Peggy’s high school reunion is approaching and she intends to be prom queen, a title she never won and has not stopped wanting. Her chances collapse when Connie Bender arrives, a rival remembered by a rhyme that the episode is happy to repeat, and Al, meanwhile, runs into his own past, which for Al means the people who were there for the four touchdowns.
This is the episode that gives Peggy a maiden name, and it is Wanker. The choice created a genuine international problem: the series aired in Britain on Sky One, where the word is an obscenity, and the broadcaster cut every reference to it. For years British viewers watched a character whose family name was audibly absent.
The first draft of the script, which survives online, differs in several respects: Connie was originally called Nancy, with a rhyme of her own, and the phone company’s two-thousand-dollar bill was delivered to Peggy in person. What made the final cut is leaner and gives more room to the reunion itself.
Two pieces of household lore land here. Edna reveals that Peggy’s high school boyfriend was Todd Fleming. And Bud, hunting for food, finds a goldfish named Freddy in the freezer, which he had put there as a child believing it would keep the fish safe until a cure was found, the same joke the series ran again eight seasons later in “Children of the Corns,” with Kelly’s turtle. Steve also notes that Buck runs next door and hides under the Rhoades’ bed every day around suppertime.
Episode Facts
- Original air date: April 23, 1989
- Season 3, Episode 17, and the 52nd episode of the series
- Part one of two
- Written by Ellen L. Fogle
- Directed by Gerry Cohen
Peggy Wanker
This is the episode that gives Peg a maiden name, and it caused a problem overseas. In Britain the word is obscene, and the broadcaster carrying the series there cut every reference to it.
Steve mentions, without being asked, that Buck comes over to the Rhoades house and hides under their bed around supper time every single day. Nobody follows up on it.
Famous Quotes
- Bud: “If we don’t get any food soon… it’s Donner Pass, baby!” Kelly: “He’s a little stringy, but seasoned correctly… Bud Chops!” Dinner being discussed.
- Peg: “Your father doesn’t earn enough for this dress and food.” The household budget.
- Peg: “I don’t think he ever got over waking up that Christmas morning, surrounded by little potatoes with a pineapple ring on his back.” Peg, on why the dog is nervous.
- Bud: “Mom, we’re starving! Feed us or trade us!” The closing offer.
Notes
- Peggy’s maiden name, Wanker, is established here and used for the rest of the series.
- An early draft of the script named the rival Nancy rather than Connie, and had the phone company hand-delivering a two thousand dollar bill to Peggy.
- Goof: the arithmetic on Al’s birth year, graduation and football record does not line up, and the reunion is never tied to a specific class year.
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