According to Jim - Series Finale

Wow. Those may be the wost pictures I have ever seen of her.

Of course, even at her best, she isn't as hot as her sister Ashley.

 

There don't appear to be a lot of great pictures of her online, at least not recent ones on the first two pages of Los Googles. I'm as surprised as anyone.

 

Norm Macdonald didn't [/crossthreading]

 

I remember reading an article which said that the actors on ATJ weren't subject to the normal 16 hour work days which other TV shows had because the writing and direction were so simple and formulaic.

 

My wife watches it every night, casually. Loves it. It's okay -- Courtney Thorne-Smith is very easy to look at. The Belushi-CTS pairing is the latest version of fat, ugly guy with Hot Wife. Never understood this dynamic.

Yup, definitely an innings-eater of the Sidney Ponson level, at least a TV series version of it.

 

Pallister will be having a viewing party at his house, I'm sure. He loves (loved?) this show.

 

The "success" of this show is proof there should be more family sitcoms. If something as bad as this can last eight seasons imagine what a really good family show could do.

I've watched more than my share of this show, mostly in syndication. The inning-eater comment is a good one. The show is just kind of there, the actresses are both hot as hell and it's sometimes mildly amusing.

 

You want family sitcoms? Go to Nick and Disney Channel. NPR story on them here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104634855

My kids, like seemingly everyone between the ages of 8 and 14, are religious watchers of iCarly. My 9-year-old daughter likes Hannah Montana (the series) OK, but she's more into Wizards of Waverly Place (which stars Dom DeLuise's son as the schlubby dad). The interesting point of the linked piece is that these shows are being written by people who used to write for Roseanne and the Jeffersons. The other interesting point is that those writers acknowledge people got burned out on the traditional sitcom format -- but that kids didn't grow up with enough of those to get sick of Jerry-is-sentenced-to-be-a-guy's-butler shows. Plus, kids aren't demanding "reality" as much as network executives think adults are. Adults have a hard time getting over Jim Belushi being married to a hottie, but 10-year-olds, God bless 'em, accept that a teen-age girl can live a normal life except for those nights she puts on a blond wig and sings for 15,000 people.

In that context, it makes sense why my 11-year-old son is such a big fan of Family Matters. It's formulaic and corny, but the writing is usually solid, the characters stay true to themselves, and God strike me as I say this, but Jaleel White is a pretty good physical comedian. By contrast, my son hates "The Nanny," the newest refugee to Nick at Nite, so his taste is a least a little refined.

 

I've never seen the show, but I'm guessing it falls squarely into the category of awful, awful sitcoms I sometimes watch just to laugh at how shamelessly they use the laugh track.

Probably not in the same league as some of those CW "urban" sitcoms where they constantly punch up the "Whoooooo" reaction (As in, "oh man, he really said that?"), followed closely by the thunderous laugh for the comeback.

Sometimes it's entertaining just to ignore the actual dialogue and follow along the lockstep rhythm found in the timing of the laugh track.

 

Three reasons to watch: Courtney. Thorne. Smith.

 

Concur.

 

Meh. Maybe 15 years ago. Maybe.