Last week while I was out picking up some new DVDs to watch for the week my mom stumbled upon two DVDs for $1.99 each at Target. One was "ThirtySomething" which was a drama in the eighties or nineties. It's never been a show that appealed to me, but I decided to borrow the other DVD and give it a watch through which is "My Two Dads", a TV sitcom that aired in 1987 and stars Paul Reiser (of "Mad About You" and "Aliens" fame) along with Greg Evigan as two former friends who had a falling out in college over a girl who had slept with (and loved) both of them. The woman passes away and the show begins with the reading of her will, where she leaves each men fifty percent of her estate. Her estate, as it turns out, is her twelve year old daughter, Nicole. At first the two men, Michael and Joey, are reluctant to raise the young girl, but in the end decide to put their differences aside, move in together, and decide to raise the child. To add a little comedy to the situation, the judge in charge of the child's case is also the landlord of the building where the men live with their daughter. Other stars of the show include Staci Keanan as Nicole and Florence Stanley as the Judge, along with football great Dick Butkus.
The series itself works. Being released in the 80's despite running for only three seasons it can be looked at as one of the sitcom greats, though it was beat out by a bigger monster "Full House". The show was able to catch the eye of some audiences...or at least enough to warrent DVD releases. It was a name in the credits though that really caught my eye. Chuck Lorre. I'm pretty sure that name is clicking with a lot of you right now. Chuck Lorre is the creative force behind "Two and a Half Men" which up until the upcoming season starred Charlie Sheen. Twenty years prior to creating "Two and a Half Men" Lorre worked as a story writer on at least 12 episodes of "My Two Dads" which almost shows up with the premise of "Men". Think about it, two guys live together raising a child. One is a rule abiding good guy and one is a partying womanizer. Sure nobody had to die to move the plot of "Men" but you still can't deny the similiarities.
What do you think of these two shows? Sound off below.
-Dan
I know this post is almost a year old but I wanted point out that his just occurred to me as I as cleaning my kitchen. I ran to Google to see if I was the only one to notice this.
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