8 Simple Rules Season 3 Episode 1

[Mireille Duhon]

8Simple Rules (originally known as 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter for its first two seasons) is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 17, 2002 to April 15, 2005. Loosely based on humor columnist W. Bruce Cameron's book of the same name, the show starred John Ritter during its first season. After Ritter's sudden death, Katey Sagal took over the show's starring position for the rest of the series' run. 76 episodes in total were produced, spanning three seasons.

The Doyles are sending a video postcard to Donny, which they let Bridget have a part in. However, Bridget breaks up with Donny on the video, which leads to a feud between the Hennessys and the Doyles. Upset, Donny hitchhikes all the way to the Hennessys in the back of a pig truck to win Bridget back; however, Bridget has still not broken up with her other boyfriend, Damien. Meanwhile, there are reports of eggings and toilet-paperings all over the neighborhood. Paul tries to come up with names for this menace, unaware that the criminal is Rory.

Bridget gets a job as a lifeguard at the local YMCA, which prompts Cate to enroll the whole family (to Bridget's chagrin). However, Kerry is unimpressed with a group of young blonde girls who idolize Bridget, while Jim punches another man for making comments about Bridget. Elsewhere Rory has an unexpected pubescent experience in a yoga class.

The family therapist (Peter Bogdanovich) encourages Cate to pursue her dream of becoming a singer (her "skydiving", as the therapist puts it). In turn, Cate encourages C.J. to end his feud with Jim, so he takes him to the bar where Cate is singing. Bridget accidentally dyes Kerry's hair blonde.

8 Simple Rules (originally 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is an American television sitcom originally starring John Ritter and Katey Sagal as middle-class parents Paul and Cate Hennessy, raising their three children. Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson, and Martin Spanjers co-starred as their teenage kids: Bridget, Kerry, and Rory Hennessy. The series ran on ABC from September 17, 2002, to April 15, 2005. The first season focused on Paul being left in charge of the children after Cate takes a full-time job as a nurse, with comedic emphasis on his often strict rules concerning his daughters and dating. The series' name and premise were derived from the book 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter by W. Bruce Cameron.[1]

While 8 Simple Rules was renewed for a second season and production had begun, Ritter's sudden death on September 11, 2003, left the series in an uncertain position. After a hiatus, the series returned and killed off his character. James Garner and David Spade later joined the main cast as Cate's father Jim Egan and her nephew C.J. Barnes. After three seasons, ABC cancelled 8 Simple Rules in May 2005 because of low ratings.

Following Ritter's death, ABC announced that 8 Simple Rules would continue after a hiatus and would incorporate the death of Ritter's character. The three new episodes that Ritter had completed were aired with an introduction by Sagal.

8 Simple Rules returned two months after Ritter's death with a one-hour episode, "Goodbye", which was turned into a tribute to Ritter's character. Subsequent episodes dealt with the family's reaction to his death and how they moved on from it. The first four post-Ritter episodes were shot without a live audience with James Garner and Suzanne Pleshette guest-starring as Cate's strict parents and David Spade guest-starring as Cate's wayward nephew, C.J. Barnes. Garner and Spade later received starring roles in order to fill the void left by Ritter for the remainder of the series' run.

Before Ritter's death, 8 Simple Rules ranked 42nd in the Nielsen ratings. After Ritter's death, it had slipped to 50th, but was renewed for a third season, in which ABC moved the series to Friday at 8:00 p.m. as part of its TGIF comedy line-up. The series' creator and show-runner, Tracy Gamble, left the series for a time over creative differences prior to the third season, but he later returned as a consulting producer midway through the season. Gamble was replaced by Judd Pillot and John Peaslee, who had performed the same role in the final season of Spade's sitcom Just Shoot Me!.[12] The series plunged to 94th in the ratings. Even before the third-season finale's airing, rumors began circulating that 8 Simple Rules was facing cancellation because of Ritter's death and poor ratings. The Friday night "death slot" ratings took their toll on 8 Simple Rules. The third-season finale was not 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's Joan of Arcadia (4.9/10), which starred Ritter's son, Jason. ABC officially cancelled 8 Simple Rules in May 2005.[13]

