My Two Dads was never a bastion of writing but it did stick to its gun with its theme of family sticking together, no matter how unconventional that family is. The show betrays its own theme by chasing the sitcom series finale template - typically the status quo is torpedoed by having one or more characters go their separate ways so as to add permanence and tension to the final episodes. For My Two Dads, that involved whittling Nicole down to one dad.
When the One Who Got Away returns to town, Joey abandons his womanizing ways to stop her from marrying the wrong man. Joey deciding to settle down is major progress for his character, but it comes with a catch: the woman lives on the other side of the country, and a long distance relationship is out of the question. Will Joey choose his bride or his daughter? He chooses... the woman!? I was expecting some sort of psyche out or reversal toward the end but no, it's played straight. Joey moves to live with his new wife and her daughter, leaving Nicole behind in New York with Michael. Nicole can come visit eventually, but the break up of her family unit is played out like the tragedy it is. So yeah, that's how My Two Dads ends... with one of the dads leaving. It makes all the plots and fighting about who should be parenting, which dad Nicole is most like, which one is the biological father and more seem a bit superfluous when only one of them was going to stick it out in the long run.
This ending never sat right with me and it never will. I just have no idea what they were thinking.
