Married... With Children - Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen Ratings

Despite the show's enduring popularity and loyal fanbase, Married... with Children never was a true ratings winner. Part of the reason was the simple fact that Fox, being a new start-up network, did not have the affiliate base of the Big Three television networks, thus preventing the series from reaching the entire country. In an interview for a special commemorating the series' 20-year anniversary in 2007, Katey Sagal stated that part of the problem the series faced was that many areas of the country were only able to get Fox through low quality UHF channels well into the early 1990s while some areas of the country did not receive the new network at all.

Another problem lay in the fact that many of the newly developed series on Fox were unsuccessful, which kept the network from building a popular lineup to draw in a larger audience. In its original airing debut, Married... with Children was part of a Sunday lineup which competed with the popular Murder, She Wrote and Sunday night movie on CBS. Fellow freshman series included The Garry Shandling Show, Duet, and The Tracey Ullman Show, which were canceled in 1988, 1989, and 1990 respectively. The success of The Simpsons, which debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, helped draw some viewers over to Fox allowing Married... with Children to sneak into the Top 50 of television shows for seasons four through eight doing its best overall rating at number 29 for its sixth season. Although these ratings were small in comparison to the other three networks, they were good enough for Fox to keep renewing the show.

Ratings data for some seasons courtesy of TVTango.com.