Living With Fran

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Living With Fran
Format Comedy
Created by David Garrett
Jason Ward
Josh H. Etting
Jamie Kennedy
Starring Fran Drescher
Ryan McPartlin
Ben Feldman
Misti Traya
Country of origin USA
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 26 (6 unaired)
Production
Running time 30 min (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel The WB
Original run April 8, 2005 – March 24, 2006
External links
IMDb profile

Living With Fran is an American sitcom that debuted on The WB network in April 2005 that starred Fran Drescher. The show last aired on the now-defunct WB lineup in March 2006.

Contents

[edit] Premise

Drescher plays Fran Reeves, an interior designer and divorced mother of two. Her son, Josh, recently dropped out of medical school and now lives at home with his younger sister, Allison, and his mother and her young boyfriend, Riley Martin. Fran deals with the visits of her lazy ex-husband, Ted, and her divorced cousin, Merrill. Fran also must deal with the fact that others, including her son, disapprove of the relationship she has with her much younger boyfriend.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1: 2005

1. Pilot
2. Riley's Parents
3. The Ex Factor
4. The Reunion
5. Oh, Baby
6. Who's the Parent?
7. Carriage Ride
8. Riley's Ex (unaired)
9. The Concert (unaired)
10. Josh Works for Riley (unaired)
11. Plastered (unaired)
12. Girl Talk (unaired)
13. School Ties (unaired)

[edit] Season 2: 2005-2006

1. A Year of Living with Fran
2. Going to the Bar Mitzvah with Fran
3. Sweet Sixteen Again with Fran
4. Learning with Fran
5. Ahead of the Plan with Fran
6. Going Crazy With Fran
7. Coupling With Fran
8. Healing With Fran
9. The Whole Clan with Fran
10. Masquerading With Fran
11. Going To Bed With Fran
12. Dreaming with Fran
13. Reuniting with Fran

[edit] Cast

[edit] Regular

Fran plays an interior designer who is the mother of two. She had her first kid, Josh Reeves, at seventeen. This makes her thirty-eight years old during the show since her son is revealed to be only twenty-one, however, in reality Fran Drescher herself was actually forty-eight years old.

Riley is Fran's younger boyfriend who is twenty-six years old. Characters variously state how he is half her age, though, Fran is only thirty-eight, leading this to be more of an exaggeration(however, this may be a joke referring to Fran's actual age which was ten years old than the character she is portraying at the time).

Allison is Fran's fifteen year old daughter. She and her brother Josh do not get along all the time. Unlike Josh, she does not seem to mind her mother dating a younger man. By season two, she is sixteen.

Josh is Fran's twenty-one year old son who dropped out of medical school. It is revealed that he was forced to go in the first place because of his father, but could not handle the sight of blood. He starts working at a video store. Unlike Allison, he is opposed to his mother dating a younger guy, and often makes fun of the two by comparing their ages. Despite this, he gets along quite well with Riley's father upon his appearance.

[edit] Reocurring

Ted Reeves is Fran's ex-husband. He's a doctor, and the man person who forced Josh into medical school. He is described in one episode as being unsupportive of Josh's dreams. He later makes an appearance in person, and seems to have a poor relationship with his kids, mainly Josh. He enjoys making fun of his son, Riley, and Fran during his appearances, but takes more "kindly" to his daughter, Allison. He also flirts a lot with younger women.

Merill is Fran's unmarried cousin who appears in several episodes. She later gets hooked up with one of Riley's friends, and in season two, she is engaged. During her engagement party in the last episode, Riley and Fran are broken up.

  • Ryan Devlin.... Todd

Todd is Allison's older boyfriend who makes appearances in a few episodes. He is disliked by Fran and Riley. In season 2 he is dumped by Allison after lying to her.

  • Becca

Allison's best friend who at one point, had a crush on Josh, at which temporarily ruined her friendship with Allison until Josh told her he was not interested. She appears in several episodes in both season one and two, spending time with Allison. She plays the guitar and sings, later revealed in season two when she sings at Merill's engagement party in the episode "Reuniting with Fran".

[edit] Guest

Cookie is Fran's mother who first appears in season 2. She likes Riley, but her relationship with her daughter is another story. Whenever Fran tries to make a decision, she claims she's not going to say anything, but ends up disgreeing with her decision anyhow and then pointing out her mistakes. She also blames Fran for her missing a concert because she got into an accident on the exact day that Cookie was going to go see it.

Hal is Cookie's husband and Fran's father. According to the family members, he "hates" Riley and believes Fran is taking care of him. He loses all his money to Riley in a bet, but Riley uses the money to send he and his wife on a vacation, possibly resolving their differences.

Donna is Riley's mother who always makes rude comments about Fran's age, even comparing her to an antique. This amuses Fran's son, Josh. By the end of the episode, however, she and Fran start to get along better after he ends up in the hospital for a cut. After her first appearance, Donna makes no more appearances in person, but does call during the arrival of her daughter, Jenny, making sure she's okay.

Tom is Riley's father. Unlike his wife, he's not as rude, and supports his son in everything he does. He and Josh get along very well in the series, forming a (grand) father-son like relationship.

  • Jenny Martin

Jenny is Riley's younger sister around Josh's age. She innocent and sweet, and Donna appears to be quite protective of her, calling Fran repeatedly before her arrival. She and Josh accidentally get married after they get drunk, but their marriage is terminated later based on the circumstances. She is engaged to be married.

[edit] Misc

On October 18, 2005, Living with Fran was removed from The WB's Friday night schedule and was replaced with the new series Twins. The show returned Friday, January 13, 2006, at 8:30pm. The second season finale aired on Friday, March 24, 2006. In the episode, Riley proposed to Fran; the episode was a cliffhanger, and Fran's answer was not revealed. On May 17, 2006, one day before the upfronts, it was announced that Living with Fran would not be returning for a third season.

Former costar on The Nanny Charles Shaughnessy appeared in a recurring role as Fran's philandering ex-husband, Ted Reeves. Debi Mazar appeared in a recurring role as Fran's unmarried cousin, Merrill.

The series was executive produced by actor/comedian Jamie Kennedy best known for his roles in the Scream trilogy movies. He also appeared on an episode of the first season as a flamboyant, stripper-coach Fran hires to surprise Riley for their anniversary.

The series was originally titled Shacking Up and was not renamed until very close to its premiere; episodes of television entertainment shows like Extra can be found on the internet discussing the show with the cast and previewing clips while still calling it Shacking Up.