First off, I'm not sure if your exact premise based on sitcoms quite pans out. There is some noticeable change in family dynamics in sitcoms starting in 1970 and going through 1990, but it's not as simple as mutual spousal animosity. I trudged through a number of lists and came up with prominent 80s sitcoms with married couples:

The Cosby Show (84-92)

Family Ties (82-89)

Diff'rent Strokes (78-86)

Webster (83-89)

ALF (86-90)

Small Wonder (85-89)

Out of This World (87-91)

None of these seem to be premised around parents that loathe each other. Two of them involve aliens (ALF and Out of This World) and one involves a robot (Small Wonder).

Maybe you're thinking of Married... with Children, which ran from 1987 to 1997, so perhaps counts as 80s? Or The Simpsons which started in 1989 so just touched the 80s, but I don't think anyone would describe as a 1980s show? (We'll get back to both of those.) Or if you're shooting for deep cuts, Unhappily Ever After, which Ron Leavitt (who co-created Married... with Children) worked on, but that's not way out until 1995 to 1999? Or Family Guy, which started in 1999, so starting a year before Malcolm and the Middle?

If you're going back in time, maybe you mean All in the Family (1971-1979), featuring bigoted father Archie Bunker. In one of the most famous episodes, Edith's Problem, Edith goes through menopause.

Mike Stivic [son-in-law of Archie]: What did the doctor say?

Archie Bunker: He just said that menopause is a pretty tough time to be going through; especially for nervous types.

Mike Stivic: So?

Archie Bunker: So he prescribed these here pills.

Mike Stivic: Oh, good.

Archie Bunker: I gotta take three of 'em a day.

Archie is certainly insensitive (and can't handle Edith's problem interfering with a trip to Florida) but it still doesn't quite match the "boomers hate their wife" thing you're going for. (And menopause in 1972 would likely indicate someone from the "Greatest Generation" -- boomers are two generations away.) While All in the Family's massive success (Archie was called "the most expensive racist on television") led to something of a television revolution, it was more in the framing of complex themes (like Maude, an All in the Family spinoff) as opposed to simply including more aggressive characters.

So, let's reformulate the question to something that might give a satisfying answer:

Did the family dynamics depicted in sitcoms deteriorate between 1950 and 1990, and does this reflect what happened to US culture at large?

This ends up hitting close to what I think the original question meant, and there's a fair amount of literature about it. Of course, one argument is what "deteriorate" means. On the more "conservative" end, Popenoe wrote in length during the 1990s about how

Recent family decline is more serious than any decline in the past because what is breaking up is the nuclear family . . .

and traced this same decline across various sitcoms. Other media theorists in the "deteriorate" camp are Buck, Fields, and Hoffman. However, some from the 1990s simply argued that there was a simple change in family structure and diversity, like Cantor and Moore.

The "diversity" part certainly is true -- while the 1950s families were nearly all "intact" (the "nuclear" form Popenoe wanted) that's not the case by the late 80s; here's a list of "intact" vs. "non-intact" vs. "mixed" families for television shows shown the week of March 9-15 in 1987:

Intact: Cosby Show, Family Ties, Growing Pains, 227, Newhart, Webster, Jack & Mike

Nonintact: Who's the Boss, Kate & Allie, Carvanaughs, My Sister Sam, Sidekicks, Nothing Easy, Rags to Riches, Our House, Starman

Mixed: Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Knot's Landing, Colby's

(Incidentally, The first time a divorced woman was on television was 1962 -- The Lucy Show, with Lucy Carmichael -- a widow -- sharing a house with Vivian Bagley, a divorced mother. Lucy Carmichael was played by Lucielle Ball of I Love Lucy and Vivian Bagley was played by Vivian Vance, who was Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy. This doesn't mean every single family was "nuclear"; the show Bachelor Father, with a premise right in the title, ran from 1957-1962.)

What the question is really asking about, though, is negative interaction between spouses. To make the question easier I'll consider family interactions in general. A mammoth 1980 study analyzed three seasons of television (75-76, 76-77, 77-78) and counted interactions that

"go against" (attack, oppose, ignore)

"go away" (evade, withdraw)

"go toward" (offer information, seek information, contribute, support, show concern, petition, direct, accept support, accept direction)

The first two categories (essentially, what I'll call the "negative" ones) had 13% to 16% of interactions, while the remainder fell into the "go toward" category, the majority being in "offers information" (35% to 37%).

A 1992 study used the exact same categories, with the 1989-1990 season. This time things were broken down by show; the negative percentages again:

Cosby Show: 16%

Full House: 10%

Growing Pains: 33%

Married with Children: 37%

Simpsons: 20.7%

Note that the fairly "traditional" shows were in line with the mid-1970s, but Growing Pains and Married with Children raise the conflict significantly. However, this can simply indicate more drama and variation. Notably, the sitcoms still followed the "everything resolves" model -- as Cantor concludes in a paper:

If we watch the news, the game shows, and adventure programs on television, we know there is a greedy, hostile, violent world out there. But the domestic dramas present a different message. Here human virtues prevail. While we may not be able to have an impact on political or economic conditions, in the family, through love and sensitivity solutions of conflicts are still possible, and the world is still manageable.

Hello everyone,

If you are a first time visitor, welcome! This thread is trending high right now and getting a lot of attention, but it is important to remember those upvotes represent interest in the question itself, and it can often take time for a good answer to be written. The mission of /r/AskHistorians is to provide users with in-depth and comprehensive responses, and our rules are intended to facilitate that purpose. We remove comments which don't follow them for reasons including unfounded speculation, shallowness, and of course, inaccuracy. Making comments asking about the removed comments simply compounds this issue. So please, before you try your hand at posting, check out the rules, as we don't want to have to warn you further.

Which is to say, there a 10+ comments from people asking where the comments are. Several people listing off examples of TV shows that featured a happily married couple. A few people (who have since been banned) using this question as an excuse to say something sexist. And a whole lot of comments speculating about which TV show the OP had in mind. If you're planning on doing these things, please don't. We'd rather not have to ban you because you knowingly broke our rules.

Of course, we know that it can be frustrating to come here and see only [removed], but we thank you for your patience. If you want to be reminded to come check back later, or simply find other great content to read while you wait, this thread provides a guide to a number of ways to do so, including the RemindMeBot- Click Here to Subscribe - or our Twitter.

Finally, while we always appreciate feedback, it is unfair to the OP to further derail this thread with META conversation, so if anyone has further questions or concerns, I would ask that they be directed to modmail, or a META thread. Thank you!