8 Simple Rules

8 Simple Rules (For Dating My Teenage Daughter)
Image:8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.png The original cast of 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Tracy Gamble
Starring	John Ritter (2002-2003) Katey Sagal Kaley Cuoco Amy Davidson Martin Spanjers James Garner David Spade
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	76
Production
Running time	approx 22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 17, 2002 – April 15, 2005
Links
IMDb profile

8 Simple Rules (originally known as 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC, starring veteran television actors John Ritter and Katey Sagal.

Premise

8 Simple Rules is about a married couple with three children, set in a Detroit, Michigan suburb. The father, Paul Hennessy (John Ritter, Three's Company), is a sportswriter who is prompted by his wife Cate's, (Katey Sagal, Married... with Children), return to nursing to take a more active role in raising their two teenage daughters, Bridget (Kaley Cuoco), and Kerry (Amy Davidson), and their son Rory (Martin Spanjers). The show, created by veteran comedy writer Tracy Gamble, derives its name and some of its elements from W. Bruce Cameron's book 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (ISBN 0-7611-2314-8).

The rules are:

1. Use your hands on my daughter and you'll lose them after.
2. You make her cry, I make you cry.
3. Safe sex is a myth. Anything you try will be hazardous to your health.
4. Bring her home late, there's no next date.
5. Only delivery men honk. Dates ring the doorbell. Once.
6. No complaining while you're waiting for her. If you're bored, change my oil.
7. If your pants hang off your hips, I'll gladly secure them with my staple gun.
8. Dates must be in crowded public place. You want romance? Read a book.

John Ritter's death

On September 11, 2003, John Ritter suffered an aortic dissection which ended his life. After experiencing discomfort during a rehearsal that afternoon, crew members took Ritter to a nearby hospital where he died that night. John Ritter's final interview took place on the set that day with the Museum of Television & Radio. Following Ritter's death, ABC announced that the show would continue after a hiatus, and would incorporate the death of Ritter's character. The three new episodes that Ritter completed were aired with reflections from the cast.

The show returned on November 4, 2003 with a one hour episode, "Goodbye," dedicated to Ritter's death. Subsequent episodes dealt with the family's reaction to his death and their moving on. The first four post-Ritter episodes were shot without a live audience, in a respectful transition from the shock of his passing. Suzanne Pleshette and James Garner guest starred as Cate's parents. David Spade later guest starred as Cate's wayward nephew, CJ. Both Garner and Spade eventually received starring roles.

See also: Very special episode

Waning Popularity

Shortly after the third season finale, rumors began circulating that 8 Simple Rules was facing cancellation. In its first season, the show ranked a respectable 42nd in the Nielsen Ratings. It did a little better when more viewers tuned in out of sympathy and curiosity after Ritter's unexpected death. But by the end of the second season, the show slipped to 50th. After ABC moved 8 Simple Rules to Friday nights at 8:00 p.m., it fell to 94th in the Nielsen standings.

Some observers simply could not get beyond the tragic absence of John Ritter and welcomed its end. But others applauded the show's portrayal of a family sticking together and growing after a staggering loss that millions of families have shared. Regardless of either view, it is certainly one of a few times in U.S. television history that a series continued two full years beyond the death of its star. But the Friday night death slot ratings took their toll on the show that had already endured so much. The third season finale (in which Katey Sagal's character tells her family that she has been dating the school principal played by Adam Arkin) was not even aired for May sweeps. The finale received a 3.9/8 rating share which gave ABC a third place finish behind NBC's Dateline (5.8/11.) and CBS' Joan of Arcadia (4.9/10.) which happened to star John Ritter's son Jason (and, coincidentally, was also cancelled due to declining ratings).

On May 17, 2005, 8 Simple Rules was officially cancelled by ABC.

Cancellation

While 8 Simple Rules ratings were well above those of the surrounding TGIF shows during its third season, ABC cancelled it due to the inability to sell it to syndication. Due to John Ritter's death, 8 Simple Rules could not air two daily cycles (with episodes from varying seasons) as it is thought that this would confuse and/or upset viewers, although, on UK TV channel ABC1 and Danish TV3, this does occur.

