Question: I remember at least a couple of jokes on this show about Michael Bolton: a character disliking him, Al wanting to get rid of him, etc. Is there a story behind it?
Im-Po-Dent - S2-E19
Corrected entry: Steve is having dinner in bed. He asks Marcy for the salt. She brings it to him, and he puts a tiny pinch on his potatoes. Takes a small bite then puts his napkin over the food. He didn't even eat any of it! Just took a few bites of potatoes.
Correction: Steve deliberately did this to punish Marcy for damaging his car. As seen at the end of the episode, Al had been giving Steve ways to not only fake his impotence but, also ideas on how to torture Marcy. This was most likely one of Al's ideas.
I know he wanted the salt just for a pinch to make Marcy mad. My entry isn't addressing this. Steve had a whole plate of food and didn't eat any of it. Just a bite of potatoes.
Plot hole: Al comes home from work. He purposely doesn't look in the kitchen, so he can act like he's surprised it isn't Peg that brings him a beer. Steve talks and Al acts surprised that he's there. When you walk in the front door you automatically see the kitchen.
Suggested correction: It's quite possible to do this. My house has a similar layout: front door opens into the living room, and the kitchen is at the back of the living room. I can come inside and walk to the couch without paying attention to the kitchen. Plus, Al is cranky after work - he says "Ah, what a day" - and he is focused on getting to the couch and relaxing.
This is the only episode where Al does this... Just because he knows it's Steve and not Peg. Pretty obvious.
Just because something is only shown in one episode, that doesn't mean it has never happened before. And because he said "What a day", it seems that his work day was especially frustrating, busy, etc. It's reasonable that he could focus on getting to the couch, not bothering to look at the kitchen.
Plot hole: In this episode Al is about to break Puggy Weaver's record. Peg decides to bowl and scores a perfect score of 300. Problem is Peg is a horrible bowler, as seen in season 2 episode 9. She never bowls with Al or even enjoys bowling, so this episode really makes no sense.
Suggested correction: This is not a plot hole, but a plot point. Yes, Peg is a horrible bowler, but it's typical Al Bundy luck that his wife would be able to put together a perfect game no matter how unlikely.
So this one and only episode she scores a perfect game? Highly unlikely. Oh and she's wearing a long evening dress too which would make it difficult to bowl. So this episode makes no sense.
It makes perfect sense. In the world of the show, the universe is out to screw Al over. The worst that can possibly happen to him will happen no matter how unlikely.
It is a comedy, so having all those "strikes" against her, she still managed to bowl a perfect game - leaving Al hopeless and hapless.
Factual error: It seems unlikely Steve's bank or any bank would leave its vault open at night as they close around five or six.
Suggested correction: Steve is the bank manager and is closing up for the day. There is also a security guard sitting right by the door. And he has to unlock the door to let Al in. No mistake here.
The mistake is about leaving the vault door wide open instead of closing it. Not about Steve needing to unlock the front door to let Al in.
My point is Steve is closing the bank with a security guard there and the door is locked. So what if the vault is open? Steve just hasn't closed it yet.
Master the Possibilities - S2-E16
Factual error: A credit card company doesn't send random cards to just anyone. One comes for Buck. First of all you need a social security number, proof of income etc. And looking at what Al and Peg bought, it's an unlimited card.
Suggested correction: Decades ago (including the 1980s when this show aired), credit cards were sometimes sent to almost anyone - or "anything", such as a family's dog. People used to joke about actually getting a credit card for their cats, dogs, infant children, etc. Credit card representatives also went on campuses to lure "unemployed" students into getting credit cards by offering a free gift. They hoped college students would buy what they wanted or needed and parents would bail them out (pay the bills).
Suggested correction: It should be pointed out that credit card companies, especially in the past, do send out random cards (and offers). They buy customer information from stores from various sources, like warranty cards. People who have received credit cards for their pets (which has happened) have often filled out warranty cards with their pets' name but the rest of the information is the person's.
And some of the "less than honest" recipients of unsolicited credit cards were able to use the cards practically immediately, so went on shopping sprees and charged thousands of dollars for whatever they wanted with no intention of paying or being identified. And not all college students had parents that would bail them out, resulting in huge losses. It took a while, but the credit card companies learned from their mistakes and made drastic changes to avoid getting ripped-off in the future.
