Q&A with Ed O'Neill

Married . . . With Children‘s Ed O’Neill reunites with his TV wife Katey Sagal on ABC’s 8 Simple Rules (Friday, Jan. 14, 8 p.m.), playing Cate’s old college flame and raising the question, Do these two still go together like a horse and carriage?

Did Katey ask you to be on her show?

We were talking about [their Married . . . son] David Faustino’s wedding and she said, ”By the way, my producers want you to do a guest shot.” They wanted me to do two. But I’ve got this other show [ABC midseason comedy In the Game, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt] and thought one would be fine. In and out. Nobody gets hurt.

Do you get the girl?

He’d been wild in college. But Cate had a lot of fun with him and e-mails to say hello. He shows up at her house with a motorcycle, she spends the evening with him, and . . . he turns out to be kind of a nutjob.

So do you show more interest in her than on 11 seasons of Married . . .?

Yes. Although there was one episode where there was kind of a touching scene. It was an anniversary, and he decided to put a radio in her car or something like that.