Well, cheers to ABC for nixing the laugh track after the opening scene. Now, if only we could get all shows to do that.

James Garner was the best part of the show...too bad they're only keeping him around for four episodes.

While the jokes at the wake weren't particularly funny, that's exactly the kind of stuff that happens...people say stupid things that they wouldn't say anywhere else.

The only part I DIDN'T care for was the last column they found...it seems like an awful coincidence that his last column would remind the family how much he loved them. It was a nice touch...but a little unrealistic.

The only thing I made up my mind about after last night's show...which I would give a B- to overall...was that this program NEEDS a strong male lead. Garner provided it last night, but unless he sticks around or they find someone equally as strong, I think the ratings will slip and the show will be cancelled.

You got a thing for one of the daughters?

Actually, the episode was sad, but not half as sad as they could have made it. I was sadder watching the episodes WITH him, knowing he was already dead.

Now that is funny!!!!!!!

I think they should have went one way or the other with the laugh track. Either they should have left it in for the occasional joke, or left it out and not have had any jokes.

They should have not announced his death until 15 minutes into the story, and should have eliminated the grandparents bikkering, and replaced it with how she explained to the kids.

They SHOULD have cancelled the show. This isn't like a player for a sporting team dying and everyone saying "He would have wanted us to keep playing". They obviously have to resume playing at some point. This was a television show where the star pass away. It is in very bad taste to continue the show just to get ratings. Instead they will milk this for what its worth and the show will fade away slowly. It should have ended with John in memory to him.

No offense, but I'm more inclined to listen to his wife and family about what he would have wanted and what they should do than some guy on a message board.

das

That is exactly why the were stupid, imo.

No offense taken. I really couldn't care less if they continued it or not. I'm just stating my opinion on what they should have done since everyone else was. The show never was very good(BTW, I actually did see a few before he died, unlike half the viewers last night) and was only held together by Ritter. Why continue it?

Well, we (my wife, daughter and I) were big fans of 8 Simple Rules, but somehow none of us could muster the desire to watch the hour-long "lead character dies" episode.

Hell, we saw the commercial for it and we all looked at each other and said "no, can't do it."

In the past, we had watched the show because we liked to laugh. It was a sitcom, it was funny.

Don't get me wrong - we felt really awful when Ritter died. We watched the first three episodes of this season, and for us, that was tough enough to do.

I taped it, but it's unlikely we'll ever watch it. Weird, huh?

Boy, I thought it was consistently pretty darn funny.......

12th monkey

I guess I shouldn't say it was never very good. It was entertaining I suppose. I would watch it if it were on and I was sitting in front of the TV but it wasn't something I would Tivo. It did for a family what "Everyone Loves Raymond" does for couples with smaller(mostly invisible in Ray's case) children. Although I do think Raymond is a lot better but thats probably because I don't have any teenage children. With that being said, I just don't see how a show could move on from losing its star other than doing so only to make money. And that is what I find offensive.

As someone who thinks Everyone Loves Raymond is completely unfunny, I must say that 8 Simple Rules was occasionally quite funny. I think the problem was it was never consistantly funny. BTW, last night's show wasn't really intended to be funny - I'm expecting the laughs to start slowly returning with next week's show. By the time Garner leaves the series, things should be less somber and move back to sitcom-like storytelling.

I didn't watch it either, and probably won't for a while until they are past the geiving stage. I imagine I'll probably give it a chance when February sweeps come around. The only show I record on ABC's Tuesday night lineup is Less Than Perfect (not a popular show around here it seems). The rest are good, but I don't really care if I miss them.

The little jokes made it hard for me to get thru this episode. I wasn't quite sure if i should laugh or not and most times.. I think I ended up like the characters.. in a moment of uncomfortable silence. The ending was quite touching and did make me think about the things I say to those I love.

Would anybody be willing to part with their taped copy of last nights episode? My channels were switched and I ended up recording something totally different. I'll gladly pay for shipping/tape/time. Please email if you can help me out. Thanks!

Agreed! People just don't know what to say to others when they are grieving, so they end up putting their foot in their mouth. That's what all the jokes seemed like to me. The show was pretty tough to watch IMO.

i watched it, but it felt very akward...the jokes just seemed out of place and like they were seperate from what was going on instead of flowing like they should have...

I thought it was a great episode. Very emotional. I was teary-eyed through-out and my wife broke down and hugged me when Katy's character didn't want to sleep in her bed.

Now that Dragnet's canceled, maybe they can bring Ed O'Neill off mothballs to be her live-in boyfriend, and have him leering and coming on to the daughters. 8 Simple Rules for Oggling my Teenage Stepdaughter

Really just an extension of the John Ritter tribute

The few funny lines didn't fit in with the sadness

i also don't see how the show can move forward

I'd hate to see Kaley Cuoco leave the tv screen, she is so hot. I'd be happy with a 1/2 hour weekly show with Kaley modelling various swimsuits and lingerie

I've never watched a single episode of the show... in fact, I never knew the show even existed until the news of John Ritter's death.

While flipping channels I came across the show as it was starting and realized it was the "death" episode - and I decided to watch.

The first 5 minutes with the laugh track (before the news of the death of the father) wasn't funny at all. Not sure if that's indicative of how the show normally was, but I'm not much of a fan of most sitcoms - so I'm thinking the normal shows would not be to my liking.

However, I was very surprised that I was teary-eyed for a good number of parts of this show. It had nothing to do with John Ritter's death (since I don't really lament on the death of celebrities) but had to do with the greiving a family had for losing their father. It was a very sad thing to watch.

I found it very touching, emotional and (in part) realistic. I thought it was very well done - much to my surprise.

That said, I still have no desire to watch any of the previous shows and any of the future ones.