Rules of Engagement | |
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Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Tom Hertz |
Starring | |
Opening theme | "How Many Ways" by Señor Happy |
Composers |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 7 |
No. of episodes | 100 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 21 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | February 5, 2007 – May 20, 2013 |
Rules of Engagement is an American sitcom television series that ran on CBS from February 5, 2007, to May 20, 2013, originally airing as a mid-season replacement. The series was produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions in association with CBS Television Studios and Sony Pictures Television (SPT controls the North American rights while CBS controls the international rights).
Although the show received negative reviews throughout its run, [1] [2] [3] it earned 3 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and always earned reasonably good ratings, [2] helping the show reach 100 episodes (typically the minimum needed for syndication) over seven seasons.
Two couples and their single friend deal with the complications of dating, promise and marriage. It portrays different interpersonal relationships in various stages, starring Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price as a long-married couple, Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich as newly engaged sweethearts, and David Spade and Adhir Kalyan (the latter added in season 3) as their still-single friends. They often meet at "The Island Diner."
The show was heavily promoted by CBS during Super Bowl XLI [4] and launched the following night, the first of seven episodes in its first season. The pilot episode remains the highest rated episode of the show. The series was renewed for a second season, which began as a mid-season replacement for The New Adventures of Old Christine on Monday, September 24, 2007, with production halted after nine episodes on November 6, 2007, in the wake of a writers' strike. After the strike ended, CBS announced that the show would return April 14, 2008, with a further six episodes. [5]
Seasons three and four were both mid-season entries launched in March 2009 and March 2010. [6] [7] On May 18, 2010, it was announced that CBS had renewed Rules of Engagement for a 5th season. [8] It was later announced that this season would start in September, in contrast to its usual midseason start, and received an expanded 24-episode order. (The fifth season was the only season to have a full-season order.) The first 15 episodes aired on Monday nights, usually in the 8:30 pm Eastern/7:30 pm Central time slot following How I Met Your Mother . Then on February 24, 2011, the series moved to Thursdays at 8:30 pm Eastern/7:30 pm Central, following The Big Bang Theory , after the cancellation of $#*! My Dad Says . On January 31, 2011, CBS ordered an additional two episodes of the series to prepare for the possibility of Two and a Half Men going into hiatus following Charlie Sheen's real-life issues, taking the episode order to 26. [9] Two of these episodes were held back and aired as part of the sixth season.
On May 17, 2011, the series was renewed for a sixth season to begin airing in fall 2011. One day later, CBS announced that Rules of Engagement would move to Saturday nights at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central as part of the network's new Comedytime Saturday block; the first time in six years that an original CBS program would air on that night. It also marked the fourth night on which the series would air, with it previously airing on Mondays, Wednesdays (two airings), and Thursdays. [10] On October 7, 2011, however, it was announced that Rules of Engagement would move back to its 8:30PM EST Thursday timeslot following The Big Bang Theory, replacing new sitcom How to Be a Gentleman which was moved to the new Saturday time slot. [11] The episode order was cut from the original 18, down to 13 (plus two unaired episodes from season five) on November 14, 2011. [12]
Effective January 12, 2012, CBS removed Rules of Engagement from its Thursday lineup, replacing it with the new sitcom Rob starring Rob Schneider. Rules would return to its Thursday 8:30 PM time slot on March 29, after Rob had finished airing its 8-episode order, [13] resulting in a total of 15 episodes in season 6.
On May 21, 2012, CBS renewed Rules of Engagement for a seventh season of 13 episodes to air mid-season, bringing the total number of produced 100 episodes. [14] Season 7 began airing on Mondays at 8:30, starting February 4, 2013. [15]
On May 10, 2013, Rules of Engagement was cancelled by CBS after seven seasons and 100 episodes. [16] The series finale episode aired on May 20, 2013.
Season | Time slot (EST) | Number of episodes | Premiere | Finale | TV season | Overall rank | Viewers (in millions) | ||
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Date | Viewers (in millions) | Date | Viewers (in millions) | ||||||
1 | Monday 9:30 p.m. | 7 | February 5, 2007 | 14.83 [26] | March 19, 2007 | 9.26 [27] | 2006–07 | 25th [28] | 12.38 [29] |
2 | 15 | September 24, 2007 | 12.23 [30] | May 19, 2008 | 12.29 [31] | 2007–08 | 33rd [32] | 10.89 [29] | |
3 | 13 | March 2, 2009 | 11.82 [33] | May 18, 2009 | 12.87 [34] | 2008–09 | 24th [35] | 11.37 [29] | |
4 | Monday 8:30 p.m. | 13 | March 1, 2010 | 9.73 [36] | May 24, 2010 | 8.23 [37] | 2009–10 | 50th [38] | 7.91 [38] |
5 | Monday 8:30 p.m. (2010–11) Thursday 8:30 p.m. (2011) | 24 | September 20, 2010 | 8.35 [39] | May 19, 2011 | 8.80 [40] | 2010–11 | 49th [41] | 8.77 [42] |
6 | Thursday 8:30 p.m. | 15 | October 20, 2011 | 11.45 [43] | May 17, 2012 | 7.17 [44] | 2011–12 | 42nd [45] | 10.10 [38] |
7 | Monday 8:30 p.m. | 13 | February 4, 2013 | 9.40 [46] | May 20, 2013 | 6.25 [47] | 2012–13 | 52nd [48] | 7.69 [48] |
In June 2011, the series was picked up for syndication by local network affiliates, The CW Plus, and WGN America, making its debut on September 10, 2012. [49] On January 2, 2013, the series began airing weekdays on TBS. [50] All 7 seasons were available for streaming on Netflix until September 2018 when they were removed. [51] The Roku Channel offers all 7 seasons, free. As of March 2021 all seven seasons of Rules of Engagement are available for streaming via subscription on Fubo and Starz.
Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
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2007 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series | Wayne Kennan | Nominated |
Teen Choice Award | Choice TV Actor: Comedy | David Spade | Nominated | |
2008 | Art Directors Guild Award | Excellence in Production Design | Bernard Vyzga and Lynn Griffin | Nominated |
BMI Film and TV Award | Best TV Music | David Schwartz | Won | |
2009 | Evan Frankfort, Bert Selen, and George Ritter | Won | ||
Art Directors Guild Award | Excellence in Production Design | Bernard Vyzga, Joe Pew, and Jerie Kelter | Nominated | |
ASCAP Film and Television Music Award | Top Television Series | Steve Mazur, Tom Polce, and Derek Schanche | Won | |
2010 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series | Bernard Vyzga an Jerie Kelter | Nominated |
2011 | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series | Wayne Kennan | Nominated | ||
2012 | BMI Film and TV Award | Best TV Music | Bert Selen and George Ritter | Won |
Image Award | Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series | Leonard R. Garner, Jr. | Won | |
2013 | BMI Film and TV Award | Best TV Music | Bert Selen and George Ritter | Won |
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment owns the rights to release DVDs in Region 1. The fifth season of the series was made available beginning February 7, 2012, exclusively as a made-on-demand release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, in conjunction with amazon.com. [53] Similarly, the sixth season received a MOD release from online retailers, on October 2, 2012. [54]
Paramount Home Entertainment, in conjunction with CBS Home Entertainment, began releasing the series on DVD internationally in 2011. Season One was released in the UK (Region 2 DVD) on April 4, 2011. [55] In region 4, the entire series has been released, as individual season sets.
The entire series is available to purchase and download from Amazon.com and the iTunes Store.
DVD name | Release date | Ep # |
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The Complete First Season | September 4, 2007 | 7 |
The Complete Second Season | October 14, 2008 | 15 |
The Complete Third Season | September 14, 2010 | 13 |
The Complete Fourth Season | January 11, 2011 | 13 |
The Complete Fifth Season | February 7, 2012 | 26 |
The Complete Sixth Season | October 2, 2012 | 13 |
The Complete Seventh Season | February 18, 2016 | 13 |
Note: Following the events of Charlie Sheen's departure from Two and a Half Men , CBS ordered an additional two episodes for Rules of Engagement’s fifth season, bringing the total number of episodes to 26 from the initial 24 ordered. Despite the episodes, "Scavenger Hunt" and "Cheating," airing during the sixth season, they were originally produced for the fifth season, and are included in the fifth season collection. Therefore, the sixth season's DVD release features the 13 episodes produced over that time period, versus the 15 that were broadcast by CBS.
Polish channel TVN started filming its own version of the show, called Reguły Gry (literally meaning Rules of the Game in Polish). It premiered on February 16, 2012, on TVN sister channel TVN 7 as its first original production. [56] [57] [58]
Make It or Break It is an American teen/family drama television series that focused on the lives of teen gymnasts who strived to make it to the Olympic Games in 2012. The series was inspired by Touchstone's 2006 teen comedy-drama film Stick It. It premiered on ABC Family on June 22, 2009, with 2.5 million viewers.The series ended after Season 3. The show was picked up for an additional 10 episodes on July 27, 2009, which started airing on January 4, 2010, bringing the total number of episodes in the first season to 20. In January 2010, the show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on June 28, 2010 at 10 pm. Starting on July 13, 2010, new episodes aired following Pretty Little Liars. The show's second season resumed after a six-month hiatus on March 28, 2011. The series was renewed for a third season on September 16, 2011, which premiered on March 26, 2012. It was announced on April 26, 2012, that the series had ended and the third season would be the final season. The series finale aired on May 14, 2012.
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The first season of the American television sitcom Rules of Engagement premiered on February 5, 2007 and concluded on March 19, 2007. It consists of 7 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. CBS broadcast the first season on Mondays at 9:30 pm in the United States.
The second season of the American television comedy series Rules of Engagement premiered on September 24, 2007, and concluded on May 19, 2008. It consists of 15 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. CBS broadcast the second season on Mondays at 9:30 pm in the United States. No new episodes of the program aired between December and March, due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike.
The third season of the American television comedy series Rules of Engagement premiered as a mid-season entry on March 2, 2009 and concluded on May 18, 2009. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. CBS broadcast the third season at 9:30 pm in the United States, on Mondays except for one episode which was aired on Wednesday.
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