La famiglia Bowman

The summer of '94 saw three replacement shows - "The Boys," "The Building," and "The Good Life" - that beat the hell out of the majority of network sanctioned tripe. Of the three, "The Good Life was easily the best. When Drew Carey hit it big, I hoped it might spark some interest in this forgotten gem, like say a run on a certain cable comedy channel. Alas, "The Good Life" remains buried in the annals of TV history, with only Drew's show and Shay Astar's role on "3rd Rock" as pale reminders of what once was. I fondly recall the episode in which those two discovered a mutual love of the Grateful Dead. Drew's tie-dye was a sight to behold. And "Don't forget to Clark the door!" - that should have gone down as one of TV history's classic lines.

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)

My buddy and I were at Universal Studios in CA and were recruited to go be in the audience of a TV show. They told us the title of the show was "The Bowmans." They put us in a bus and took us to the studio and then dropped us off back at the park about 3 hours later. It was pretty cool.

What I remember most is Drew Carey. I knew who he was from his stand-up. The warm-up comedian was really stupid and no one was laughing. He had his girlfriend there and seemed to be trying to impress her. So after a bit, Drew Carey took over doing the comedy between takes and was hilarious!! I thought it was a shame the show got canceled.

We absolutely loved this show when it was aired and we were highly disappointed when the show was canceled. It was canceled right before it hit it's prime. I don't think the networks know what they are doing when they cancel shows such as this, even today. You just get used to something and wham! It's gone. The networks need to keep listening to the viewers as we the viewers ultimately make the choices, I believe. It is the viewers who keep the ratings. The Good Life was one of the most hilarious shows around, I never saw my husband laugh so hard in his life. I hope this comes out on DVD/VHS soon as we'd buy without hesitation.

Thanks.

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."