Unhappily Ever After (1995–1999) User Reviews

An unhappily sitcom

[OllieSuave-007 · 6/10 · 8 April 2017]

This is an OK show about an stressed-out father whom just deal with a lousy job, sex-starved wife, a skimpily dressing daughter and a clueless son. Jack also has schizophrenia, in the form of Mr, Floppy, a chain-smoking stuffed gray rabbit.

From what I remember, it's a somewhat interesting show with some adult situations in it. The humor was just so-so and the acting was OK at best. Average writing and lesser entertainment from this sit-com. But, at least it's tolerable than much of the forced-humor and tasteless sitcoms dished out nowadays.

Grade C

A good first three seasons.

[13Funbags · 6/10 · 3 May 2017]

I really loved this show for the first couple seasons.While most people seem to think it's just a Married With Children rip-off, it's really very different considering it was created by the same person.For some reason they decided to start making changes and never explained anything.It wasn't so bad at first but when the stories started to get weaker the cast changes became very evident.The biggest mistake they made was having the grandmother leave and they didn't even bother to mention it, although they later joked about her going away.She was the funniest character on the show and the laughs got farther apart when she left.The show really started to suffer when they made it center around Tiffany.Somehow the smartest girl in school and her idiot brother ended up at the same college, very unbelievable, but the stories were just not good in general.Of course a show that could make so many major changes didn't care much about continuity and would often change or ignore history, something I have never cared for in sitcoms.Fortunately they make up for it by breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging they are on a TV show many times.The first three seasons are a must watch, be careful after that.

Unhappily Married With Children Ever After

[drcsaint · 8/10 · 30 April 2012]

Since this show was made by the same people that made "Married With Children", i'm not sure if it can be called a "ripoff". However, with some minor adjustments to to the phrase - you could call this show: "a blatant, and failed attempt to repackage an original classic with some very slight changes to format"

Most of the older sitcoms (80's, early 90's) use virtually identical formats as one another. While each show is be based on an original idea, the format of the show usually stays the same. Next time you're watching a sitcom from the aforementioned eras, pay extra attention to the credits- most of them will contain something like: " 'Based on a format by' (insert name)"

Without getting to off track - basically people like to see the same thing they've seen before. A TV shows popularity determines the success of the show, because money comes from ads and the cost of advertisements is directly influenced by the popularity of the show. Therefore, as producers, you want to stay in somewhat of a 'safe zone' when it comes to introducing an new idea. Sort of like "don't fix what isn't broken" kind of thinking. Which leads to a lot of shows with original ideas being recreated.

With such a large amount of money in the balance, networks and producers would rather not take the chance introducing an original idea and format. With the economy in the gutter, I feel the industry has began taking even less risks (which is noteworthy, considering the minimal risk taking in general). I believe this is why we've seen an unprecedented number of remakes in the last decade. Nothing wrong with retelling an age old classic... however, not -every- single classic needs to be remade for the 21st Century.

It's been a long time since I saw a movie, or a TV show that I couldn't guess the ending to. Some Americans might enjoy seeing the same exact show reproduced over and over... I however, do not. When every show on every channel, and every movie in every theater just seems to meld together... Can't really blame people for illegally pirating such mediocre, uninspired, redundant, and unoriginal productions.

There is of course a very select few of wonderfully brilliant, and original made movies over the past 10 years. However, the bulk does not even come close to something worth paying what they ask. If you want people to spend the amount of money you claim your work is worth - try actually making something worth watching. The 3 Stooges remake was the last straw.

Similar to "Married With Children", but a few subtle diffs.

[Smooth B · 10 January 2000]

I'll admit, when I first started watching this show in 1995, I thought that this would be the new MWC once the old MWC went off the air. I mean, look at the similarities......the deadbeat, minimum-wage earning father; the wise-cracking, undersexed mother; a son who dreams of scoring but never does, and a totally hot daughter. There's a few differences, however:

1. The hot daughter is smarter than the boys. She's the straight-A student here. Of course, that doesn't stop her from wiggling around in the shortest skirts possible.

