Stymie Bundy made his fortune by never admitting whenever he got lucky.
In the episode where he was mentioned, Bud told Kelly that Al attributes Stymie becoming rich despite being a Bundy to the fact Stymie never got married. However, in a later episode, Al mentioned a "Bundy Curse" that makes Bundys lucky until they admit they're lucky and then the bad luck begins. It's possible that Stymie, unlike the other Bundys, was Genre Savvy enough to simply refuse to admit it when the "curse" brought him good luck. The never got married thing could be either an additional cause or an additional consequence.
Al is a closet asexual.
It's often quite clear that he does love Peggy but is disgusted by the idea of sex with her and covers his heteroromantic-asexuality by feigning interest in more stereotypically attractive women yet he never make an attempt to cheat on her with them.
Al hated fat men as much as fat women.
Although it's
downplayed, Al doesn't hold heavier men in high esteem, either. In "Just Shoe It" when he thinks a local shoe commercial will catapult him to superstardom, he didn't want to be compared to
Brando, because "he's fat", in another episode, he admits he loves
Urkel, but barely tolerates Carl, whom he only refers to as Urkel's "fat cop neighbor". Also, Bob Rooney, the heavy-set NO MA'AM member, is the group's resident
Butt-Monkey and it's implied that out of all of the regular members, he has the least amount of respect for him. Another episode has Al, to pass the time in staying up at night to keep his Dodge safe, imitating fat celebrities by sticking out his stomach, most of which were men.
Al's mother, not Peg, is the cause for his low opinion of women, particularly
housewives.Notice when discussing his upbringing, he obviously had much respect for his belated father, but doesn't feel the same way about his mother. He himself admitted that she was
an alcoholic who lied to him about becoming the President one day and a
neglectful parent who gave him cigarettes to take to school instead of a lunch. Plus, we never hear about what Mrs. Bundy did for a living, which one can conclude that she was a homemaker, or, like in Peggy's case, lackthereof. Granted,
Peg did nothing to improve this image of the opposite sex (nor does
Marcy), but it's logical that his mother painted a picture of women for him early on.
The actor who played Psycho Dad was legitimately disturbed by Al's letter.
Because there's no way
every male in the universe of the show can be like Al.
- Isn't that exactly why he quit the show in the first place?
- We were told it was cancelled with his denouement shown later.
Steve Rhoades was eventually going to degenerate into the character that Jefferson D'Arcy was.
The last few episodes featuring him even showed signs of this: he was unemployed, indifferent about getting another job (or at least one that paid as much as being a banker), acting disrespectful towards Marcy/using her for her money, and lazy. Upon Steve's actor, David Garrison, leaving the show (not due to the character's change, but to return to theatre), the writers created a character that was what Steve was supposed to become. Also take in mind, when Steve made his future appearances on the show after his departure, he more or less returned to the ambitious, money-grubbing snob he initially was written as.
Kelly Bundy might not really be Al's child.
Peggy had slept around alot at the time of Kelly's conception. The only parental tests available at the time are blood tests which are not as accurate as our modern DNA tests. The blood tests that Al used are only 80% accurate.
Al's usually bitter and miserable. His anger at everything is obviously a representation of Wrath. Marcy's high opinion of herself, as well as hypocrisy, makes her the perfect avatar of Pride. Kelly
Really Gets Around - obviously, she's Lust. Jefferson's a
Gold Digger whose only employment seems to be mooching off Marcy - he's Greed. Peggy's also workshy, but she doesn't even have the excuse of a rich husband. She's just lazy, i.e., Sloth. Bud's a loser who can't get laid. Or look cool. Or nothing, really. He's got a lot of Envy. Buck's only pleasure is food, especially in the later years - he's Gluttony.
And, as usual with these things, Satan shows up, in the form of Seven. I know Satan actually showed up in a previous episode, but, maybe that was All Just a Dream...
Marcy's maiden name was Hogan.
I don't believe we ever learned Marcy's maiden name before she married Steve. Given the show's theme of naming families after famous wrestlers, Marcy might have been named after Hulk Hogan. If her name wasn't Hogan, it could have been Savage, Brody, etc.
Al Bought the House Because it was Advertised as "The Bundy House"
As in, American serial killer Ted Bundy. Bud's favorite sex doll "Isis" that he finds in the basement is actually an embalmed corpse left in there by the home's previous owner; Al was able to afford the house on a shoe salesman's salary because the local legend of the house being owned by a serial killer had significantly driven down its property value. Whoever was trying to sell it was hoping to be rid of it as quickly as possible, and tried to attract true crime memorabilia collectors who would pay to own the house as a piece of history, not a piece of real estate. Instead, he got Al, who knew the house was meant to be his because it's literally named the Bundy house.
