Married… With Children Didn’t Tell Ed O’Neill It Was Canceled Until 6 Weeks Later – Looper

Ed O’Neill discovered that “Married… with Children” had been canceled after 11 seasons, but not from his employers at FOX. O’Neill got the news when he bumped into a pair of lovebirds back in his hometown of Youngstown. According to “The Ellen Show,” O’Neil ran into the newlyweds at a bed and breakfast, and they dropped the bomb on the actor after having heard the show wasn’t being renewed over their radio.

“‘Oh, we love your show,'” O’Neill told host Ellen DeGeneres, how the married couple broke the news to him outside the B&B. “‘We’re so sorry about it, though.'” O’Neill was caught off guard, and his reaction clearly gave him away. “‘Well, he doesn’t know,'” O’Neill recalled their conversation. “‘It’s all over the radio. It was canceled.'” They quickly apologized to the actor, but O’Neill took the whole thing in stride. “I’d rather hear it from you,” O’Neill said.

Afterward, ever the good sport, O’Neill strolled into the establishment with his new acquaintances, and he bought them a bottle of champagne to celebrate their nuptials. Series co-creator Michael G. Moye told a similar story years earlier when he participated in a behind-the-scenes documentary produced by “Biography” about the sitcom. “When the show was canceled, apparently, they didn’t tell the cast,” Moye said during the documentary. On June 9, 1997, without a proper finale, “Chicago Shoe Exchange” marked the last episode of “Married… with Children.”