Not an Overnight Success
Source: Fox
The show was not a huge success on the then little-known Fox network, but fate intervened in a strange way. A season three episode entitled “Her Cups Runneth Over” insulted Michigan “family values” activist Terry Rakolta so much that she felt compelled to write to several advertisers, asking them to pull their ads from the show. Several companies did, but the media coverage ended up drawing more viewers to the program, and it soon turned into a major hit.
The show’s cast and crew reportedly sent Rakolta flowers each year after it was renewed, and even spoofed the controversy in the season nine episode “No Pot to Pease In.” In that episode, the Bundys discover that there is a TV show based on their lives, which gets cancelled because a “housewife in Michigan didn’t like it.”
