Dear John

This was such a sad show. A guy comes home one day and finds a letter from his wife. The theme song, also sad, it is sung from the perspective of the wife. You see him happily arriving at home, walking in the front door and then the trauma begins.

"Dear John, Dear John.

By the time you read these lines, I'll be gone.

Dear John, Dear John.

Life goes on, Right or wrong.

Dear John..."

It gets stuck in your head for some reason. Maybe it's because her voice is so sappy. In any event, it supposedly began as a British show, and they made an American version with it's own cast. John Lacey comes home to find out his wife has left him by reading a typical "Dear John" letter. Doesn't that scream sitcom? John then goes to a support group where all the comedy lies. The other members of the group have their own quirks. John also has little encounters with random singles. Not that great of a show although I like Judd Hirsch.

After a great series like Taxi, where he was funny and touching for eight seasons, Hirsch was stuck in this.

He looks trapped, with a frozen "How do I get out of here?" look.

The cast was just awful. British woman with a single joke, beaten to death. Obnoxious sexual predator wannabe and lawsuit waiting to happen.

And a badly needed laugh track, because nothing in this was ever funny.

I give this a three because I have always been a fan of Judd Hirsch. I feel that whoever did the casting did Judd an injustice. Maybe the show could have been more of a success with better casting. I think the English woman would have been better as a member of the group rather than the counselor, and the red head Jere Burns was always after (was she also a member of Taxi?) would have been better as the counselor. Please do not consider this a spoiler as I am just trying to be honest because as I said I have always been a true fan of Judd Hirsch; I feel greatly that he deserves a successful series. The show was done a true injustice by casting Jere Burns. IMHO he is by far one of the worst actors ever. To me he did nothing but ruin what had the potential to be a good show. Not to mention the character he played was also terrible. I am half Italian. Mr. Burns played what I would call an "Americanized" version of a "Guido." An as far as Italians go he did a terrible job playing a "Guido." No offense to Mr. Burns; He may be a very nice guy in person, but a good actor he is not. He did absolutely nothing in developing the character. None of the cast did well developing their character. Think of Seinfeld. It was not a great show in the beginning, but the actors did such a stupendous job developing their characters that it ended up one of the all time greats of history. To me that is a critical element of a successful show: The actors must bend over backwards developing their character. Not to focus on Mr. Burns, but he was just awful. I have to be honest: I have insomnia and every night I have to suffer through an hour of Dear John, mostly because Mr. Burns is nauseating, waiting for a show that was a true comedic genius, ahead of its time, and that is The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. Sometimes I scan the channels looking for something else so I do not have to watch Dear John. I feel bad for Judd Hirsch especially if he had to put up any of his own money for what I consider one of the worst shows of all time. Judd deserved better. Besides the awful character played by Jere Burns probably the number two cast member that ruined the show was the scullery maid who played the counselor. One last comment, I despise shows that resort to making use of a character that is pregnant and/or has a baby. Dear John made use of this at least twice. A show that makes use of a character that has a baby in some unorthodox manner on the episode is even worse (the episode of Dear John in which his ex-wife had a baby at the wedding). A way overplayed plot in my opinion. To me it is just nauseating. So apologies to Judd Hirsch. You are a great actor, casting for Dear John really gave you the screws, and if anyone deserves a hit show it is you.

In every week's opening, teacher John Lacey (Judd Hirsch) gets his Dear John letter, gets cleaned out in court, and loses his home all to that catchy little diddy. His wife and his best friend took everything including his son. He attends the One To One Club, a support group for divorcees and widowers. Louise Mercer (Jane Carr) is the Brit group leader divorced from her kinky husband who keeps asking everyone, "Are there any sexual problems?" The group includes sleazy Kirk Morris (Jere Burns), sweet Kate McCarron (Isabella Hofmann), clueless pushover Ralph Drang (Harry Groener), silent Tom (Tom Willett), elderly fox Mrs. Margie Philbert (Billie Bird), and starting midway in season two, southern belle Mary Beth Sutton (Susan Walters).

This is a solid network sitcom of its era. It's led by some solid TV stars. Hirsch has played this character well arguably since his Taxi days. Burns is a fantastic comedic sleaze. It's a wacky group of friends who serve more as family. Everybody is great. It tackles divorce with a little humor. It's good-nature with some bite. This is not going on any top TV lists but it functions well for what it is. It's a good middling sitcom while it lasted.

This is a funny TV series, because the title character, played by Judd Hirsch, is willing to be a straight man to the other characters in a support group he attends.

In essence, much as "Good Times" is Kid Dynamite's show, this is really Jere Burns show as he portrays the rogue, Kirk. Kirk is just enough of a rascal to cherish and laugh at, both at the same time.

The others put in a dash of humor, too, one of them without ever saying a word.

The standard for comedy in the eighties was a comedy that would make people laugh. That's what this show did. It din't try to be too "situational", and hope for a smile, the way most comedies of the nineties and naughts do. It reached for the guts, and pulled them out.

This wasn't "slapstick", but just a bit shy of it. It jumped the shark a bit at the end, and that didn't work. It was best when staying true to its character of the support group.