It’s of course difficult if not impossible to watch 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter without thinking of John Ritter’s unfortunate death. Taken too soon, Ritter was one of Hollywood’s most affable, well-liked stars. The son of legendary country crooner Tex Ritter, he ascended to stardom in the late 1970s with his Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of randy every-bachelor Jack Tripper in the classic sitcom Three’s Company. Ritter later tackled a variety of memorable roles big and small, including turns as a bumbling dad in the G-rated Problem Child franchise, a San Francisco cop in the Steven Bochco-created Hooperman, a strange, wires-crossed suitor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a friendly listener in the critically acclaimed indie flick Sling Blade.



Inspired by W. Bruce Cameron’s book 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter and broadcast on ABC from 2002 to 2005, 8 Simple Rules was created and shepherded through production by veteran television scribe Tracy Gamble (According to Jim). Small screen hall-of-famer Ritter plays sportswriter Paul Hennessey, a father who lives by a set of dictums which basically boil down to one golden law: keep your hands off teenage daughters Bridget (Kaley Cuoco), the boy-crazy one, and Kerry (Amy Davidson, above right), the moody and artistic one. Ergo his rules, which basically read as follows: 1) Use your hands on my daughter and you’ll lose them afterwards, 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, 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, and 8) Dates must be in crowded public place — if you want romance, read a book. Paul’s wife Cate (Katey Sagal) for the most part supports Paul’s doting interventions, but her recent return to work as a nurse eats up much of her time, leaving dad to play a more active role, sometimes to his daughters’ chagrin. Luckily for the already overburdened Paul, there’s youngest son Rory (Martin Spanjers, above left) on hand, to lend wisecracks and mischief.

The season here spans 28 episodes — a full-order commitment that showed ABC’s confidence in the series and its star — though it takes a while to find its footing, tonally. Some episodes incorporate flashback elements, to help bump up the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them identification with Paul and Cate with respect to their kids growing up. If the characters themselves are pretty broadly drawn, Ritter’s charisma and crack comic timing go a long way toward helping establish something approaching warm and fuzzy invitation, which is all that most sitcoms aim for. In fact, many of the more genuine, out-of-left-field laughs on the show come from moments of sputtering bewilderment from Ritter, one of his specialties. (For some of Paul’s unwanted lessons in street slang, click here). Helping the series too is Sagal, who, of course, was nominated for four Golden Globes for her portrayal of lazy housewife Peggy Bundy on Married… with Children, a very solidly written solid sitcom that never got the respect it deserved because it reveled in sneering blue-collar affinities. Here she gets a softer edge, but a little bit of sardonic edge slips through, in pleasing fashion. Popping up in single-episode guest starring roles are Terry Bradshaw, Jason Priestley and Cybill Shepherd.

Housed in a nicely packaged Amray case, 8 Simple Rules is spread out over three discs and presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, courtesy of a great-looking transfer with no problems with edge enhancement or layer-change hiccups. A Dolby digital 5.1 audio mix, meanwhile, playable in either English or French, adequately captures the series’ front-mixed sound design. Optional English, Spanish and French subtitles are also available. Somewhat strangely, there’s no sort of memorial retrospective on Ritter, though there is a nice, 10-minute collection of bloopers and outtakes from the 2002 season of the Emmy Award-winning sitcom, in which lines are flubbed and blame jokingly assigned and diverted. For a clip of some of Ritter’s on-set hijinks, click here. Meanwhile, to purchase the set via Amazon, click here. B (Show) C (Disc)