| Grounded for Life | |
|---|---|
Title card |
|
| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | Bill Martin Mike Schiff |
| Starring | Donal Logue Megyn Price Kevin Corrigan Lynsey Bartilson Griffin Frazen Jake Burbage Bret Harrison Richard Riehle |
| Theme music composer | Ben Vaughn Dean Ween Gene Ween |
| Composer(s) | Dean Ween Gene Ween Spek |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 91 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Marcy Carsey Tom Werner Caryn Mandabach (entire run) Bill Martin Mike Schiff (seasons 1–4) David M. Israel & Jim O'Doherty (season 2) Jeff Astrof Mike Sikowitz (season 5) |
| Camera setup | Film; Multi-camera |
| Running time | Approx. 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Mike and Bill Productions The Carsey-Werner Company Tujunga Productions |
| Distributor | Carsey-Werner Distribution |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox (2001–2003) WB (2003–2005) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Original run | January 10, 2001 – January 28, 2005 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Grounded for Life is an American television sitcom that debuted on January 10, 2001 as a mid-season replacement on the FOX Network. It was created by Mike Schiff and Bill Martin. It ran for two seasons on the network until being cancelled only two episodes into its third season. It was immediately picked up for the rest of the third season by The WB Television Network, where it aired for two additional seasons until it ended on January 28, 2005.
The show starred Donal Logue and Megyn Price as Sean and Claudia Finnerty, an Irish American couple who lived on Staten Island, New York, while raising their three kids, Lily (Lynsey Bartilson), Jimmy (Griffin Frazen), and Henry (Jake Burbage). The show also stars Kevin Corrigan, Bret Harrison and Richard Riehle. The show has featured guest stars such as Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Mila Kunis, Wilmer Valderrama (cast of That '70s Show), Mike Vogel, Natasha Lyonne, Vincent Pastore, Miriam Flynn, Stephen Root, Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Scott Thompson (cast of The Kids in the Hall), and Elizabeth Berridge (Kevin Corrigan's real life wife).
Contents |
The show is set in an Irish neighborhood of Staten Island, New York and is about the comedic interplay of the Irish Catholic Finnerty family. One of the central aspects of the show is that Sean and Claudia Finnerty had their first child and got married when they were only eighteen years old. Thus, while they have three children, including a teenage daughter, the two parents are themselves relatively young and not out of their "wild" years. (In one episode, where Sean goes to pick up his daughter at a police station and is mistaken for her drug dealer, his father quips, "That's what happens when you're 17 and don't know what a rubber is!") The show features an unusual style of storytelling, often starting with a scene at the end of the story or sometimes in the middle and filling in the gaps with flashbacks. Its main concepts are an Irish Catholic family with three children - one girl and two boys - surviving one catastrophe after another, utilizing flashbacks to further explain current situations they find themselves in.
The opening sequence is set to a guitar theme, performed by the band Ween, that also serves as the music between scenes. The first sequence, used for the first eleven episodes of Season 1, showed the family playing basketball. From the twelfth episode ("Jimmy Was Kung-Fu Fighting") onwards, it showed a mix of scenes from Season 1. The sequence was updated each year to include scenes from the current season. The opening sequence was later truncated, as cast names were shown after the sequence and over the episode itself.
Music is important in the production of the series, with musical cues used when going into and out of flashbacks. In addition, episodes are named after songs or, in many cases, are a play on the name or lyrics of songs. Also, each episode has slightly different music in the opening sequence, differing at the end of the sequence.
Two episodes from Season 3, "Oh, What a Knight" and "Part-Time Lover", did not air on primetime, but can be seen in syndication on ABC Family.
Donal Logue and Megyn Price portrayed Sean and Claudia Finnerty, a Staten Island couple who were pregnant and married by the age of 18. Sean was an electrician in the underground of the New York subway, but he later became the owner of a bar with his brother, Eddie. Claudia, who is the mother of the household, worked as a hostess in Soho restaurant, and later decided to go back to college, when her daughter Lily, decided that college wasn't for her, it made Claudia realize that education is important. She regrets that she didn't go to college, but she was pregnant with Lily at the time.
By their early '30s, Sean and Claudia had three children (later four), the uncontrollable Lily, played by Lynsey Bartilson. Lily is a selfish, spoiled brat, she often tries to get the attention of boys, and often turning to dorky next-door neighbor, Brad O'Keefe, whom she later started dating. She also dated the drummer of Sean and Eddie's band, Dean Peramotti, who she went with for a while, until she cheated on him with Brad. Lily is mainly jealous of her mother, Claudia, as Claudia is obviously hotter than she is, with the boys checking her out, especially Brad. On several occasions Lily has been drunk; once she bumped into Claudia at a college party, and they came to an arrangement to keep it quiet from Sean. Lily blames all her problems on her parents mostly on the grounds that they had her so young. Lily was shocked to discover she was born before her parents were married, but later realized she was proof of their love.
