With 11 seasons and 259 episodes, Married… with Children gave viewers plenty of opportunities to spend Thanksgiving with the Bundys. Oddly enough, the dysfunctional Chicago family only got one episode built specifically around the holiday. It arrived during the show’s final season, and it featured a very unfortunate turkey named Hank.
Titled “A Bundy Thanksgiving,” the episode aired November 24, 1996, as Season 11, Episode 6. The story splits its attention between Al’s desperate search for a very particular Thanksgiving dessert and the family’s plans for Kelly’s new feathered friend.
Al wants to track down Aunt Maddie’s famous sweet potato pie, a Thanksgiving tradition dating back to his childhood. He heads out with Griff hoping to get his hands on one, only to discover that Aunt Maddie has died. That leaves Al with a rather unpleasant problem: finding a way to get his beloved pie without the woman responsible for making it.
Back at home, Jefferson has another holiday emergency. He can’t find a turkey for Marcy because the stores have sold out. Fortunately, Kelly happens to bring home a stray turkey that follows her, giving the family a potential replacement for the missing Thanksgiving centerpiece. Unfortunately for the bird, Peggy, Bud, and Jefferson have other ideas about what to do with it.
Kelly names her new pet Hank, and she isn’t particularly interested in letting the others turn him into dinner. The family’s attempts to get their hands on the turkey lead to one of the episode’s more memorable bits of Bundy holiday misfortune. Hank doesn’t exactly get the happy ending you’d hope for a family pet, either.
The episode also features a memorable collection of guest appearances, including football personalities Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Ronnie Lott, along with sportscaster James Brown. Amanda Bearse directed the episode, which was written by Vince Cheung and Ben Montanio.
Of course, “A Bundy Thanksgiving” isn’t the only time the series brought up the holiday. Season 4’s “Fair Exchange” includes an opening scene set the day after Thanksgiving. The family explains that their holiday meal consisted of the cheese and toppings from a pizza, leaving them with the leftover crust to eat the following day. It’s a pretty perfect illustration of the Bundys’ financial situation, but the episode itself isn’t built around Thanksgiving.
So, across 11 seasons of marital misery, shoe-store disasters, questionable parenting, and Al Bundy’s endless complaints, the family only received one proper Thanksgiving episode. At least they had Hank. Well, they had him for a little while.
