John Ritter's final series, 8 Simple Rules, had barely begun production on season 2 when Ritter passed away in 2003, forcing ABC & Touchstone Television to revamp the series after a period of mourning for Ritter.
Ritter played sportswriter-turned-lifestyle columnist Paul Hennessey opposite Katey Segal (Futurama, ex-Married.....With Children) as parents of three, two daughters and a son, in what was meant to be a domestic sitcom for the 21st century. Kaley Cuoco, who played eldest daughter Bridget, would move on to animation herself (Brandy & Mr. Whiskers) before landing on The Big Bang Theory prior to her current gig as Harley Quinn.
After Ritter's passing, David Spade (ex-Just Shoot Me, Saturday Night Live) and James Garner (ex-The Rockford Files, Maverick) joined the show. With Ritter gone, however, the ratings began to plummet, leading to cancellation after 3 seasons. The then-nascent CW picked up rerun rights for a year or two to run the show as an after-school attraction after discontinuing its children's daytime block.
I remember being online when this aired, and my folks would watch the show in the adjacent TV room. They'd been fans of Ritter dating back to Three's Company.
Here's a short clip:
Rating: None. My folks watched it. I didn't.
2 comments:
Not long after the passing, Larry King had the three kids on the show to talk about it, along with James Garner.
Tough show, but King was good at that sort of thing.
What I remember was when King asked Jim Garner if it was as tough working with kids as had been said all those years.
Garner's answer:
"Kids are goats. These are actors."
Jim Garner always was a straight shooter.
Garner hadn't done TV comedy since those Polaroid commercials with Mariette Hartley. Still had the timing.
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