2. There's 2 sons. One combines the undersexed part of MWC's "Bud" character and the dumb part of MWC's "Kelly" character, the other is used primarily for comic relief.

3. Mr. Floppy. The talking bunny is Mr. Malloy's alter ego, and only he can talk to him. Of course, his family thinks he's crazy when he spends all that time in the basement.

4. Tiffany, the hot, short-skirted daughter, is a virgin. When I first heard this, I thought it was the biggest contradiction of the show. Here's a girl that looks this good, with all these guys drooling over her, and she's a VIRGIN? Oh please. As we all know, Kelly Bundy of MWC's favorite spot was the back seat of a car. We didn't see it on camera, but she was understood to be very promiscuous.

After the behind-the-scenes people seen who was watching the show, and who on the show they were watching, first the grandma was let go (after the first season!) and then Stephanie Hodge (who played the mother) was booted off the show. "Unhappily" was restructured around Nikki Cox's character, Tiffany. The show then became an exercise in watching Tiffany and her best friend glide across the screen in the shortest, skimpiest dresses allowed on TV-14 television. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this show, and when it went off the air I was pretty disappointed. The reruns are still around, and I really like watching those! I give this show a solid A.

Got off to a smashing start early, then crashed and burned in later seasons

[hnt_dnl · 6/10 · 27 December 2010]

UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER (1995-99), on the surface, appeared to obviously be inspired by the longer-running, in-your-face comedy classic MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, but in some ways it had it's own identity, at least in the first couple of seasons. Similar to MWC, UEA was about an approaching middle-aged, put-upon man that is married with kids. The man is Jack Malloy (played wonderfully by the well-cast Geoff Pierson). Jack's ball-and-chain Jenny was played by comedienne Stephanie Hodge (giving a solid performance herself as a repressed, frustrated, long-suffering wife). Jack's kids were Tiffany (sultry Nikki Cox), Ryan (nerdy Kevin Connolly), and Ross (cute Justin Berfield, playing the youngest here before he got to play the oldest on MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE). Also, unlike on MWC where the mother-in-law was spoken of but never seen, for the first couple seasons, Jack's VERY MUCH SEEN mother-in-law Maureen was played in terrific scene-stealing fashion by Joyce Van Patten.

While it was on the surface a family sitcom, the big pull/gimmick on UEA was that Jack was schizophrenic and expressed his innermost thoughts through conversations with his youngest son's old stuffed bunny Mr. Floppy (voiced brilliantly by comic Bobcat Goldthwait). The Jack/Floppy convos are what really made the first couple of seasons (esp. Season 1) of the show sing, as the focus was more on Jack's personal frustrations, failures, and demons and him trying to resolve them to become a better parent and husband. Season 1 actually starts with Jack and Jenny separating and Jack living in his own apartment. Then Season 2 starts with Jack moving back with Jenny and the kids (and mother-in-law!), but staying in the basement most of the time still convo-ing with Floppy.

As Jack and Jenny, Pierson and Hodge have a believable chemistry of a long-time hubby-wife who have grown apart over the years, but still seem to have an unbreakable bond. I actually find their convos in Season 1 to be deeper than even Al/Peggy had on MWC in the early years (which were more down-to-earth and had elements of realism still) of that show. On this show, characters (esp. the adults) actually have long-drawn out convos the way real people do and, esp. in Season 1, they are pulled off with great aplomb and conviction. And many of the jokes in the early seasons were spot on and hilarious. Plus the kid characters (more on them later) actually seemed like real kids in the early seasons and they were thankfully used as only minor characters/distractions to the adults in the early years!

