Actor Ed O'Neill expressed regret over a longtime rift he had with his Married... with Children co-star Amanda Bearse.
The Modern Family star reunited with his TV son Jesse Tyler Ferguson on his Dinner's on Me podcast and revisited the conflict that tainted the work environment when O'Neill starred in the long-running 1980s sitcom Married... with Children.
O'Neill, who played grumpy Chicago women's shoe salesman Al Bundy on the show, opened up about the tension between him and Bearse, who was Al's nemesis, Marcy Rhoades.
"I did a thing on the show that involved Amanda Bearse that I regretted," confessed O'Neill.
"We didn’t get along, but we did for a long time. We were great friends"
He recalled a specific incident that may have led to their friendship souring.
O'Neill continued:
"And I could guess, you know, I don’t want to speak for her, but it started when we got the cover of TV Guide."
"And her and David Garrison were the neighbors, and they were told that they could not be on the cover, because they had a rule that only so many could be on the cover."
You can listen to the segment from the podcast, here.
Ed O'Neillyoutu.be
As it turns out, according to O'Neill, the rule for the TV Guide photo shoot limiting the number of cast members to be featured didn't always apply.
"Now, they violated that for like two shows, I think it was M.A.S.H. and Dallas. That was an exception, weren't doing it for us," he said.
"We were lucky to get it, and it was like the sixth year in or something, we were thrilled that we got the cover of TV Guide, that was big."
"And Amanda and David came out in unison from their dressing room, we were on a sound stage, and she said, 'We expect you to go to [series co-creator] Ron Leavitt, and tell him, 'This doesn't work. We're all on the cover.'"
The July 29–Aug. 4, 1989 issue of TV Guide did wind up featuring only the show's nuclear family including O'Neill with his onscreen wife Katey Sagal and their two TV children played by Christina Applegate and David Faustino.
Conspicuously absent from the cover shoot were Bearse and Garrison.
Garrison was a Broadway veteran who played Marcy's husband, Steve Rhoades. He reportedly left Married... with Children in 1990 after its fourth season to return to performing in theater.
While some might argue that omitting Bearse and Garrison from the photo was warranted since the show's title wasn't Married... with Children... with Neighbors, O'Neill still regretted not remedying the situation by advocating for Bearse's concern.
"I should have said—if I was diplomatic—I should have said, 'Fine. I'll talk to him about it,'" he said.
"But instead, I said, 'I'm not doing that. I'm sorry you guys aren't on the cover, I really am, I wish you were. But we can't do anything about it. What do you want me to do, lie to you and tell you that I'm going to bat for you?'"
When Ferguson asked if O'Neill would've handled things differently, he replied, "Yeah. I would've. And that's my regret."
Unfortunately, O'Neill and Bearse have not mended their friendship.
When Bearse was asked at a 2018 fan convention about what her relationship with O'Neill was like off-screen, she replied:
"Are we filming this? I follow the Thumper [from Bambi] rule. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."
Married... with Children ran for 11 seasons with 259 episodes in its run.
Although the show was approved for a 12th and final season, the Fox network officially decided to cancel the series in 1997 without a proper finale or closure.
Fox made a public announcement about the cancellation without informing the cast and crew members first.
Married... with Children remains one of America's longest-running sitcoms in history.