Criticism

The third season took a creative turn, revolving more around Jim and CJ than the Hennessy family, more specifically not revolving around the raising of the Hennessy girls.

"Jump the Shark" founder Jon Hein believed that the idea of 8 Simple Rules bringing in David Spade was like bringing in Scott Baio to play Chachi on Happy Days. Hein added that while he thought Spade was really funny, the show should have ended immediately after John Ritter died.^{[citation needed]}

Some have chastised and ridiculed 8 Simple Rules for arguably being excessively sentimental (especially in the immediate aftermath of John Ritter's death). On the short-lived WB sitcom The Help (which incidentally, featured Katey Sagal's Married... with Children co-star David Faustino), one of the male characters joked about "Not seeing so much phony emotion since the promos for '8 Simple Rules'." Although there was never a direct reference to John Ritter's death, TV Guide still placed that particular joke in their weekly "Cheers & Jeers" section as one of the Jeers of the Week. Howard Stern also slightly mocked the considerably heavy-handed approach in the first few post-Ritter episodes. Another factor that viewers criticized was that they found James Garner's character to apparently only be there to make one-liner jokes and to comfort and give advice to many of the other characters at the end of the episode.

The Fox animated series Family Guy made a play on the original title for 8 Simple Rules by titling one of the episodes 8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter. The first episode of Season 4 had a joke about the show that was eventually cut out. On the premiere episode of the Fox sitcom The War at Home, the main character portrayed by Michael Rapaport boldly proclaimed "I only have one simple rule for dating my teenage daughter. If she sees your penis, I'll cut it off!" Also on Fox's animated series, American Dad!, it had an episode where the main character, Stan, says "It's a bizarre situation. Not '8 Simple Rules', let's-keep-it-going-after-the-father-died bizarre, but close."

Syndication

On July 11, 2005 (less than two months after ABC officially cancelled it), the WB television network announced it would air back-to-back repeats of all 76 episodes of 8 Simple Rules from 4–5 p.m. weekdays from January 2, 2006 to September 15, 2006 when it was replaced by Reba on the The CW Daytime.^[1] 8 Simple Rules currently airs all its seasons in the UK on ABC1. The third season began airing at 5.30 p.m. on March 6, 2006 on ABC1. In Australia, the cable channel FOX8 is currently broadcasting its first season. Star World also airs weekly episodes in various Asian countries. In Canada the Family Channel plays episodes on Monday-Thursday at 9:00 p.m., and again at 11:00 p.m., (Eastern time) and weekends at 8:15 p.m. In France, the show was shown on M6. In Belgium they air in on the TV station VT4. It was shown in Ireland on RTÉ Two and (the UK channel) ABC1. Also aired in Middle East on One TV and MBC 4. It is currently aired at the Spanish channel SET en VEO.

