Season 3 Episode 20: The Computer Show

Peggy and Marcy buy a home computer for the Bundy house against Al’s explicit objection, and the episode is a time capsule of what that meant in 1989. The machine’s specifications are recited on screen with the reverence of a car advertisement: a 3600 baud modem, a VGA high-resolution colour monitor, a 40 megabyte hard disk and 7 megabytes of RAM. Al’s position is that the household does not need one, which is correct, and that nobody in it will be able to operate it, which is also correct.

The episode belongs to a small group of early half-hours about objects entering the house, the computer, the VCR, the microwave eight seasons later, and the pattern is always the same. The purchase is made over Al’s head, the family cannot use the thing, and it becomes furniture. What makes this one work is that the computer is treated as genuinely aspirational, a piece of equipment that might improve people’s prospects, which makes the Bundys’ failure to find any use for it funnier.

Running underneath is Al’s attempt to train Buck to fetch his slippers, which the dog interprets creatively. Buck turns up with what appears to be a bra and suggests saving it for the beach, and the following episode does in fact take the family to the beach.

Small details for the record: Peggy mentions that Buck potty-trained both children, Kelly reveals she is in remedial reading, and Marcy states precisely that she and Steve have been the Bundys’ neighbours for 937 days, which is about two and a half years. Al also recalls an Uncle Edwin as one of the first Bundys to attend college, before Peggy clarifies that he went as a cadaver for the pre-med students.

Episode Facts

• Original air date: May 14, 1989
• Season 3, Episode 20, and the 55th episode of the series
• Written by Ralph R. Farquhar
• Directed by Gerry Cohen

Guest Cast

• Nick Toth as the voice of the computer

Seven Megabytes of RAM

The specifications the episode quotes: a 3600 baud modem, a VGA colour monitor, a 40 megabyte hard disk and 7 megabytes of memory, for a price around nineteen hundred dollars. That is the whole joke to a modern viewer and it was a serious purchase at the time.

Peg mentions, in passing and without anyone reacting, that Buck was the one who potty trained both children.

Goof: the price of the computer is quoted as three different figures across the episode, depending on who is talking and whether the rebate has been applied.

Famous Quotes

• Peg: “He has a chance to be the first Bundy ever to go to college!” Al: “My uncle Edwin went to college.” Peg: “He was a cadaver for the pre-med students!” The family’s academic record.
• Kelly: “What do I care if Jack and Jill fell down a hall? Why were they even in the building?” Kelly, preparing for a reading test.
• Al: “We got someone in this house that eats, lies around all day and does absolutely nothing.” Peg: “Aw, Buck is cute.” Al: “I was talking about you, Peg.” The setup and the turn.
• Computer: “Me and my kind are really of no use to a regular family. I’m the Pet Rock of the ’80s, buddy.” The computer, giving up.

Notes

• While being trained to fetch slippers, Buck brings Al something else and suggests saving it for the beach. The family goes to the beach in the very next episode.