neil is the only cast member of "Married With Children" to appear and he is the best thing in it, but sadly he only has two scenes. The rest of the cast are seriously missed!! Surely the gorgeous Christina Applegate could have popped up given that the last time the character of Vinnie was on the show he was dating Kelly. It's interesting to see Matt Le Blanc doing his Joey Tribianni from "Friends" routine long before he was cast in the role.
Joseph Bologna is again a weak link, he tried to be an Al Bundy type, but he fails. It's a credit to O'Neil that nobody else can play that type of role as well as he does. Joey Lawrence Adams is decent as the flirty neighbour, but overall not an episode to bother with unless you want to see a pre "Friends" Le Blanc in an early role.
This episode has massively let down the best season so far of Married With Children
Ed O'Neil is the only cast member of "Married With Children" to appear and he is the best thing in it, but sadly he only has two scenes. The rest of the cast are seriously missed!! Surely the gorgeous Christina Applegate could have popped up given that the last time the character of Vinnie was on the show he was dating Kelly. It's interesting to see Matt Le Blanc doing his Joey Tribianni from "Friends" routine long before he was cast in the role.
Joseph Bologna is again a weak link, he tried to be an Al Bundy type, but he fails. It's a credit to O'Neil that nobody else can play that type of role as well as he does. Joey Lawrence Adams is decent as the flirty neighbour, but overall not an episode to bother with unless you want to see a pre "Friends" Le Blanc in an early role.
This episode has massively let down the best season so far of Married With Children
The worst episode of the series?
gridoon202429 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Married With Children" is one of my 2 or 3 all-time favorite TV shows, and one that I find - now that I am rewatching it - hasn't aged at all. "Top Of The Heap" is a black spot in the history of the show, and it would be better for everyone if we just pretended it never happened. Charlie and Vinnie Verducci, who had been introduced previously in the episode "Oldies But Young 'Uns", can be funny in small doses (say, for about 3 minutes in a 25-minute episode), but to give an entire "Married With Children" episode to them and have only Al out of the regular cast make two short guest (!) appearances was a terrible idea (no wonder that the sitcom this was supposed to launch was incredibly short-lived). But hey, if you're a woman at least you'll get to see a super buff Matt LeBlanc shirtless, and for the men there is a super busty blonde woman at a party. 0.5 out of 4 stars.
NOT married with children
noway234-11 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Let me start this off with one statement, I love Married With Children. Al and Peggy and Bud and whore.... I mean Kelly all make me laugh my head off. Every episode with the family makes me laugh, Marcy is a genuine comedy neighbor icon. So when I saw this episode I cried. For starters it's not about the Bundy family, it has a few moments of them at the beginning and Al turns up at the end, almost to remind us what show we're actually watching. Second it's the pilot for a series that sucked, now I'm OK with bad sitcom pilots, but not when it's in the middle of a brilliant comic series and has nothing to do with the rest of the show. It took a guest role played by Matt LeBlanc, who was only on to play one of Kelly's many boyfriends for 1 episode, and turned it into a full episode with no real laughs, a stupid concept, and NO BUNDY'S!!!! There was absolutely nothing good about this episode, it was like the Bundy's were forgotten for a full half hour and that's not right for Married With Children because... well it's their show damn it! The only good thing about this episode was that it ended, it's the one episode I will never watch again
What in the name of Joey Tribbiani is this?
BA_Harrison27 November 2022
Top of the Heap is what is called a back-door pilot, whereby the producers introduce a spin-off series by inserting the first episode into the already existing source show. Vinnie and Charlie had already made an appearance in an earlier episode of MWC, but this time the focus is on them -- and it's terrible!
The characters aren't very likeable, and the gags are weak. It's not a big surprise that Top of the Heap (the series) was extremely short-lived. The makers even tried to give the show another shot in the arm by revamping it as Vinnie and Bobby, but that didn't work either. Matt LeBlanc would have to wait a while longer before he achieved stardom with Friends but proved that persistence pays off.
The characters aren't very likeable, and the gags are weak. It's not a big surprise that Top of the Heap (the series) was extremely short-lived. The makers even tried to give the show another shot in the arm by revamping it as Vinnie and Bobby, but that didn't work either. Matt LeBlanc would have to wait a while longer before he achieved stardom with Friends but proved that persistence pays off.
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