The Good Life

This show, while only on for a few months with 13 episodes, was one of the funniest sitcoms that I can remember. I was surprised when it was taken off the air. If anyone has any information on how I may be able to get a hold of tapes of this show, please email me (note: those "00" are zeros)

This truly was a worthy (and, most important, funny) series that was cut down before it ever reached its prime. In hindsight, it had sort of the feel of "The Drew Carey Show" (duh, Drew Carey was in it) meets "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Funny, engaging, a tiny bit risqué in one episode, but mostly just good, clean family fun. A real winner that somehow lost. And now we've made the prime-time transition from warm, witty sitcoms to "reality" television that has nothing at all to do with reality -- unless you've ever been shipwrecked and had to live 30 days on an island populated in part by cameramen and TV hosts.

"The Good Life" deserved better, and we as television viewers deserved and continue to deserve better.

I remember watching the show whenever I could. My NBC affiliate kept preempting it for garbage they were airing. I can remember the comment about the CFL teams. "What would you like to name yourselves?" "Rough Riders." "Nah... We've Already got a Rough Riders" "How about.... Rough Riders?" "C'mon, we need the teams..." Thank goodness Drew got his own vehicle, but what a shame that this dissolved away into nothing. The kids were cute, but I remember a guest appearance by one character later on Full House. I know that Drew even had him on his show as a guest once, too, but by then it was WAY too little, too late. It seemed like he was doing a dying man a favor. Or, how about the promo during the Olympics of the three-man Bobsled team. It didn't suffer from lack of promotion, just consistency, and local network support, along with LOW watching.

Absolutely hilarious sitcom! It had a fresh, distinctive comic tone, unlike anything else on the air before or since. The acting was great, the writing was crisp, and the situations and characters were unique. And above all, it wasn't just another sex-sex-sex sitcom, like every OTHER show on TV. So naturally, it was misinterpreted by critics, ignored by audiences, and only lasted a few months.

Caponera and Carey had a fantastic chemistry. If the show had lasted, we'd be talking about them as one of TV's great teams. Eve Gordon was hot(and funny) as Caponera's wife. The whole cast was good. They had a fantastic rapport.

"The Good Life" ran two or three months, tops. It's just another example of NBC squandering a good show while they keep garbage on the air for years. "The Good Life" and a wonderful Al Franken sitcom called "Lateline" got the shaft while junk like "Suddenly Susan" ran for years. What a way to run a railroad!

One fast anecdote: in one episode, Monty Hoffman's character Tommy is playing ping-pong when the boss walks through the office. Instead of scrambling to get back to work, Tommy just shrugs and says "Good thing I'm union!" I still use that line.

Where can we get this gem on tape? I'd buy every episode offered without hesitation.

I remember something about John Caponera demanding more money per episode. NBC had just plugged the show by airing an episode after the Super Bowl, and people liked the show. Unfortunately, air-times were changed, and I got the impression that when NBC heard Caponera's demands, they were like "you're not all that", and rewarded him with a cancellation.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Justin Berfield who went on to star in "Unhappily Ever After" and "Malcolm In The Middle". I never saw Jake Patella after that series, and barely saw Eve Gordon.

I'll be first on the list if they ever release this show on DVD. I think I have one episode on tape, the Marry Lou Murray episode. "Ahh, we'll always have tape."