Season 1 Episode 9: Peggy Sue Got Work

Al will not buy Peggy a VCR, so Peggy takes a job selling clocks in a department store and buys it herself. The first half is about what that does to Al, who discovers that his wife’s absence has removed the only thing standing between him and his children. The second half is the part that holds up: both Al and Peggy independently conclude that they want her to come home, and neither of them will say so, because saying so means conceding the original argument about the VCR.

The episode is the first time Peggy gets a job, a device the series would return to repeatedly and always resolve the same way: she goes back to the couch, and the couch is treated as a victory rather than a defeat. What makes this first attempt interesting is that she is not bad at the work. The job is dull and the money is real, and the problem is simply that the Bundy household cannot function with an adult missing from it.

Small details place the episode very precisely. Her new manager mentions that her first day falls the day before Daylight Saving Time begins, which in 1987 was Sunday, April 5, the same day the pilot aired, which suggests this half-hour was shot around then despite going out ninth. It is also the first instance of a running joke the series never tired of: Al’s name misspelled by someone who should know better, printed on his own cheque as “Al Bumby.” Two of the guest cast had worked with the show’s creators before, Ernie Sabella on It’s Your Move and Irwin Keyes on The Jeffersons, where he played a character named Hugo, which is why he is Mr. Hugo here.

Episode Facts

• Original air date: May 31, 1987
• Season 1, Episode 9, and the 9th episode of the series
• Written by Ellen L. Fogle
• Directed by Linda Day

Guest Cast

• Ernie Sabella as Mr. Pond
• Irwin Keyes as Mr. Hugo
• Jeryl Jagoda and Regina Leeds as customers

The First Time Peg Gets a Job

Peg will not quit because quitting would admit that work is hard, which would cost her the argument she uses on Al every night. Al will not ask her to quit because then he would have nothing to complain about. The show was nine episodes old and already running that kind of logic.

Peg held jobs several more times over eleven seasons and the pattern set here never really changed.

Famous Quotes

• Peggy: “Men. God love ’em. They’re just children with paychecks.” Peg’s opening position.
• Al: “As soon as you walk out that door you’ll feel a warm sensation on your head and shoulders. Don’t panic, that’s just our friend, the sun.” Al, preparing his wife for employment.
• Peggy: “And Al, if you should feel a sudden sharp pain where you sit, that’s just your friend, my foot.” The reply.
• Al: “The truth is I like having her at home… but I’m not gonna tell her.” Al to Steve, explaining why nothing will change.

Notes

• The title plays on Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue Got Married” and the 1986 film.
• First time Al’s name gets mangled on screen, here as “Al Bumby” on a check. The show kept doing this for a decade.
• Ernie Sabella had worked with David Garrison on It’s Your Move, also created by Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye.
• Irwin Keyes had played a character called Hugo on The Jeffersons for Leavitt and Moye, which is why he is Mr. Hugo here.
• The production code shows this was produced eighth for the season but aired ninth.