Christina Applegate and Katey Sagal recall ‘cynical’ vibe on ‘Married… With Children’ set

With a sitcom as wry as Married… With Children, it’s no surprise that the set was just as snarky behind the scenes.

Married costars Katey Sagal and Christina Applegate recently spoke about their time working together on Sagal and husband Kurt Sutter’s podcast Pie.

The Dead to Me actress said she often felt like she didn’t belong on the Married set because she wasn’t into “sarcasm and s— talking and negativity.” Sagal agreed that there was a “cynical” vibe on set.

“We were a sarcastic, cynical bunch,” Sagal said. “You weren’t safe, really. You turned your back, somebody’s gonna talk s— on you.”

Applegate recalled a moment when this happened after a scene. She had gone to her dressing room and heard people talking badly about her through a monitor in her trailer.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I was just there 20 seconds ago,'” she shared.

On her own MeSsy podcast, Applegate previously discussed how Sagal was a “safe space” for her in the 11 years Married was on the air. She noted that her TV mom was recently sober when the show began, which was a comfort to Applegate.

“You had lived a lot of life and a lot of scarring and things had taken place,” Applegate told Sagal. “And now you were on that side of strength. And I needed that. I needed that so badly in my life, a stable person.”

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Married followed the dysfunctional Bundy family including shoe-selling patriarch Al (Ed O’Neill), his lazy wife Peggy (Sagal), teen daughter Kelly (Applegate), and bumbling younger son Bud (David Faustino).

Despite the apparent negativity on set, the Married cast has maintained a fond, familial relationship throughout the years. Applegate also had O’Neill on the MeSsy podcast last year and said he practically raised her.

“Years and years of my life spent with this man and he’s an incredible actor,” she said. “He’s an incredible human being.”

In 2022, Applegate reunited with Sagal and Faustino when she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Listen to the Pie podcast with Christina Applegate and Katey Sagal below.