Even though I preferred Season 1 over 2 with Jack in his own place, the problems with the show really start in Season 3 with Maureen's character being killed off, then the same fate hitting Jenny at the start of Season 5, so Jack is stuck raising the kids alone and the show really degenerates into a total farcical mess. My problem is that I never found any of the kids to be especially interesting on their own. On MWC, Kelly and Bud Bundy were exceptional well-defined characters who totally held their own with Al and Peggy (sometimes stealing the show from them) and also they had many eps where they were actually the stars and carried them superbly on their own. But on UEA, these kids were for the most part less defined ripoffs of the MWC kids, so they came off as very annoying, esp. when the focus would be on them. Tiffany was no Kelly Bundy and Ryan was no Bud Bundy! Nikki Cox as Tiffany was esp. shamefully exploited for her looks (which I actually think are overrated anyway!) and not nearly the caliber actress that Christina Applegate (who should have won Emmys for her role) was as Kelly Bundy.

But I definitely recommend the first couple seasons, if only for the timeless interactions between Jack and Floppy. I've seen a lot of human interactions that are far less interesting!

Did Harvey talk to Jimmy Stewart this way?

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 20 June 2017]

Ever since the film Harvey came out the six foot talking rabbit was left to our imaginations. I do wonder though did Mary Chase writing Harvey ever in our wildest dreams think that Harvey would be something on the order of Bobcat Goldthwaite.

There's no doubt that the Malloys of Unhappily Ever After were modeled somewhat on the Bundys of Married With Children. Nikki Cox was as gorgeous as Kelly Bundy, but as Tiffany Malloy she was a straight-A student who never gave it up, but loved seeing the male of the species drooling when she wore those short tight skirts. Kevin Connolly who later was part of Entourage took out a patent on playing socially inept young men. Ross Berfield who later was one of Frankie Muniz's brothers in Malcolm In The Middle got a few zingers in.

The comedy centered around Geoff Pierson who I thought was wonderful as the cynical Jack Malloy. He made Al Bundy look as optimistic as Mary Poppins. It was he who went down to the basement to use Mr. Floppy the rabbit as his sounding board on the issues of life. And Bobcat Goldthwaite told him as only Bobcat could.

Inexplicably they wrote out the mother Stephanie Hodge in the last season. They never really developed her character so it wasn't really missed in that last season.

It was Pierson and Mr. Floppy that really made the show. Would that Al Bundy had a pal like him.

Greatest show ever!

[drivecrasher · 10/10 · 17 May 2006]

This was one of the greatest t.v. shows of all time. Nikki Cox was brilliant in the show. The father and the sons were very entertaining as well with their wild and crazy antics. I loved every episode. It was very funny for sure. It also had plenty of eye candy. Someone needs to put this show to DVD ASAP. Does anyone have any idea if there are plans to do this? Maybe one day the television gods will come down from the heavens and bless the whole world with this show on DVD sometime within my lifetime. Every day seems like an endless eternity waiting for the day i might finally be able to buy this great television show on DVD. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this.

Great show - it kicks ASS

[laszlo75 · 10/10 · 5 May 2001]

This show is great. A lot of people call it a Rip off but for gods sake!This show is done by the same people that done Married with children. So the shows are similar but thats the Joke. With a smart daughter and a stupid son and so on. But Mr. Floppy is the best Alter Ego ever and the scenes where Jack talks to Floppy with other people around are the best. This sitcom is damm the best ever and who dont understand the jokes on MWC is a jackass.

Can't Tell What They Were Trying To Say

[thebushwacker · 3/10 · 16 December 2021]

