Unhappily Ever After | |
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Unhappily Ever After opening sequence
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Also known as | ''Unhappily...'' |
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by |
Ron Leavitt Arthur Silver |
Starring |
Geoff Pierson Stephanie Hodge Kevin Connolly Nikki Cox Bob Goldthwait Justin Berfield |
Opening theme | "Hit the Road Jack" Performed by Ray Charles |
Composer(s) | Paul Buckley Jonathan Wolff |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 100 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Ron Leavitt Arthur Silver Sandy Sprung Marcy Vosburgh |
Producer(s) | Stewart J. Burns Brian LaPan Christina Lynch Harriette Regan |
Running time | 22–24 minutes |
Production company(s) | Touchstone Television |
Distributor | Buena Vista Television |
Release | |
Original network | The WB |
Original release | January 11, 1995 | – May 23, 1999
Unhappily Ever After (often shortened to Unhappily... in promotional advertisements) is an American sitcom that aired for 100 episodes on The WB network from January 11, 1995, to May 23, 1999, for a total of five seasons. The series was produced by Touchstone Television.
The series was initially intended to be a starring vehicle for Stephanie Hodge, whose character of Jennie was the focus of the first few episodes. However, the series concept was soon re-worked. The character of Jack (Geoff Pierson), who had been kicked out of the house and was living in an apartment, was brought back home and began living in the basement. Soon, Jack — a family man with schizophrenia whose only friend is a talking toy rabbit — became the central character of the show, along with the rabbit, Mr. Floppy. Also, in seasons one and two, storylines featured Jennie's mother, Maureen Slattery (Joyce Van Patten). When Van Patten left the show, her character was killed-off.
By the show's third season, Tiffany (Nikki Cox) was becoming a breakout character and the de facto co-star of the show along with Pierson. Stories began focusing on Tiffany and Ryan's high school (and later community college) escapades, and the producers attempted to kill-off the increasingly unnecessary character of Jennie, who returned as a ghost. After doing so, however, they quickly reversed their decision because of negative audience reaction. The character was brought back to life in a deliberately bizarre sequence in which a network executive wandered on to the set and announced Jennie's character was no longer dead. Nevertheless, Jennie was soon gone again, as several episodes later, the character abandoned her family for a lesbian lover (Hodge choosing to leave the show) and was never seen again.
Cox was already signed to star in a new series for the WB when Unhappily... ended, and the final season focused more on the character of Tiffany. A new character was added to the cast, Tiffany's rival Barbara Caufield (Wendy Benson). The series wrapped up with a final episode in which Jack finally made enough money to send Tiffany to Harvard University. Once Jack started making money, he no longer needed Floppy and his schizophrenia was cured; Floppy returned to being just a stuffed animal, dying. Jack soon went insane from drinking again, however, bringing Floppy "back from the dead".