While the ratings for 8 Simple Rules were well above those of the surrounding TGIF shows during the show's third season, ABC canceled it because a perceived inability to sell reruns of the show into syndication; a fourth season would have given the show one hundred episodes, traditionally considered the minimum number of episodes necessary for a show to successfully enter daily syndication.[14][15][16]

In the United Kingdom, the show began airing on the Disney Channel in 2003, with the episodes edited for a children's audience.[19] It was picked up by ABC1, which aired it until the channel's closure in 2007. The same year, Channel 5 began airing Season 1 of the series. From 2008, all three seasons of the show were aired on 5*.[20] The series was aired uncut on subsequent channels following its cancellation by Disney Channel. Both Channel 5 and 5* aired the series in its original widescreen format. In 2017, Comedy Central obtained the rights to the show and started airing it on June 12, 2017.

In the Republic of Ireland, "8 Simple Rules" aired on RT Two. Later, rights to the show were acquired by TG4, which aired the series weeknights at 5:35 p.m. The series was shown on both channels uncut, despite the early time of day, but the show was issued an age rating. On RT Two, it was issued a "PS" rating and, on TG4, a "12" rating.

Airing on ABC from 2002 to 2005, the sitcom 8 Simple Rules, also known by the far more complicated title 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter, went through one of the biggest transitions in recent sitcom history midway through its run. Originally, the series chronicled the life of the Hennessy family through the perspective of father Paul Hennessy (John Ritter), a stay at home father and columnist for a local paper.

But tragically, at the beginning of the series' second season in 2003, Ritter passed away, leading the series to incorporate his passing into its own storyline. The show reinvented itself from that point onward, introducing new characters and storylines, for better or worse. The show ran for a total of three seasons, with some real highlights occurring both before and after Ritter's passing. Here, we're looking back at the series' top ten episodes.

Regardless of what season the series was in, the Hennessy children acting out and rebelling against their parents was always a common theme. In particular, eldest daughter Bridget (Kaley Cuoco) was a problem child, popular and partying and getting herself into trouble more often than not. The third season episode "The After Party" is yet another example of that.

With prom approaching, Bridget goes against Cate's strict forbidding and rents a hotel room to throw an after-party where the kids can party safely. Of course, chaos ensues, especially when cousin CJ gets involved. The episode also features a noteworthy guest appearance from future Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester.

The first two seasons of 8 Simple Rules made frequent use of the neighborhood's quirkiest and most annoying family, the Doyles. But it's the season one episode "The Doyle Wedding" that really fans the flames of this conflict heavy relationship, as the Hennessy clan gets roped into taking part in the wedding of one of the Doyle daughters.

Along the way, another of the series' key - albeit short-lived - storylines begins, when Bridget finally meets the post-puberty Donny Doyle - the once nerdy son of the Doyle clan who has grown up to be quite handsome and charming.

Speaking of Bridget's complicated relationship with Donny, the relationship between the series' two most dim-witted characters comes to a dramatic, memorable end in the second season episode "Donny Goes AWOL." With Bridget tiring of being in a long-distance relationship with Donny, who is away in training for the military, she impulsively breaks up with him via video message.

In traditional over the top sitcom fashion, Donny immediately goes AWOL upon receiving the video, returning home in a desperate attempt to win Bridget back. Surprisingly, the gesture fails, as Bridget shows a rare moment of learning from her father's guidance. This also served as John Ritter's last episode.

The third season premiere "First Day of School" represents one of the many times the series tried to reinvent itself and upend the status quo in its final two seasons. With a new school year upon them, the Hennessy kids find themselves dealing with major changes. Kerry wants to break up with Kyle, but can't actually commit to doing so. Intending to help her sister out, Bridget breaks up with Kyle on her behalf, only for Kerry to realize she never wanted to break up with him in the first place.

It's almost always enjoyable when a series reunites two actors who had worked together on a previous series. The third season episode "Old Flame" allows 8 Simple Rules star Katey Sagal to have a truly sweet, hilarious, and poignant reunion with longtime Married... with Children costar Ed O'Neill, who appears as Cate's former bad boy ex-boyfriend, Matt.

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