Grounded for Life

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grounded for Life was an American television sitcom. It debuted in 2001 as a mid-season replacement on the FOX Network, where it ran for two seasons until being cancelled only two episodes into its third. It was immediately picked up for the rest of the third season by the The WB, where it aired for two additional seasons until its cancellation in January 2005. As of Monday, October 30, 2006, its reruns currently air in syndication on ABC Family on weekends at 11 and 11:30 am (two episodes) EST.

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. The pilot, "Lily B. Goode", aired on January 10, 2001.

[edit] Cast list

• Sean Finnerty - Donal Logue
• Claudia Finnerty - Megyn Price
• Eddie Finnerty - Kevin Corrigan
• Lily Finnerty - Lynsey Bartilson
• Henry Finnerty - Jake Burbage
• Jimmy Finnerty - Griffin Frazen
• Walt Finnerty - Richard Riehle
• Brad O'Keefe - Bret Harrison
• Sister Helen - Miriam Flynn
• Dean Piramatti - Mike Vogel
• Dan O'Keefe - Gregory Jbara

[edit] Characters

• Sean Finnerty - Owns and operates a bar with his brother, Eddie. Father of three kids, Sean also deals with his judgemental Father, his irresponsible brother, and the head nun/teacher at Lily's school. Sean is often getting into antics with his carefree brother.

• Claudia Finnerty - The sensible one of the family, Sean's wife is a hostess at a ritzy restaurant.

• Uncle Eddie - The single carefree brother/uncle. Prior to opening a bar with his brother, his jobs were shady and possibly illegal. Various plots revolve around him arousing chaos with his brother and sister-in-law (such as when he shoots an adult film in their living room.)

• Lily Finnerty (15-18 yrs old) - The air-headed baddest teenager and often at odd with her parents. Although she first finds him annoying, she later becomes fond of her next door neighbor, Brad O'Keefe.

• Jimmy Finnerty (12-15 years old) - The black sheep of his family, Jimmy's choices are not always accepted by his parents (such as choosing to become a vegetarian.) Thus, he often confides in his Uncle Eddie. He is also a huge pervert who thinks of nothing but sex.

• Henry Finnerty (9-12 years old) - The youngest son of the family, Henry disappeared at the beginning of the fifth season, but is mentioned several times.

• Brad O'Keefe (15-18 years old) - The sweet, smart but socially retarded neighbor, who later becomes Lily's boyfriend at the end of the third season.

• Gracey Finnerty (still an infant at end of series) - Was originally to be named Rose, but it reminded everyone too much of the woman from the Titanic. She was born on Lilly's high school graduation day, in June 2005.

[edit] Trademarks and trivia

• The show was originally pitched with the title Don't Get Me Started. However, when no one was happy with that name, network and production company executives began to pitch new titles. Suggestions included The Young Parent Show and Egg, Sperm - Now This before settling on Grounded For Life.^{[citation needed]}
• Every episode is told to some large extent in flashback. The episodes generally begin about 3/4 of the way through a story, with flashbacks explaining the unlikely way the family actually got to this odd situation often from different character's perspectives, with the story ultimately resolving at the end of the show.
• The band Ween performs the title theme (co-composed with Ben Vaughn) and composed and performed most of the incidental scoring.
• There is a Rockstar Games magnet on the side of the Finnertys' fridge.
• When the program moved from Fox to the WB, the character of Walt Finnerty became an occasional character and the character of "Brad O'Keefe" was made a series regular.
• During the program's final season, the show was no longer filmed in front of a live audience and instead utilized a laugh track.
• The framerate runs at 30^{[citation needed]}.
• The youngest son Henry disappeared from the family, as actor Jake Burbage and his family had moved away.
• All of the episode titles are, or are references to, song titles.
• Three members (Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, and Scott Thompson) of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall appeared on the show over the years, because John Blanchard directed both shows.
• Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson, and Wilmer Valderrama from That '70s Show made appearances on the show, although never together, because both shows were produced by Carsey-Werner Productions and because That '70s Show was shot just one stage away.
• The exterior street set built for the show was subsequently used in That '70s Show, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Bernie Mac Show, Malcolm in the Middle, Less Than Perfect, and The Tracy Morgan Show, as well as numerous commercials and music videos. The street set was torn down when the series was cancelled.
• The family dog, Merv, appeared in only two episodes and was never heard from again.
• The role of Dan O'Keefe, played by Gregory Jbara, was played by Floyd Van Buskirk in the pilot.
• The show also has many cameos by the cast members of Office Space.
• In the first two seasons, there is a sign on the piano that says "Red Boot Pub", which in the third season is used as the sign for their bar which has the same name.
• Both Adam Brody and Autumn Reeser starred on Grounded for Life before becoming regulars on the Fox hit The O.C..
• 3 episodes feature "Crazy Amy", Eddie's ex-girlfriend who is Kevin Corrigan's real life wife, Elizabeth Berridge.