Jimmy, played by Griffin Frazen, is the second Finnerty child and the oldest boy, he is the black sheep of the family. His choices are not always accepted by his parents, like the time he decided to become a vegetarian. Jimmy is smart and wants to do well at school, but his parents sometimes accidentally seem to hold him back. Once at a street fair, Sean and Claudia went to a Ramones concert, and Jimmy was late with his science project, causing him to be suspended. The following day he went missing, and was later discovered to have sneaked back into school. Jimmy has been bullied at school, once he fought back and was accused of being the bully. He was also bullied by a girl, and it turned out that she actually liked him.
Henry, played by Jake Burbage, is the Finnerty's youngest son, and is the most optimistic of the family. He is a little wild and sometimes annoying, but is also kindhearted to people. Henry also believed anything he was told, like the time Jimmy told him he was a robot, to explain why there were no baby pictures of him. Jake Burbage left the show at the end of season four (in the summer of 2004) to move back east which is why he was never seen in season five. However, his character still remained in the show, as he was mentioned a few times throughout the duration.
Rose, Sean and Claudia's youngest daughter, was born in the last episode. Claudia discovered she was pregnant at the start of season five, and in the season finale — at Lily's graduation — she went into labor and delivered Rose at the hospital.
Eddie, played by Kevin Corrigan, is Sean's younger brother. He is generally up to no good, he's strange, and he is a womanizer. You can't get a straight answer out of him on many things. Claudia and Eddie often had their differences throughout the series run. The worst thing he ever did was film a porn film in the Finnerty house; for this Claudia and Sean put him out.
Walt, played by Richard Riehle (recurring: seasons 3–5), is Sean and Eddie's strict father. He is often going on at Sean and Claudia for being too soft on their kids. Sean and Eddie had quite a frightening up-bringing, as Walt often scared them by telling them that their sins would send them to hell, or he would give them booklets explaining what effect sins would have on them. His explanation to Sean about how babies are conceived was a little late, as the conversation occurred after Lily was born. Walt lost his wife, and has had little luck with women; he once had a woman whom Sean and Eddie didn't like. Lily and Brad set him up on a date with a woman, or whom they thought was a woman. Another woman handcuffed him in the bar and robbed it.
Brad O'Keefe, played by Bret Harrison (recurring: seasons 1&2), is the Finnerty's geeky next-door neighbor. He had an on-off relationship with Lily. She cheated on her boyfriend Dean with Brad, and they once broke up when they realized they cheated on each other, during a summer of being apart. They eventually got back together. In one episode, Brad was upset when his parents split up, so the Finnertys decided to celebrate his birthday at their house. He was angry to then discover that his mother, Connie, had a fling with Eddie during the party. In the end, his parents reconciled.
The black highlighted boxes indicates that an actor appears as a member of the main cast. When a starring actor has also appeared as a guest in other seasons, this is highlighted in grey, with the numbers indicating how many appearances they made. A white square indicates that the actor does not appear in the season.
| Actor | Character | Appearances | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S 1 | S 2 | S 3 | S 4 | S 5 | ||||
| Donal Logue | Sean Finnerty | |||||||
| Megyn Price | Claudia Finnerty | |||||||
| Kevin Corrigan | Eddie Finnerty | |||||||
| Lynsey Bartilson | Lily Finnerty | |||||||
| Griffin Frazen | Jimmy Finnerty | |||||||
| Jake Burbage | Henry Finnerty | |||||||
| Richard Riehle | Walt Finnerty | 3 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| Bret Harrison | Brad O'Keefe | 4 | 13 | |||||
Sister Helen, played by Miriam Flynn, is the nun and principal at Lily, Jimmy and Henry's school. She frequently tries to tell Sean and Claudia how to raise their kids, and is always on their backs at school, especially Lily. She has complained in the past about Lily's skirt being too short and Jimmy's hair being too long. Sean once caused her to use the F word.
Dean Peramotti, played by Mike Vogel, was the drummer of Sean and Eddie's band, and met and started dating Lily. She had been going out a while until she cheated on him with Brad.
Dan O'Keefe, played by Gregory Jbara, is Brad's father. Sean and Dan never got on and were constantly fighting. He was busted for having an affair, when Sean challenged him to a tennis match and Sean noticed that all the weekend "tennis lessons" Dan had were useless. His wife Connie discovered this, and they broke up, Connie then had a brief fling with Eddie, but they soon got back together.
| Season | Ep # | Time Slot | First Airdate | Last Airdate | Rank | Viewership | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 15 | Wednesday 8:30 | January 10, 2001 | May 23, 2001 | #87 | 8.9 | FOX |
| Season 2 | 22 | Wednesday 8:30 | September 26, 2001 | May 8, 2002 | #96 | 7.2 | FOX |
| Season 3 | 13 | Friday 9:30 | September 17, 2002 | May 9, 2003 | #95 | 8.10 | FOX/WB |
| Season 4 | 28 | Friday 9:00 | September 5, 2003 | May 7, 2004 | #187 | 2.79 | WB |
| Season 5 | 13 | Friday 8:30 | September 17, 2004 | January 28, 2005 | #145 | 2.7 | WB |
In 2011, the show was remade by the BBC as In with the Flynns using stories and scenes from the American series. Six episodes were made for its initial run.
