What I Like About You (TV series)

What I Like About You
Genre Teen sitcom
Created by Wil Calhoun
Dan Schneider
Starring Amanda Bynes
Jennie Garth
Wesley Jonathan
Simon Rex
Michael McMillian
Leslie Grossman
Nick Zano
Allison Munn
Dan Cortese
Theme music composer Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Rich Cole, and Jimmy Marinos (lyrics)
Philip Steir (seasons 2-4; remixed version of theme song)
Opening theme "What I Like About You", performed by Lillix
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 86 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Brian Robbins
Mike Tollin
Joe Davola (all; entire run)
Wil Calhoun
Dan Schneider
(both; seasons 1–2)
Caryn Lucas (seasons 3–4)
Producer(s) Drew Brown
Location(s) Los Angeles, California
Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California
Camera setup Film; Multi-camera
Running time 22–24 minutes
Production company(s) Schneider's Bakery
Tollin/Robbins Productions
Warner Bros. Television
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel The WB
Picture format 480i (SDTV; entire run)
720p (HDTV; seasons 2–4)
Audio format Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Original run September 20, 2002 – March 24, 2006

What I Like About You is an American television sitcom set mainly in New York City, following the lives of two sisters, older-sister Valerie Tyler (Jennie Garth) and teenager-sister Holly Tyler (Amanda Bynes). The series ran on The WB from September 20, 2002, to March 24, 2006, with a total of 86 episodes produced. With the exception of a brief period early in the second season, What I Like About You was a headline on The WB's Friday Night Comedy Lineup.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring cast

Production

Theme song and opening sequences

The series takes its title from the song of the same name, which was originally released on a hit record by The Romantics in 1980 and written by the group's members Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Rich Cole, and Jimmy Marinos. A cover version of the song, performed by the Canadian all-female rock group Lillix, was used as the theme song for the show. Lillix's cover version of "What I Like About You" was also heard on the soundtrack of the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and 13 Going on 30. The theme was remixed and turned into a techno/dance style theme for the second season by Philip Steir (who composed the music for remainder of the series including the music to signal commercial breaks).

The pilot episode had a short opening sequence and the cast members' names were only shown in the teaser. The sequence solely consisted of scenes of New York sights with an animation of the show's logo with the letters "i" and "o" enlarging, the word "what" sliding in from the left side of the screen, the word "like" fluctuating in size, the "ab" and "ut" in "about" sliding in from both sides of the screen and the letters in the word "you" sliding up from the bottom of the screen appearing to smack the rest of the title into place. This same animation was carried over to the season one opening titles.

The first season's opening sequence had mixed home movies of two girls portraying younger versions of Holly and Val, shots of Bynes and Garth sticking their tongues out at the camera and scenes from the first four episodes, all shown on rounded rectangles which for most of the sequence moved from right to left sliding in from the right side of the screen. Video headshots of each cast member with their names were shown every two to five clips. Newer episode scenes were inserted in the episode "Valentine's Day" and again in the episode "The Fix-Up", which replaced nearly all of the clips from the first four episodes.

The opening title sequence used for the rest of the series featured the show's cast in front of digitally inserted scenes of New York at night. Different versions of the sequence were used for SD and HD broadcasts: the SD version seen in The WB, TeenNick and until October 6, 2010 in ABC Family airings, featured a letterbox-style version with the cast and creators' names in a black bar below the sequence; HD broadcasts on The WB and in ABC Family airings since October 6, 2010, featured the cast and creators' names within the sequence itself. The sequence was modified twice; the first time was in the episode "The Incredible Shrinking Group" when Stephen Dunham's video headshots were removed and the second modification was in "The Longest Night of the Year" when all traces of Michael McMillian were removed from the sequence and a yellow streak of light was added to the sequence as well.

Syndication

From February to September 2006, the series aired as reruns in a new weekday afternoon block called "Daytime WB" on its home network, The WB alongside Reba. After the show was ended by The WB in 2006, reruns of the series aired in syndication in most markets until September 2008.

In 2008, the program moved over to ABC Family to air in various timeslots during the daytime, in a letterbox format. Secondary rights are also held by TeenNick which has aired the series since 2009 shortly before the network's rebrand from The N; that channel mainly aired episodes of the show in two-hour marathon form, until October 2010, when TeenNick began airing three one-hour blocks of the series in different timeslots. Canadian syndicated rights are held by YTV, broadcasting the series for the first time in High Definition when the network introduced an HD channel in 2011. The program is currently not being broadcast in reruns since 2013, most likely due to Bynes's ongoing legal problems.

DVD release

DVD NameRelease DateEp #Additional Information
The Complete First SeasonMay 1, 200722Bonus features include a Gag Reel.

Awards and nominations

GLAAD Media Award

Teen Choice Awards

Young Artist Awards

References

    External links

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