"Unhappily Ever After" TV Series 1995-1999 - ABC does a brazzen, unabashed, unapologetic rip-off of "Married With Children". How sad. Every nuance of Unhappily is straight out of Married. They don't even try to disguise it! The characters are pathetically exactly the same. Older daughter that acts just like Kelly Bundy, only she has bigger tah tahs. Younger brother that acts just like Bud Bundy. Dad is supposed to be like Al Bundy. Oddly, Dad, Geoff Pierson, looks and sounds just like Ed O'Neill! They even brought in a stuffed talking rabbit that looks like a stuffed dog that only talks to Jack Malloy (Dad) because it is his alter-ego speaking. The dog, played by Bobcat Goldthwait, is funny as heck. // I do have to say, Unhappily comes off pretty good with some snappy jokes and decent writing. I even laughed a few times. But my problem is, it all comes off as being satirical. Not towards Married, but towards everything that liberals hate about America. Oddly, it's never clear if they are trying to appeal to rednecks, or if they are making fun of rednecks. I get the feeling it is the latter, and it is a slap in the face. I never got that feeling about Married With Children. I always felt that Al Bundy really is a redneck. I get the feeling that ABC was just trying to outdo SNL with their liberal, leftist, aren't-we-the-wise-ones, BS. Sorry ABC . . huge miss. // The Bushwacker 12/16/2021.

unhappily ever since I can't find this on DVD

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 10/10 · 16 March 2014]

This is one of my top searches of all time in my quest to collect the very best glamorous DVDs, the glam in this case being ultra-sexy Tiffany a.k.a. Nikki Cox a.k.a. The Cool Long-Legged Redhead Sporting The Little Black Dresses. Wow! Okay, I'm a guy and guys are dogs, but wow! I can chase after that all day! Which, unfortunately is what I do seem to have been doing, having downloaded 99 episodes of AUF SCHLIMMER UND EWIG just to make up for its unavailability on DVD. And my knowledge of German is meager! Besides Nikki, there is Mr. Floppy, my all-time hero. The little guy tells it like it is. The referrals to pop culture is just the cherry on top! My vote for the funniest TV series ever! There should have been 300 episodes! And it should have been properly released on DVD!

"Tiffany's Birthday" is a favorite that I managed to download in original English and it is absolutely hilarious with Mr. Floppy just getting nasty with that fluffy-white stuffed thingie, and Miss Cox absolutely great as always. I have to end on a sad note, though, for I'll never see my old favorite in its full glory ever again! Six years of searching! Non- responsive wild claims on the Net, German soundtracks and a few complete episodes interjected with weather reports, ads for all kinds of junk and little snippet pieces here and there with poor quality just doesn't cut it. To those who might own this on DVD: Treasure it! And hell, I'd buy it from you! Name your price!

If You Are Going Rip Off Another Show, Try To Make It Better

[thebushwacker · 3/10 · 16 December 2021]

"Unhappily Ever After" TV Series 1995-1999 - ABC does a brazzen, unabashed, unapologetic rip-off of "Married With Children". How sad. Every nuance of Unhappily is straight out of Married. They don't even try to disguise it! The characters are pathetically exactly the same. Older daughter that acts just like Kelly Bundy, only she has bigger tah tahs. Younger brother that acts just like Bud Bundy. Dad is supposed to be like Al Bundy. Oddly, Dad, Geoff Pierson, looks and sounds just like Ed O'Neill! They even brought in a stuffed talking rabbit that looks like a stuffed dog that only talks to Jack Malloy (Dad) because it is his alter-ego speaking. The rabbit dog, played by Bobcat Goldthwait, is funny as heck with Geoff Pierson.

I do have to say, Unhappily comes off pretty good with some snappy jokes and decent writing. I even laughed a few times. But my problem is, it all comes off as being satirical. Not towards Married, but towards everything that liberals hate about America. Oddly, it's never clear if they are trying to appeal to rednecks, or if they are making fun of rednecks. I get the feeling it is the latter, and it is a slap in the face. I never got that feeling about Married With Children. I always felt that Al Bundy really is a redneck. I get the feeling that ABC was just trying to outdo SNL with their liberal, leftist, aren't-we-the-wise-ones, BS. Sorry ABC . . huge miss.

And no big surprise, Noflix doesn't carry "Unhappily . . "

The Bushwacker 12/16/2021.

A Clone, but...

[Foggy-7 · 16 August 2001]

Unhappily Ever After is in syndication where I live, and watching it these days, it's clear that while it based itself on Married...With Children, it was also trying to be innovative in how it told its story, how its actors interrelated, and how it treated the show itself.

