Ed O'Neill doesn't feel like a square peg on 'Big Apple'

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- I'm on the phone with Ed O'Neill, one of the stars of "Big Apple," CBS' new complex cop drama. Of course, we'll eventually talk about O'Neill's new role as a moody, seen-it-all detective -- a rather stark departure from the slovenly doofus he played on "Married ... With Children" for 11 years.

But I wanted to get something out of the way first. And this has bothered me for some time. I always thought Peg Bundy (Katey Sagal) was pretty hot on "Married ... With Children." I could never understand why the oafish Al was so turned off by her. So, I asked O'Neill. Here's our brief exchange.

O'Neill: You are obviously not married.

Me: I am. For almost 13 years.

O'Neill: And is your wife attractive?

Me: To me? Yes.

O'Neill: C'mon, between me and you. So, you still find your wife sexually attractive?

Me: Yes. (And I said that right away, honey, in case you're reading this!)

O'Neill (laughing hard): Then you're one of the rare ones.

Me: Well, it helps to be creative.

O'Neill: Even with all that, there were guys married to Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe and after a year or two they didn't want any part of it. And that's the whole theory we were working on. It's not that (Peg) wasn't attractive, it was just that he was sick of it. He's being bombarded with beautiful girls on television all the time and he was thinking, "I'd like to (have sex with) anyone but her!"

Ah, what a treat when a celebrity has something truly interesting -- and funny -- to say!

OK, back to "Big Apple." While the audience may need some time getting used to seeing O'Neill as a no-nonsense cop who decks tough-looking G-men, it's not a big deal for him.

"I've spent half my lifetime doing different characters," says the 55-year-old Ohio native. And he has. For instance, O'Neill was a highway patrolman in "Deliverance," a tenacious reporter in "Blue Chips" and a dedicated detective in "The Bone Collector."

"So, this is just another job I have to figure out," he says. "We never know where we're headed and that's fun for us."

While reading over O'Neill's bio, I found out several interesting facts I didn't know. Like, he taught social studies at an urban high school in Youngstown, Ohio, for three years. He was cut from the Pittsburgh Steelers in training camp in 1969 and was a bellhop in Fort Lauderdale for six months.

The Steelers tryout: "I came from Youngstown State University and I had never played outside linebacker, the only position I could've played in the pros because of my size. It was (coach Chuck) Knoll's first year and he didn't have time to develop guys he never heard of. I guess I was upset when I got cut, but I didn't know what I wanted to do at that age."