It's never easy move forward on a show when one of the stars die. Other shows have done it in various ways, but I really think they nailed it with this one. I was glad to see these episodes after his death even though I didn't like the show after they went on with Spade in it. But this double episode for saying goodbye was, for me, a great series ending.
This had been one of my favorite shows when it was on the air, and I've always liked John Ritter, so when he died, it was a shock, and like many others, I selfishly mourned not just his passing, but the loss of the show. So when they aired this, it was an emotional roller coaster.
You can see that the cast had little acting to do in this show, and it's amazing the difference in a show when you have the real emotions of the actors directly in the show like this.
The blend of sadness, reminiscing, healing, and small attempts at moving on were well done, and the little bits of humor they injected in here really did work well with the scenes, and didn't feel disrespectful or anything. They were kept to a minimum and were tastefully done.
For anyone who has lost a loved one, you'll see echoes of what you felt in this show in many scenes. They really got the emotions in this story.
This would be a good standard for other shows to use when they deal with the death of one of the stars.
