Media With A Message: 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter

By MEGAN SENNETT, GB Youth Board

Published: October 16, 2003

“If you make my daughters cry, I’ll make you cry.” This is Paul Hennessy’s major rule when dealing with the boys his two teenage daughters date on the hit ABC family comedy, “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.”

However, the 16.9 million viewers who watched the show’s second season premiere on Sept. 23 were the ones crying as they watched one of the last episodes of actor John Ritter, who played the lovable Paul. Ritter, 54, died of a previously undiagnosed heart defect Sept. 11 while rehearsing for the series.

The sitcom centers around Hennessy, a former sportswriter who was on the road a lot while his kids were growing up and relied on his homemaker wife Cate (Katey Sagal) to take care of their two daughters and one son.

When Cate returns to work as a hospital nurse, Paul takes a new job as a columnist so that he will be around more to share in the duties of raising the kids.

However, he still envisions his children as the cute, fun, playful little kids that once idolized their daddy, and is a little out of touch with how teenagers, especially his daughters, behave.

Oldest daughter Bridget (Kaley Cuoco) is a beautiful and popular teenager who has a different boyfriend every week. Her sense of fashion is a little too revealing for her father’s conservative taste, and to her, the most important things in life are hot guys, trips to the mall, and the perfect pair of designer shoes. In contrast, middle child Kerry (Amy Davidson) is intelligent, serious and thoughtful. Her lack of self-confidence and feelings of constantly being overshadowed by Bridget lead Kerry to have a hard time revealing her thoughts and feelings to anyone, especially her father.

His inability to relate to his daughters makes Paul truly thankful for his youngest child and only son, Rory (Martin Spanjers), whom he considers the only sane one in the family. However, Rory is just starting to grow up . . .

In the often violent, sexual and inappropriate world of network television, “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter” is a wonderful, fresh show that is both appropriate and entertaining.

And the critics are paying attention.

The sitcom won the 2003 People’s Choice Award for “Best New Comedy.” According to the Parents Television Council, the show is among the top 10 best shows for the family. They gave the sitcom a green light in all the categories, including sex, language, violence.

At the Fifth Annual Family Television Awards, it received the award for “Favorite Comedy Series.” It was also awarded “Breakout TV Show” at the 2003 Teen Choice Awards and Cuoco was awarded “Breakout Actress.”

The focus of this family-friendly comedy is on the problems all families face and how they work through them to become even closer to each other. Each episode is entertaining, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny, but always ends with a positive message.

Everyone relates to the characters and story lines because in some form or another, everyone’s family is like the Hennessys.

And despite the sudden and tragic loss of the popular show’s star, the second season will go on and Ritter’s death will be written into the story.

“The show is now being turned 40 degrees to the right,” ABC Entertainment chairman Lloyd Braun said when asked how a comedy would deal with a heavy issue like death.

“But we believe we’ll put a very powerful television show on the air, and it will be a show that we’ll be proud to put on.”

I can’t wait to watch.