Plot hole: When Dominique is on TV, she says she got the shoes from Al's store. Then the Amish guy comes out to confirm she broke her leg from the shoe he made. Al says yes. She got the shoes way before Al knew he had no more shoes and before they even hired the Amish guy. How can she break her leg from his shoe if he wasn't hired and making them yet?
Suggested correction: Hiram, the Amish guy, was hired immediately after Al learned he had no more shoes left. After Dominique falls on TV and breaks her leg, Hiram comes out of the back room and asks, "So, it is true that one of my shoes has broken the leg of fabulous supermodel Dominique?" which Al confirms.
How is this a correction? It just describes what the mistake already stated.
Suggested correction: Al was passing the blame.
The correction above is correct.
Corrected entry: Peg goes dancing with Marcy. She meets Andy, who is gay and married. His husband shows up at Al's house telling him about Andy always being with Peg at the dance hall. Peg tells Andy her name is "Lola" though. So how did the husband know to go to Al's house and say, Are you Al Bundy? He has no clue of Peg's real name, let alone where she lives.
Correction: While Andy might not know Peg's real name, Pete (Andy's husband) says he's been following Andy every Tuesday and Thursday (so this has been going on for a while) to see where he goes and finds him dancing (with Al's wife). We know Pete follows Andy to see where he goes so he could easily follow Peg to where she lives. There's a number of ways for Pete to find out who lives there (ask a neighbor, looked at the mail, etc.) Andy still thinks Peg is Lola, and single, because he's not following her.
Correction: This correction makes no sense. Andy has never been to Peg's house. He doesn't even know her real name. There's no way his husband knew Al was Peg's husband at all. This entry shouldn't be corrected.
What part didn't make sense? I never stated Andy went to Peg's house. And I said Andy still thinks Peg's name is Lola.
Corrected entry: Al goes upstairs and yells in excitement that "she listened to me" referring to Peggy not messing with the bathroom upstairs. Later in the show Al says he will use the bathroom upstairs because she ruined his bathroom in the garage. Peggy says he shouldn't use the upstairs one because she decorated it like a woman's bathroom. So at first he saw it and was happy she didn't change it. Later she said she did and he acted surprised but he already saw it normal.
Correction: Al does not make the statement referring to the bathroom upstairs. He doesn't like using the upstairs bathroom because of all of Peg's stuff in it, so it's unlikely he would checked. He's more concerned about his bedroom so he just did a quick check of that.
I understand what you are saying but he said it when he went upstairs and there is only one bathroom upstairs. I guess I am only saying bathroom because he knows she was doing a bathroom and went upstairs. But I do see what you are saying. I guess we both could be right ;).
At that point he had no idea she was going to redecorate a bathroom. She only chose to do the bathrooms because "a bathroom is not room." Since we know he didn't check all the rooms in the house before making the statement or talking about his win with Bud, it's safe to say he only looked at his bedroom, since he also wasn't up there long enough to check the kids' rooms.
Corrected entry: Marcy says she paid her cousin 5 dollars to take her to prom. In an earlier episode when she was making fun of the person who took her to prom, Steve said wait, "I took you to prom." Marcy turned to Steve and said "yes you did." So who took her to prom? Her cousin or Steve?
Correction: It's entirely possible she attended more than one prom; I attended two different proms at two different schools in my senior year of high school.
I guess that could be also.
A lot of schools have a Jr. and Sr. Prom. It's entirely possible that she went with her cousin to one and Steve to the other. The prom also could've been at Steve's school if he went to a different one.
Correction: Why is this in the corrections section? should be in the question section.
This was not submitted as a question, it was submitted as a mistake, then it was corrected with a valid correction. Sometimes mistakes such as plot holes or continuity errors include wording in the form of a question, but that does not make them questions.
Thanks for the info.
Answer: A lot of "manly men" like Al, don't like Michael Bolton's music. He's just an easy target.
Captain Defenestrator
On a similar note, some 2000s shows had comments/jokes about a female character not liking Britney Spears. If a singer is massively popular, there is a select group of people who are tired of hearing about them and resent them. Which is often a subject of joke material.
Azalea