Characters

• John Ritter as Paul Hennessy (2002-2003): A former sports writer, who now works from home as a "Lifestyle columnist". Described as being "the master of the double standard",a "Psycho-Dad" as well a hypocrite who often embarrasses his children. John Ritter died very suddenly in 2003 from a heart ailment, his character Paul collapsed and died at the store while getting some milk.
• Katey Sagal as Cate Egan Hennessy: A wife, mother, nurse and easily the most sane and composed person in the family, who becomes widowed when her husband dies. She takes a nursing job at the kids school so that she can work standard hours and spend more time with the kids. Aged roughly 50 throughout the running of 8 Simple Rules, her stunning body still managed to give the other lead female characters a run for their money. She received her middle name "Stinky" as a result of her father promising his best friend he would name one of his children after him after accidentally shooting his friend while they were drunk in Korea.
• Kaley Cuoco as Bridget Erin Hennessy: Bridget depicts a stereotypical blonde "bimbo" bombshell, who is interested in her looks, teenage boys and is very shallow. She has many times mentioned she wears thongs. Sometimes she has a deep or intelligent moment, but these are few and far between.
• Amy Davidson as Kerry Michelle Hennessy: She is "the middle child" and not very happy about it. She is sarcastic, and constantly makes snide remarks about essentially everybody, though less to her mother. She lost her virginity to Bruno (her boyfriend in Europe) later in the 3rd season. She is often annoyed at her sister and is easily upset. She is also very artistic and keeps a sketchbook. She is the 'smart child', but often shows naivety. Her best friend (besides her sister Bridget) is their next door neighbour Brian, they met at a park in the sandbox, they later date in the 3rd season after the Bruno incident.
• Martin Spanjers as Rory Joseph Hennessy: "The boy". He is usually making wise cracks and is seen going out with Missy. He constantly tattles on his sisters, getting twisted pleasure out of it, as per his remark when he had stirred the pot to his liking: "This is just like my birthday!" Usually he waits until his sisters already did whatever it was, then tattled just to see his father lose it as well, but he is still his father's favourite, being "the boy". He is also involved in money making schemes along with C.J. and is very immature at times as the youngest out of the three children. He can be seen playing games in the living room and shows signs of always wanting a monkey.
• James Garner as Jim Egan (2003-2005): Jim was in the Korean War and looks out for his family. It is interesting to note that James Garner himself served in the Korean war. He often sneaks away and "takes care" of his smoking habit. He is now divorced and used to live in Florida but now lives in his daughter's basement and often used to try to beat C.J. with his cane. He is now proud of C.J.'s success as a substitute teacher.
• David Spade as C.J. Barnes (2004-2005): C.J. is a thirty-two year old man who is Cate's nephew and was once in the Army and also claims to have a Purple Heart in some war. He is a substitute at the school and often tries to get women, but fails to do so. He lives along with his Grandfather in the basement (having previously lived in a van, which was burned by that same Grandfather).
• James Hogan as *Brian MacDonald: He is the Hennessy's next door neighbour and best friends with Kerry. He has a crush on her and gets very jealous if she has a boyfriend, he is very clumsy and falls everywhere. He is very stupid to and says stuff that makes no sense, only Kerry gets him! He is always over there and sometimes Cate gets mad, he and Kerry date in the 3rd season. Brian dated Bridget in the 2nd season but Kerry got jealous so they broke up quickly.
• Adam Arkin as Ed Gibb: principal of the high school
• Dan Cortese as Coach Scott: Coach whom Bridget had a crush on, who likes Cate.
• Amanda MacDonald as Danielle (2002-2005)
• Nikki Danielle Moore as Jenna Sharpe, one of Bridget's rivals (2003-2005)

Episodes

Main article: List of 8 Simple Rules episodes

Trivia

• A flashback shot for Scrubs (in which John Ritter guest starred as J.D.'s father) featured John Ritter and young J.D. was shot in the 8 Simple Rules living room. The room was pretty much only recognizable by the couch and stairwell in the background.

• Paul Hennessy's Pontiac Montana has a Michigan license plate 'IZB 538'.^[2]

• Katey Sagal and John Ritter were close friends in real life and had wanted to work together for a long time.

• One episode features a dream sequence in which Paul is in the set of Three's Company. John Ritter gained fame from Three's Company. Also, Paul's wit and deadpan expression are similar to Jack Tripper. His co-star on that series Don Knotts even appeared in a cameo at the end of the episode. Knotts would be the last Three's Company co-star to work with Ritter before his death.

• It was known for lacking stereotypes but having typical sitcom jokes throughout every season.

• Amy Davidson played middle child to Kaley Cuoco, but in real life Amy is six years older than Kaley.

• The name of the show was parodied in the pornographic film 8 simple Rules for Banging My Teenage Daughter.

• In scenes shot from the landing (where Bridget and Kerry have stormed to their room and either Paul or Kate are trying to reason with them), Bridget and Kerry appear to have separate rooms, but it is shown in scenes shot in the bedroom that they share a room. In fact, the second door is connected to their room via a semi-ensuite bathroom, making it appear they have two doors.

• James Garner had the last words of the series.

• Both Amy Davidson and Martin Spanjers co-starred with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in two different series prior to 8 Simple Rules. Billy Aaron Brown also starred with the twins in their movie Holiday in the Sun.

• The Hennessys live at Oakdale Avenue Detroit Michigan

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Wilcox's Soaps & More TV Character Address and Trivia Book (2004), ().

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