[edit] Continuity errors

The show contains multiple continuity errors, mostly between the show's network switch from FOX to The WB^{[citation needed]}.

• The characters seem to age at different rates. In the show's pilot episode, Lily is 14 years old. In the next episode, she turns 15 and stays 15 for the show's first three seasons and starts aging normally. Thus if Lily was a freshman during the 2000-2001 school year, she would have graduated in 2004 (it is very doubtful she was ever held back). It is also mentioned she was born during Live Aid in 1985. But if she graduated in 2005, that would make her 20 but it is mentioned that she is 18 by the end of the show's run; therefore, Lily would have to be born in 1987. Sean and Claudia's year of birth were affected by this strange aging as well. A similar case occurs with Jimmy. In the show's fourth season, Jimmy is in 8th grade (the first time his grade is mentioned) but in the next season, he is a sophomore. It is never mentioned that he got promoted so it is very strange that Jimmy suddenly skips his freshman year. As for Henry, his age is mentioned in the first season dvd in the episode "Let's Talk About Sex, Henry" as being 8 years old by Sean when talking with Gary, the school shrink.^{[citation needed]}

• In the episode where Eddie shoots an adult film inside the Finnertys' house, Claudia found out by watching the video in a hotel room, with Sean, and seeing a picture of Henry on the table by the couch, but when they get home the picture is nowhere to be seen - although this point is countered by the fact that we have no knowledge of the time between when the film was shot and when the Finnertys saw the film. The picture can be spotted in earlier episodes, but not in the same place as in the scene of the adult film. It could have just been moved.^{[citation needed]}

• Originally the Finnertys' piano was black, but starting in the second season, it was changed brown.

• In many of the later episodes, you may not notice that in the background, mostly when Lily and Brad go through the front door into the house, the door does not stop. It goes right through the frame of the door.^{[citation needed]}

• In "I Fought the In-Laws" Claudia's dad has a plate and on the plate is green beans and an orange blob; then the camera goes to Sean and back to the plate and it has nothing on it; then the camera goes to Sean again and then back to the plate and the orange blob and green beans are on the plate again.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• List of Grounded for Life episodes

[edit] DVD Releases

Season Releases

DVD Name	Cover Art	Region 1 Release Date	Region 2 Release Date	Ep #	Additional Information
Season 1		February 7, 2006	March 5, 2007	20	Bonus features include audio commentaries by creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, stars Megyn Price, Lynsey Bartilson and Richard Riehle, and writers Chris Kelly, Jim O'Doherty, David M. Israel, Greg Thompson, and Aron Abrams; interview with creators; season one highlights, featurettes, bloopers.
Season 2		May 16, 2006	June 4, 2007	17	Bonus features include bloopers, commentary on one episode with creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, stars Megyn Price and Lynsey Bartilson, interview with Ashton Kutcher and with Kevin Corrigan, Season Two Highlights.
Season 3		August 8, 2006	TBA	13	Bonus features include 6 Commentary Tracks by creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, stars Lynsey Bartilson, Miriam Flynn, and Chris Hogan, and writers Chris Kelly, Ned Goldreyer, Greg Thompson, and Aron Abrams; and also includes the 2 episodes that never aired.
Season 4		November 7, 2006	TBA	28	Bonus features include commentary on 5 episodes by creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff; stars Donal Logue, Lynsey Bartilson, Bret Harrison, and Griffin Frazen; and writers Chris Kelly and Erica Rivinoja.
Season 5	TBA	TBA 2007	TBA	13

[edit] External links

• Episode Guide
• Grounded For Life at the Internet Movie Database
• DVD trailer