Obstensibly, the show was about a family of five: a divorced couple, a sexpot daughter, one idiot kid, and one not-so-much an idiot kid. The show however also tended to treat the fourth wall as their urinal, frequently breaking out of character to be themselves, talking to the audience, bringing in studio executives, etc.

This was one of the good points of the show: in one episode, Nikki Cox and Kevin Connolly are faced with having to get rid of the actor who plays Ryan, because he wasn't written into the script and refuses to go away.

The cheesecake factor here is high -- but the cheesecake remembers to laugh at itself quite frequently. The acting for the most part is wooden on Nikki's part, but the actor who plays Jack manages to get the Al Bundy down without all those annoying characteristics Ed O'Neill slowly added to the role.

It's a stupid show, but it's supposed to be stupid, and there are some genuinely funny, and occasionally vicious moments in the show.

It's not a knock-off, it's a parody.

[floridatow · 9/10 · 28 June 2020]

I see that people think this show was imitating Married with Children, it was making fun of MWC and a lot of other shows of the time. I really enjoyed it when it was current and, I enjoy it during the 2020 pandemic lockdown.

Love Bobcat!

[OldGeezer916 · 8/10 · 17 November 2012]

So many knock offs, especially sitcoms, try to make a pretense that they are not. This is certainly not the case here. Just the fact that Geoff Pierson and Ed O'Neill look enough alike to be brothers can be no accident. The constant trading of insults, The hot daughter, dad portrayed as a loser etc. The one thing that kept me watching was Mr. Floppy. Bobcat is brilliant in this role and provides the biggest laughs. Without him I don't think this show would have ever seen a second season. After watching so many years of Married With Children I probably wouldn't have made it past the pilot. I thought the pill popping grandmother was also pretty funny at times.

Love the show, I wished the Grandmother would have been in every episode.

[webmaster-86003 · 9/10 · 14 September 2021]

I've just started Season 3.and miss Joyce Van Patten as Maureen Slattery. She was a good laugh and I enjoyed the funny depiction of a woman trying everything to escape reality by any means necessary. I wish she would have stayed on, as short as her bits were I saw a bit of my mother there. Not to take away from Mr. Floppy it was just an added bonus. It's a little better than Married.with children as the daughter is not so dumb she may forget to breathe at any moment. Working at a dealership with a used car department the father is the type of guy you'd actually find there. Just making a living and not really happy and just enough crazy there where I think a couple of them may have had their own Mr. Floppy..

Digital Video Discs, please

[vykk_draygo4000 · 26 July 2005]

I loved this show. It was kind of a takeoff of Married with Children, but it struck me as a smarter version of said show. As Al Bundy's life was complicated in a simple way, Jack Malloy's was complicated in a complicated way. Bundy was just a man's idiot living a very cynical life, but Jack was a raging alcoholic suffering from Schizophrenia embodied in a child's toy. The intelligence of the children was reversed (the hot girl was smart and the boy was the stupid one). While the episodes about the kids were semi-funny, Jack was indeed the key character, and when the story revolved around him, the show tended to be hilarious. Sure, Tiffany's competition with her schoolmate came off as funny, especially because she took her world a little too seriously, but finding out that Jack was the founding member of the band that eventually became Aerosmith was hilarious.

This show NEEDS to come out on DVD. It would be the first set I'd buy. Someone petition the WB for episodes!

Good Intentions/Different Direction

[Original_Caffeinator · 9/10 · 14 May 2022]

From multiple sources, keep hearing this show was intended as a sort-of launching pad/exposure for comedienne Stephanie Hodge. All well & good if true.................EXCEPT the first time we see her character she's throwing husband out "just because", AFTER walking arm in arm around house with her divorce attorney like THEY were a couple. First scene of episode one shows character played by someone you "want to expose", in pre-internet and maybe even pre-Comedy Central days, being a completely unlikeable person.

