in the first season the neighbors were the Rhoades, not the D’Arcys, therefore the critics could not have made comments about the lack of development of a character who wouldn’t be introduced until Season 4.
For season 1, [[Metacritic]] calculated an average of 58 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/tv/married-with-children/season-1|title=Married with Children - Season 1 Reviews|website=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=March 21, 2023}}</ref> Reviews of the debut episode were mixed. In 1987, [[Howard Rosenberg]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' praised the casting of the Bundys, found the character development of the D'ArcysRhodes lacking, and warned viewers: "The satire is heavy-handed."<ref>{{cite web|last=Rosenberg|first=Howard|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-04-ca-1111-story.html|title=2 new Fox series--plainly no vanilla|date=April 4, 1987|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=March 21, 2023|url-access=limited|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230321194741/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-04-ca-1111-story.html|archive-date=March 21, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> Conversely, also in 1987, [[Tom Shales]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' called the debut episode "nasty-minded, overacted and poorly cast".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/04/04/the-day-of-the-fox/e25de9ce-e4cb-424a-84d3-aba64e22f905/|title=The day of the fox|last=Shales|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Shales|date=April 4, 1987|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=March 21, 2023|url-access=subscription}}</ref> For ''The New York Times'', [[John J. O'Connor (journalist)|John J. O'Connor]] described it as "loud, coarse and life-of-the-party vulgar".<ref name="OConnor 1987">{{cite web|last=O'Connor|first=John J.|authorlink=John J. O'Connor (journalist)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/03/arts/tv-weekend-2-shows-in-fox-prime-time-debut.html|title=2 Shows in Fox Prime-Time Debut|work=The New York Times|date=April 3, 1987|access-date=September 1, 2024|page=C30|url-access=subscription|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20150524203530/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/03/arts/tv-weekend-2-shows-in-fox-prime-time-debut.html|archive-date=May 24, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> O'Connor also compared ''Married...'' unfavorably to other family shows like ''[[The Life of Riley]]'' and ''[[All in the Family]]'', describing the show as "pure blue-collar shtick, dressed up with the usual sexual-potency and bathroom jokes".<ref name="OConnor 1987"/>
