The Hennessy clan -- mother Cate, daughters Bridget and Kerry, and son Rory -- look to one another for guidance and support after the death of Paul, the family patriarch. Cate's parents lend a hand.
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Freshman Rusty Cartwright arrives at college and decides he no longer wants to be the boring geek from high school. He decides to pledge a fraternity. He is offered 2 bids; one from his sister's boyfriend Evan's fraternity and one from Cappie, his sister's ex-boyfriend's fraternity. Rusty must learn to handle his new life, and his new relationship with his sister. His sister must decide if she ... See full summary »
Stars:
Clark Duke,
Scott Michael Foster,
Spencer Grammer
Drew is an assistant director of personnel in a Cleveland department store and he has been stuck there for ten years. Other than fighting with co-worker Mimi, his hobbies include drinking ... See full summary »
The lives of 10 faculty members at a high school in Boston, Mass. weave in and out of dealing with trouble-makers, having a personal life, and keeping sanity.
A family tree with Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) and Camille Braverman (Bonnie Bedelia) serving as the patriarch and matriarch. After forty-six years of marriage, they've managed to keep their ... See full summary »
The story of a group of British teens who are trying to grow up and find love and happiness despite questionable parenting and teachers who more want to be friends (and lovers) rather than authority figures.
Two girls who despise each other, due to being on opposite sides of the "popularity fence", are forced together upon learning that their parents are getting married.
A Southern soccer mom with three kids sees her life come crashing down when she finds out that her dentist husband has impregnated his hygienist. Meanwhile, her 17-year-old "Captin of the ... See full summary »
Stars:
Reba McEntire,
JoAnna Garcia Swisher,
Steve Howey
The Hennessy clan -- mother Cate, daughters Bridget and Kerry, and son Rory -- look to one another for guidance and support after the death of Paul, the family patriarch. Cate's parents lend a hand.
John Ritter collapsed on the set of the show, and later died, after filming the first three episodes of the second season. The series then went on hiatus for a number of weeks, returning in November 2003 with a modified format addressing the death of Ritter's character. The first post-Ritter episode, "Goodbye," was produced without a laugh track/live audience. See more »
Goofs
In several episodes, characters drink "Safeway Select" colas. The Safeway Brands are only available in Safeway Company Stores in the Western US and Canada, in and around the Chicagoland area and at some select convenience stores in the Eastern US. The show takes place in Detroit, Michigan. No Safeway Company Stores exist in or around Detroit. See more »
The opening sequence of the first season featured Kerry, Kate, Bridget and Paul each looking at Bridget's or Kerry's new date one at a time (the scene is viewed from the latter's perspective), the camera panning down to the doormat with the show's title, and finally Rory taunting the date. Rory's taunt changed in every opening sequence (although they were often repeated between non-consecutive episodes). See more »
This has to be one of the best comedies on the television at the moment. It takes the sugary-sweet idea of a show revolving around a close family and turns it into a quite realistic yet funny depiction of a typical family complete with sibling and parent spats, brat brothers, over-protective fathers and bimbo sisters. I'm almost surprised it's Disney!
To its credit, '8 Simple Rules' knows it's a comedy and doesn't try to be more. Too many shows (eg, 'Sister, Sister' and 'Lizzie McGuire') think just because its lead characters are now teenagers then they should tackle social issues and end up losing their humour by being too hard-hitting. This is a trap '8 Simple Rules' has avoided; it does tackle some issues (such as being the school outcast) but it has fun while doing so. In fact the only time it has really been serious was understandably when it sensitively handled the tragic death of John Ritter and his character.
And I think, although John Ritter will be sadly missed since he was the reason the show made its mark, '8 Simple Rules' can still do well if it remembers its humour and doesn't make Cate's father a second version of Paul Hennessy.
36 of 46 people found this review helpful.
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This has to be one of the best comedies on the television at the moment. It takes the sugary-sweet idea of a show revolving around a close family and turns it into a quite realistic yet funny depiction of a typical family complete with sibling and parent spats, brat brothers, over-protective fathers and bimbo sisters. I'm almost surprised it's Disney!
To its credit, '8 Simple Rules' knows it's a comedy and doesn't try to be more. Too many shows (eg, 'Sister, Sister' and 'Lizzie McGuire') think just because its lead characters are now teenagers then they should tackle social issues and end up losing their humour by being too hard-hitting. This is a trap '8 Simple Rules' has avoided; it does tackle some issues (such as being the school outcast) but it has fun while doing so. In fact the only time it has really been serious was understandably when it sensitively handled the tragic death of John Ritter and his character.
And I think, although John Ritter will be sadly missed since he was the reason the show made its mark, '8 Simple Rules' can still do well if it remembers its humour and doesn't make Cate's father a second version of Paul Hennessy.