Other TV moms/wives seemed unpleasant at first, then as show went on kind of got an idea of WHY, usually because family/home was stressful. Think moms/wives from Home Improvement & Malcolm In The Middle. Both seemed unpleasant at first, as show goes on becomes clear a lot of that is due to them dealing with being the only female in the family. SO it makes sense.

Other reason Stephanie Hodge might not have had breakout exposure, show not only decided to go a fantasy/gimmicky route of having husband hallucinate (maybe?) talking to a stuffed rabbit, but had the rabbit, one Mr. Floppy, voiced by the VERY distinct & popular voice of Bobcat Goldthwait. Kind of overshadows any effort of exposing a new up & comer to an audience.

Now............the husband (Jack) & Mr. Floppy together..........some of the funniest stuff i've seen. This show would easily "trigger" a lot of people today, and by no means is a big breakthrough in any sense, just a personal favorite sitcom of mine. And eagle eyed people would recognize lead actor from an OLD Married With Children Episode. The one about a game show where newlyweds won prizes by abusing spouses.

Good show that went downhill *possible spoilers*

[alvin_b_18 · 31 March 2004]

When "Unhappily Ever After" first began, I was hooked. I knew that it was similar to "Married With Children" but I didn't care. Why? Because the Malloy family seemed like an extreme sarcastic version of the Bundys...and I LOVED it.

But then in season 2 the writers decided to have Jack move back in with Jenny and the kids. "OK," I thought, "that's not too bad." So I kept watching. Then in season 3 they killed off one of my favourite characters, Maureen. "All right," I thought, "now they're starting to go too far."

Then in season 4 Jenny disappeared and the show more or less became "The Nikki Cox Show". That was when I stopped watching. I mean, I don't have anything against Cox as an actress, but I never cared for her character, Tiffany. And after season 3, as far as I was concerned, Tiffany "should have shut up and looked pretty". (To paraphrase Marcy from "Married With Children".) Because while she WAS beautiful, she was also very annoying.

But they started to focus on Tiffany and ONLY Tiffany, although the show was supposed to be about Jack. Really, how many anorexia/smart-girl-can't-get-a-man jokes were we supposed to stand??? Tiffany just wasn't as funny as Jack, and her rants about her (lack of a) sex life and social issues got tired after a while.

Oh well...all good things must come to an end. It's too bad "Unhappily Ever After" had to end on a low note.

Sitcom for sitcom haters

[adamch · 16 October 2005]

"Unhappily Ever After" is the best trashy sitcom ever to be shown on TV. I mean, how funny are sitcoms nowadays? The humor was just different and the actors didn't take themselves too serious. Mr.Floppy's one of the best characters, where else can you watch a bunny that makes fun of celebrities and politics in almost every episode?

The first two seasons were much better, because.. 1.) Tiffany and Ryan seemed like young kids 2.) The writers just did what they wanted to do. Soon every episode will seem the same. 3.) Jack never got out of the house. 4.) Tiffany's character became perfect in the later seasons, the writers even gave her the best speeches.

This show was about to become really good, but somehow went down the hill. If you are a fan of "Married.. with Children" and "Malcolm in the Middle" you'll definitely like it.

Not just a "Married with Children" rip-off

[GLVee · 19 September 1999]

