Wikipedia: 8 Simple Rules

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John Ritter's death

On September 11, 2003, John Ritter suffered an aortic dissection which killed him. After experiencing discomfort during a rehearsal that afternoon, crew members took Ritter to a nearby hospital where he died that night. John Ritter's final interview took place on the set that day with the Museum of Television & Radio. Following Ritter's death, ABC announced that the show would continue after a hiatus, and would incorporate the death of Ritter's character. The three new episodes that Ritter completed were aired with reflections from the cast.

The show returned on November 4, 2003 with a one hour episode, "Goodbye", dedicated to Ritter's death. Subsequent episodes dealt with the family's reaction to his death and their moving on. The first four post-Ritter episodes were shot without a live audience, in a respectful transition from the shock of his passing. Suzanne Pleshette and James Garner guest starred as Kate's parents. David Spade later guest starred as Kate's wayward nephew, CJ. Both Garner and Spade eventually received starring roles.

Waning Popularity

Shortly after the third season finale, rumors began circulating that 8 Simple Rules was facing cancellation. In its first season, the show ranked a respectable 42nd in the Nielsen Ratings. It did a little better when more viewers tuned in out of sympathy and curiosity after Ritter's unexpected death. But by the end of the second season, the show slipped to 50th. After ABC moved 8 Simple Rules to Friday nights at 8:00 p.m., it fell to 94th in the Nielsen standings.

Some observers simply could not get beyond the tragic absence of John Ritter and welcomed its end. But others applauded the show's portrayal of a family sticking together and growing after a staggering loss that millions of families have shared. Regardless of either view, it is certainly one of a few times in US television history that a series continued two full years beyond the death of its star. But the Friday night death slot ratings took their toll on the show that had already endured so much. The third season finale (in which Katey Sagal's character tells her family that she has been dating the school principal played by Adam Arkin) was not even aired for May sweeps. The finale received a 3.9/8 rating share which gave ABC a third place finish behind NBC's Dateline (5.8/11.) and CBS' Joan of Arcadia (4.9/10.) which happened to star John Ritter's son Jason (and, coincidentally, was also cancelled due to declining ratings).

On May 17, 2005, 8 Simple Rules was officially cancelled by ABC.

Cancellation

While 8 Simple Rules ratings were well above those of the surrounding TGIF shows during its third season, ABC cancelled it due to the inability to sell it to syndication. Due to John Ritter's death, 8 Simple Rules could not air two daily cycles (with episodes from varying seasons) as it is thought that this would confuse and/or upset viewers, although, on UK TV channel ABC1, this does occur.

Criticism

The third season took a creative turn, revolving more around Jim and CJ than the Hennessy family, more specifically not revolving around the raising of the Hennessy girls.

"Jump the Shark" founder Jon Hein believed that the idea of 8 Simple Rules bringing in David Spade was like bringing in Scott Baio to play Chachi on Happy Days. Hein added that while he thought Spade was really funny, the show should have ended immediately after John Ritter died.

Some have chastised and ridiculed 8 Simple Rules for arguably being excessively sentimental (especially in the immediate aftermath of John Ritter's death). On the short-lived WB sitcom The Help (which incidentally, featured Katey Sagal's Married... with Children co-star David Faustino), one of the male characters joked about "Not seeing so much phony emotion since the promos for '8 Simple Rules'." Although there was never a direct reference to John Ritter's death, TV Guide still placed that particular joke in their weekly "Cheers & Jeers" section as one of the Jeers of the Week. Howard Stern also slightly mocked the considerably heavy-handed approach in the first few post-Ritter episodes. Another factor that viewers criticized was that they found James Garner's character to apparently only be there to make one-liner jokes and to comfort and give advice to many of the other characters at the end of the episode.

The Fox animated series Family Guy made a play on the original title for 8 Simple Rules by titling one of the episodes 8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter. The first episode of Season 4 had a joke about the show that was eventually cut out. On the premiere episode of the Fox sitcom The War at Home, the main character portrayed by Michael Rapaport boldly proclaimed "I only have one simple rule for dating my teenage daughter. If she sees your penis, I'll cut it off!" Also on Fox's animated series, American Dad!, it had an episode where the main character, Stan, says "It's a bizarre situation. Not '8 Simple Rules', let's-keep-it-going-after-the-father-died bizarre, but close."

Source: Wikipedia