I'm not sure about the ratings, but I think Married With Children became a much better show when Steve Rhoades (David Garrison) left and Jefferson D'Arcy (Ted McGinley) came in and married Marcy. Marcy became a bigger foil for Al Bundy, and I think Jefferson fit in well with the NO MA'AM crew.
In addition to Holadem's suggestion about Angel (even though I liked Doyal but he's no Wesly) I must add that I thought Cordelia started to get extremely irritating in the last 2 seasons. Each episode it seems was beginning to focus more and more attention on her and it became overkill for me a little.
It started with that whole wierd period where she became a higher being and came to a head with the whole Jasmine (Gina Torres) storyline. Thankfully Cordelia got gone for the most part after that. Connor was no picnic, either.
There are many who would debate you on that one. Ted McGinley is known as a "show-breaker" (although I did happen to enjoy him a great deal on this particular show - his turn as D'Arcy was pure comedy)
This change made me very uneasy at first. I really liked Sharona. But, after a time I have found that I do like the episodes with Natalie Teeger quite a lot. Maybe the writing also improved at this time?
"There are many who would debate you on that one. Ted McGinley is known as a "show-breaker" (although I did happen to enjoy him a great deal on this particular show - his turn as D'Arcy was pure comedy)"
Yes, I know that Ted McGinley is known as the man who defines "Jump the Shark" and he is assumed to be a show killer, but I found him perfect for this show. He actually acted in many more episodes than David Garrison, so he can't be accused of being a show killer for Married with Children.
I agree that many like Steve better than Jefferson, but I liked the more over-the-top Jefferson episodes than the slightly more realistic Steve episodes.
Most definitely. I saw a couple of the early episodes on WGN the other day and they were not up to snuff. The switch from video to film really helped as well.
It started to go download when Rob Lowe left and then they lost John Spencer and Jimmy Smits joined the staff. But what really started the beginning to the end was when Aaron Sorkin left the show.