At first glance, this show would appear to be nothing more than a cheap "Married with Children" rip-off, and to be honest, that's not entirely untrue. Yes, the characters and situations are basically the same as "Married": The pathetic working-class Dad; the hormone-enraged loser son; the not-too-bright sexpot daughter; the horrid living conditions...but there are enough differences in this show to make it enjoyable in it's own right. First off, there's Floppy, the stuffed bunny who's the father's imaginary friend (conjured up in the first show to help him overcome a nervous breakdown, I think), played by Bobcat Goldthwait. Since Floppy is only in the father's imagination, of course nobody is aware of his existence but the dad, and the conversations they have about what's going on are some of the funniest in the show. Then there are what could be called, "surface" changes, little things that differentiate it from "Married": There being two sons instead of only one; the daughter being smarter than the boys, them having two sexy female teen leads (the daughter and her rival) instead of just one, and of course, Floppy. This show is obviously derived from Married with Children (and they've acknowledged it at least once with an on-camera Ed O'Neill reference), but it's different enough from the original that it's actually quite funny on it's own --to me, VERY funny. When "Married" was still on the air I watched both of these shows; after "Married" got canceled I looked forward to "Unhappily" even more. Watching this show and comparing it to "Married" can be kind of like when you want a Coke but the machine only has Pepsi, you'll go with the Pepsi because they're essentially the same...and in fact, some days you *want* a different cola drink. If you haven't given this show a chance because it looks like a cheapo knock-off of "Married", you should reconsider. I was saddened when this show got canned, it was one of the few WB programs I actually watched. This show had a lot of the same things that made "Married" such a great show, plus a few surprises. Try to catch the reruns on WB before they pull them off completely.

Perhaps a Guilty Pleasure

[TMC-4 · 21 November 1999]

Frankly Unhappily Ever After can be considered a guilty pleasure. The show esstentially played out on a trashy level (i.e. in terms of its seemingly inane storytelling) and perhaps the acting had a tendecy of being relatively amateurish. Unhappily Ever After tried to coast as far as it could in terms of references to popular culture and to a certain degree the show benefited from it. Perhaps that was the only thing the show had to fall back on but the references managed to come out on a frequent basis and were fairly interesting never the less. Perhaps Unhappily Ever After can considerably be labled as "low-rent satire." You're viewing something that's can be juvenile on a frequent basis but at the same time will make a fun out of numerous things in popular culture.

Interesting idea falls flat

[Cinema Buff · 26 February 2002]

I have watched a few episodes of this show on late night syndication, and I found myself in the odd position of being intrigued and disappointed at the same time.

The show revolves around the type of family that inhabited pre-"Ally McBeal" Fox Channel shows. We have the stereotypical wife who loves to shop and think illogically. We have the son who can only rely on his hand to console him. We have the daughter who inspires the laugh track to go nuts with wolf whistles just by stepping out onto the stage.

When these characters are around, the show has two modes: predictable and offensive. We see that the son is going to get slapped in the face by the popular girl at school, and we wonder where the humor is in him accidentally killing the mailman (who we find out later is his actual father).

The show takes a slightly more interesting turn, though, in its central character. The father. In other shows, the father has been the most logical figure of the household. He is the one that holds the insanity together. In "Unhappily Ever After", however, the twist is that the father is the crazy one. A couple of times each episode, he sits down on the couch and gets half-assed advice from Mr. Floppy, a hallucination of a stuffed bunny that he had in his childhood.

This part of the show is where I get intrigued. This is an interesting and original idea, with numerous possibilities. Unfortunately, the writers don't know what to do with it, and consequently let the idea become the joke. Mr. Floppy (who is given life thanks to voice-over king Bobcat Goldthwait) has no other purpose in the show than to tell crude jokes and brag about his charm.

It is a shame to see such an idea go to waste. "Unhappily Ever After" had the potential to be one of the most original comedies of the 90's, and instead turned into a cheap and predictable retread of the "Married With Children" formula.

not like Married with Children at all

[Zane-05 · 22 December 2000]

This is a good comedy; I know most teenage males like it for Nikki Cox but personally I think she is shallow. The reason I like it is for Mr. Floppy's crazy comments and the comic talents of Justin Berfield. Unfortunately, Justin doesn't get much more than 5 minutes of screen time until the final season. Which is a shame; he's one of the more talented young actors in the business. Thank gawd Linwood Boomer recognises this and gives him ample screen time in MITM.

It's A Great Show!!!

[weird dan 3 · 5 August 2000]

Unhappily ever after is a great show. It may be a ripoff of "Married With Children" but it is a better show. The best character is Mr. Floppy (Jack's alter ego) whose funny jokes and witty comments almost make the show! On scale of one to ten (1=lowest, 10=highest) I give this show 9.7. It's a great show!