The Good
A solidly done show that puts a nice spin on the sitcoms of yore.
The Bad
Why didn’t they do some type of John Ritter retrospective?
8 Simple Rules: The Complete First Season gives people 28 episodes of some of John Ritter’s finest work. Having died while he was shooting episodes for the Second Season it is quite impressive that Katey Sagal and the rest of the cast carried on for as long as they did. In this first Season the comedy is light but things feel like they have been updated for the 21st Century. John Ritter plays Paul Hennessy, a devoted husband to his wife Cate (Sagal) and his three children. When Cate resumes working Paul finds himself having to deal with a lot of the issues that are usually reserved for mothers. Factor into this that the kids are growing up every day and you have clashes of generations that could only happen in a situation comedy.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Brimming with lots of laughter, what really makes 8 Simple Rules: The Complete First Season work is the solid writing and execution by the cast. I don’t know how truly original this show was because it seems to really recall a lot of the sitcoms from the past. Also, as you can imagine, it highlights the career of the great John Ritter. However, I think it would be hard for even the most jaded DVD reviewer not to realize that this was one comic talent that was certainly taken from us much too soon.
Features
Blooper Reel
While I normally would be pretty dismissive of this reel simply because it’s pretty paltry, anything having to do with John Ritter is something that I pay a little extra attention to. This features the cast messing up lines, laughing and just generally flubbing takes. While I didn’t notice any real comedy gold in this segment, it is certainly worth a look to see a little more of John Ritter.
Video
Widescreen - 1.78:1 - Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. 8 Simple Rules looked pretty good on my TV. As this was a Standard release, I simply watched it on my 9" TV. The colors looked really sharp and, come to think of it, I don’t really recall watching Touchstone TV on DVD releases that don’t look good. The lighting on this show is simple, the camera setups and editing fairly traditional, and all of this adds an almost comfortable feeling to the whole DVD affair.
Audio
Dolby Digital 5.1 - French Language Track. French and Spanish Subtitles. The audio for this three disc set was also on par with how good the picture looked. They didn’t really go out of their way to make things sound that awesome, but I was able to hear all the jokes and I never noticed any large audio problems. There weren’t any hits in the soundtrack and things never got muddled or hard to decipher.
Package
All three discs are neatly stored inside one amaray case. This front cover showcases the cast of the show with John Ritter rightfully in the middle. The back features a bunch of promotional shots from the show, mixed in with images from actual episodes. There is a small description of what 8 Simple Rules: The Complete First Season is a about and a Bonus Feature/Technical spec listing. Inside the amaray case are more images from the show as well as a listing of where the episodes are on each disc.
Final Word
The only word I can use to describe this show would be bittersweet. As I have said above 8 Simple Rules: The Complete First Season seems like they have taken sitcoms like Father Knows Best and Three’s Company, meshed them together and voila! 8 Simple Rules was born. However familiar this show might be, it was still really good. It was funny when it needed to be and it dealt with real issues that all families face. Whether it’s having a daughter that’s developing before your very eyes, or having a son who’s prone to getting into trouble, 8 Simple Rules: The Complete First Season gets a lot more right than it does wrong.
So as you can see, I really enjoyed watching this show. However, I dreaded coming to the final episode knowing that the character and the show would be worlds different for 8 Simple Rules - Season 2. That said, read my Rockford Files reviews to know how much I love James Garner.
8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter was released .