The series currently airs in syndication on ABC Family and has been on an intermittent basis since 2005,[1] having gone through several time slot changes during its run on the network. When first aired on ABC Family, the tag scenes were cut out; but when ABC Family re-acquired Grounded for Life, newer prints with the tag scenes are now shown.
On November 16, 2009, MTV began to air the show at random during the week[2] Unlike ABC Family's airings, these airings are the same episodes are aired more frequently.
| Country | Channel(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | The Comedy Channel | No longer airing |
| Belgium | Plug TV | In French; currently airing |
| Belgium | 2BE | In English with Dutch subtitles; currently airing |
| Bulgaria | BTV Comedy (the former GTV) | Currently airing |
| Finland | TV Viisi | Goes by the name Perhe Paketissa, meaning "Family in a Package"; currently airing in English, with Finnish subtitles |
| France | France 2, France 4 | Goes by the name " Parents à tout prix " |
| Germany | Comedy Central | Goes by the name Keine Gnade für Dad, meaning "No Mercy for Dad" |
| Hungary | HBO Comedy | Currently airing. Goes by the name Sorscsapás család, meaning "Setback Family" |
| Switzerland | 4uTV | Goes by the name Keine Gnade für Dad, meaning "No Mercy for Dad" |
| Ireland | RTÉ Two | Aired up until the show's cancellation in 2005 |
| Israel | HOT3 | Goes by the name ככה זה בחיים (Kacha Ze BaChayim), meaning "That's How Life Works" |
| Macedonia | Nasa TV | Goes by the name Доживотно казн |
| Norway | TV Norge | Goes by the name Familietrøbbel, meaning "Family Trouble" |
| The Netherlands | Comedy Central | Not airing anymore |
| Romania | HBO Comedy | |
| Serbia | HBO Comedy | Currently airing |
| Montenegro | HBO Comedy | Currently airing |
| Sweden | TV3 TV4 Komedi |
Currently airing |
| Turkey | ComedyMax | Currently airing |
| United Kingdom | Trouble ITV1 |
Trouble closed 1 April 2009; no longer broadcasts on ITV1 |
Grounded for Life has been nominated for a number of Young Artist Awards for best TV comedy choice, best family TV comedy series, best performance by a guest star in a TV comedy series and best supporting actor in a comedy or drama series,[3] it has also won a Young Artist Award for supporting young actor in a TV comedy series. It has also been nominated for an Artios Award,[4] Teen Choice Award,[5] GLAAD Media Award and an Emmy Award.
| Year | Result | Award | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Nominated | Artios | Best Casting For TV, Comedy Pilot - Meg Liberman, Camille H. Patton |
| 2001 | Nominated | Teen Choice Award | TV - Choice Comedy |
| 2001 | Nominated | Emmy | Outstanding Choreography - Kenny Ortega for episode: "Mrs Finnerty, You Have a Lovely Daughter" |
| 2002 | Won | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Supporting Young Actor - Griffin Frazen |
| 2002 | Nominated | Young Artist Award | Best Family TV Comedy Series |
| 2002 | Nominated | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Guest Starring Young Actor - Eddie Carr |
| 2002 | Nominated | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Guest Starring Young Actor - Kevin G. Schmidt |
| 2003 | Nominated | GLAAD Media Award | Outstanding Individual Episode (In a Series Without a Regular Gay Character) for episode: "Relax!" |
| 2004 | Nominated | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Supporting Young Actor - Griffin Frazen |
Anchor Bay Entertainment released all five seasons of Grounded for Life on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time between 2006-2007. As of 2010, these releases have been discontinued and are now out of print.
On May 4, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment announced that they had acquire the rights to re-release the series on DVD in Region 1.[6] Season 1 and 2 are scheduled to be re-released on September 13, 2011.[7][8]
In Region 2, Brightspark has released the first two seasons on DVD in the UK.
In Region 4, Visual Entertainment has released the first three seasons on DVD in Australia.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| Season 1 | 15 | February 7, 2006[9] | March 5, 2007 | June 7, 2010 |
| Season 2 | 22 | May 16, 2006[10] | March 3, 2008 | September 6, 2010 |
| Season 3 | 13 | August 8, 2006[11] | TBA | September 2010 |
| Season 4 | 28 | November 7, 2006[12] | TBA | TBA |
| Season 5 | 13 | September 27, 2007[13] | TBA | TBA |