I'll See You in Court

Infobox Television episode
Title = I'll See You in Court
Series = Married... with Children


Caption = Steve Rhoades bores the court as prosecutor
Season = 3
Episode = 8
Airdate = N/A
Production = 3.08
Writer = Jeanne Baruch, Jeanne Romano
Director = Gerry Cohen
Guests = Lora Zane, Lillian Lehman, Ken Thorley
Episode list = List of Married... with Children episodes
Prev = "Requiem for a Dead Barber"
Next = "Eatin' Out"

"I'll See You in Court" is the tenth episode of the third season from the TV comedy series "Married... with Children". The episode follows the Bundys' attempts (at Marcy Rhoades's suggestion) to improve their love life by having marital relations in a different setting. While staying at the Hop-On-Inn, the Bundys discover a secretly recorded video tape of the Rhoades having sex. Despite this, the Bundys decide to have sex and end up having themselves recorded as well. The two families then proceed to sue the establishment for violation of their privacy.cite web | last = Andreas | first = Carl | title = The Illustrated Lost Show Transcript – I'll See You in Court (0308) | work = | publisher = Bundyology | date = 2007 | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20070625042239/http://www.bundyology.com/lost1.html
format =Wayback Machine | accessdate = 2007-10-20 ]

Conflict erupted over the episode's content between the show's producers and the airing network, which prevented the episode from being aired for well over a decade, far past "Married... with Children's" initial television run. Even when first shown on American television in 2003, several lines were removed from the broadcast, despite it having already run in full form in other countries.

Plot summary

After writing to a televised sex-help program, Peggy decides that the best way to rekindle her relationship with Al is to have sex in a different location. Upon Marcy's recommendation, Peggy and Al go to the Hop-On-Inn, and discover a videotape waiting for them in their room. After watching some of the tape, the Bundys realize that the couple having sex on the video is none other than Steve and Marcy. Although Al is disgusted, the action turns Peggy on and the couple has sex.

Peggy and Al return home and show the tape to Steve and Marcy, who are embarrassed by the film, much to the delight of the Bundys. The Rhoades express their dismay that they were secretly recorded, but Steve points out that the Bundys may have been videotaped as well. Marcy and Al are upset by this violation of their privacy and propose physical violence against the owners of the motel. Steve and Peg, on the other hand, want to press charges against the Hop-On-Inn and make money from the incident.

Peggy convinces Al to sue the motel with her and the Rhoades. Steve, not wanting a lawyer to take any of the million dollars he expects from winning the case, decides to act as the prosecutor for the two families. The case begins with Steve presenting a lengthy opening statement that causes the stenographer and the judge to fall asleep. Next, Steve shows the subpoenaed sex tapes from the motel, despite objections from his wife. After a few hours, the tape runs out and the courtroom applauds Steve and Marcy's romp. Next, Steve shows Peggy and Al's tape, which ends after a few seconds.

After the prosecution rests, the defense lawyer calls Marcy, Al and Peggy to the stand. She asks Marcy a series of embarrassing questions, hoping to prove Marcy knew that the camera was there. Her tactic with the Bundys is to try to prove sexual intercourse did not occur on the videotape. In the end, the Rhoades are awarded $10,000 but the Bundys receive nothing, because the jury does not believe that sex occurred. After everyone exits the courtroom, Al attempts to prove that he can perform when he wants to and has sex with Peggy for hours on the judge's bench, unwittingly while being recorded by the courtroom camera.

Production and controversy

The episode was written by Jeanne Baruch and Jeanne Romano, both newcomers to "Married... with Children".imdb name|id=1313652|name=Jeanne Baruch] imdb name|id=0738899|name=Jeanne Romano] Directed by Gerry Cohen, the show was taped on January 6, 1989 with a planned airing date sometime in February of that same year. The censors of the Fox Broadcasting Company, however, declined many of the lines in the show.

