The Shocking Way Ed O’Neill Found Out Married... with Children Was Canceled: ‘I Said, What Do You Mean?'

After 10 years of starring as Al Bundy on Married… with Children, Ed O’Neill found out the show was being canceled the same way most viewers did: from a stranger on the street.

On the latest episode of the podcast MeSsy with Christina Applegate & Jamie-Lynn Sigler, O’Neill, 78, sat down with the co-hosts to discuss his time playing Applegate’s father on the series and how he learned it was coming to an end. 

“I was back in my hometown, and I was at this little bed and breakfast … and it was a beautiful day. It was in the spring, and I came out[side] … and they had the gardens, you know, and it was such a nice day,” O’Neill recalled to Applegate, 52, and Sigler, 43, setting the scene. 

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“A car pulled in with the 'Just Married' things hanging off the back, you know, the tin cans … and I thought, ‘Oh, they, you know, just married.’ So I was standing there, and they got out of the car, and it was the husband and wife,” the Modern Family star recalled.

He continued, “She was in the gown, and he was in the tux. And he said, ‘Oh my god. It's Al Bundy, in Ohio.' And I said, ‘Yeah. Congratulations. You got married.' ”

It didn’t take long for the festivities to turn into an uncomfortable moment. “The woman said, ‘We’re so sorry about your show,' " O’Neill said. “And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And the guy said, ‘Oh my god. He doesn't know. It's on the radio. You got canceled.' "

Despite the shocking moment, O’Neill said he still joined the happy couple for some champagne to celebrate their marriage. “They said, ‘Oh, we're so sorry,’ and I said, 'I'd rather hear it from you.' So yeah. I came inside. I love champagne.”

Married… with Children followed the working class, marital and coming-of-age struggles of a suburban Chicago family, which included Al Bundy (O'Neill), his wife Peggy (Katey Sagal), their daughter Kelly (Applegate) and son Bud (David Faustino).

Applegate also remembered being blindsided by the news. “I found out from a guy who knew a guy who worked for my assistant at the time. That's how I found out. They never called us,” she chimed in.

Adding to his disappointment, O’Neill said he never received his “last show gift” from the network. “I said, ‘I thought The Golden Girls got Mercedes-Benzes when they did their last show,’ which they did,” the actor said. “Never got a gift.”