Ed O’Neill Reveals He Heard About ‘Married With Children’ Cancellation from Newlywed Couple

Married With Children star Ed O’Neill will never forget the day his 1987 show got canceled. The 73-year-old actor revealed he actually learned the FOX series won’t be returning for a 12th season when a newlywed couple stopped him outside an inn in Ohio.

“Well, you see when Married With Children was canceled, it was canceled in between seasons so we were all off doing our own thing,” he revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday, March 9. “In fact, I found out [when] I was back in my hometown in Youngstown, Ohio, coming out of a bed and breakfast.”

Ed describes the spring day as “beautiful” when a car pulled in outside with a “Just Married” sign on the back.

“Bride gets out in a bridal dress and the guy’s in the tux and they go, ‘OMG Married With Children,'” he recalled. “And I said to them, ‘Hi, you just got married. [That’s] wonderful.’ And they said, ‘Oh, we love your show, [but] we’re so sorry about it though.'”

Confused about what they were talking about, Ed asked the couple, “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

The husband replied, “Well he doesn’t know. It was all over the radio. It was canceled. We’re sorry.” At that point, the Modern Family alum decided to take the high road. “I said, ‘I’d rather hear it from you.’ So I took him in [the bed and breakfast,] got him a bottle of champagne and that’s how that went down.”

To add insult to injury, the dad to two kids — Claire, 24, and Sophia, 21 — said FOX never got him a goodbye gift after he played Al Bundy on the show for 11 years.

“When [the network] called me, I swear to God it was like six weeks later [and they said,] ‘Someone dropped the ball, Ed, on this.’ And I said, ‘I have a question for you guys. 11 years we kept you in the black. No gifts from the cast?” Ed recalled himself saying. “I know Golden Girls got Mercedes Benz’s or something [and] I never got a gift. But it makes it a better story.” We would have never guessed!