It was not the first time that Fox censors had objected to content in "Married... with Children". Earlier in the season, producers and writers Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt had to fight with the censors to air "The Camping Show", an episode where the Bundys and the Rhodes are trapped in a cabin in the wilderness as all three women have their periods at the same time. The episode aired on December 11, 1988, but the producers were forced to change the title from "A Period Piece" to "The Camping Show", despite the fact that the title itself was unaired.cite web |last = Spadoni | first = Mike | title = MARRIED... WITH CHILDREN | A TELEVISION HEAVEN REVIEW | publisher = Television Heaven | date = 2005 | url = http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/marriedwithchildren.htm
accessdate = 2007-09-08 ]

The censors ended up pulling "I'll See You in Court", preventing it from airing in the United States. It was a combination of several factors that led to this decision. Firstly, the overall topic, sex, was not seen as a topic to be vocally and openly discussed on television. Another reason was that Terry Rakolta was at the height of her boycott fight against the Fox Network after the airing of the episode "Her Cups Runneth Over" early in the year. Already feeling pressured from her campaign, it was likely another factor that contributed to the pulling of the episode.cite web
last = Gibron | first = Bill | title = DVD Verdict Review - Married with Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes: Volume 1 | publisher = DVD Verdict | date = November 6, 2003
url = http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/mwcoutrageous.php
accessdate = 2007-09-08] A third concern was that the entire punchline of the episode (the length of Al's performance preventing the Bundys from claiming any money) was considered an unacceptable revelation for the airwaves.

In an interview with "Playboy" magazine, Michael Moye claimed that the producers dubbed the episode "The Lost Episode" both because it never aired and because they felt that they lost control of the project. A typical episode of "Married... with Children" contained two or three censor notes denoting content that was "too graphic" or "over the edge." "I'll See You in Court" contained a total of fifteen. After arguing with the censors and conceding all but four of the notes, Fox still refused to air the episode. Moye claims that the final total of thirteen changes were unacceptable. "The integrity of the show was shot tohell."cite web
last = Adams | first = Dean | title = 17 The lost show (Married with Children) | work = Married With Children FAQ | publisher = stason.org | date = 2007
url = http://stason.org/TULARC/tv/married-with-children/17-The-lost-show-Married-With-Children.html
accessdate = 2007-09-08] The episode did, however, premiere in other parts of the world in 1990.

On June 18, 2002, the FX network broadcast the episode for the first time on American television. The episode, however, was still not broadcast in its entirety, as the network cut four lines during the scene where the two families decide on what to do about the videotapes:

cquote|Peg : Quiet dear, Steve has a thought on how sex with you can finally be satisfying. So er ... we can make some money off this?
Steve : And see justice served. Right Marcy?
Marcy : When you go down there, and you've broken their spines and snapped their arms like little twigs, and they're truly, truly helpless, then I'll come in, yeah. I'll come in with just a mere old-fashioned can opener. And I'll do things to them that'll make the devil himself vomit.
Steve : Ur, or we could sue.

Although the episode has aired in Australia, Europe and Canada unedited, the above omission means that the show has never been broadcast in the United States unedited. The total time between when the episode was filmed and when it premiered in the United States was 13 years, 5 months and 12 days.

Critical response

As the episode remained unaired for so long in the United States, contemporary critics did not have ample opportunity to review it. After the 2002 airing, the episode also became available in the United States on the "Married with Children, Vol. 1 – The Most Outrageous Episodes" DVD, which was released on February 4, 2003 and the "The Complete Third Season", which was released on January 25, 2005.cite web | last = Lambert | first = David | title = "Married... with Children 3rd season" | work = | publisher = TV shows on DVD | date = November 15, 2004 | url = http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2460 | accessdate = 2007-09-08]

"DVD Verdict" claimed that the content of the show was not overly racy, even by the standards of the era. The review claims that, by 2003, the content was "so sedate as to be comatose." "Film Freak Central" gave the episode a grade of C+, calling the episode "quaint" and warning to " [n] ever trust the hype."cite web | last = Chambers | first = Bill | title = MARRIED WITH CHILDREN: THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS EPISODES - VOLUME 1 | work = | publisher = Film Freak Central | date = January 26, 2002 | url = http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/marriedwithchildrenmostoutrageousvol1.htm | accessdate = 2007-09-08]

References

External links

*imdb episode|0642298|I'll See You in Court