My Two Dads

Last updated
My Two Dads
My Two Dads.png
Genre Family sitcom
Created by Michael Jacobs
Danielle Alexandra
Starring
Theme music composerGreg Evigan,
Lenny Macaluso &
Michael Jacobs
Opening theme"You Can Count on Me,"
performed by Greg Evigan
Ending theme"You Can Count on Me" (instrumental)
ComposersDon Peake (1987–1988)
Ray Colcord (1988–1990)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes60 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerMichael Jacobs
Camera setup Videotape; Multi-camera
Running timeapprox. 22 minutes
Production companies Michael Jacobs Productions
Tri-Star Television
(1987)
(season 1)
Columbia Pictures Television
(1988–1990)
(seasons 1-3)
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseSeptember 20, 1987 (1987-09-20) 
April 30, 1990 (1990-04-30)

My Two Dads is an American sitcom television series that was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with Tri-Star Television (later Columbia Pictures Television) and distributed by TeleVentures. It starred Paul Reiser, Greg Evigan, and Staci Keanan. The series premiered on NBC on September 20, 1987, [1] airing three seasons through to April 30, 1990.

Contents

Synopsis

"This is me, Nicole Bradford. Cute, huh? This is my dad and this is my dad. How did I get two dads? They inherited me. This is the judge who brought us together. She's here to make sure we're one happy family, with one dad who's down to earth and one dad with his head in the clouds!"

- Nicole Bradford's opening narration.

The series begins in 1987, after Marcy Bradford (only seen in the second-season episode "In Her Dreams"), the mother of 12-year-old Nicole Bradford, has died. The two men who had competed for Marcy's affections in Key West during the summer of 1974, Michael Taylor, a successful but slightly neurotic financial advisor; and Joey Harris, a struggling, but laid-back artist; former friends turned rivals over their mutual interest in Marcy – are awarded joint custody of Nicole. [2]

Each week, the mix-ups and trials of two single men raising a teenage daughter provide the stories. Judge Margaret V. Wilbur, a family court judge who gave custody of Nicole to Michael and Joey, frequently visits the new family. She bought the building in which Joey lived, so is now the live-in landlord. Michael originally has his own condo uptown, but in Episode 2, Nicole stages a sit-in at school because she feels she had no home, and the men decide it is better to all live in one home. They choose Joey's loft.

Nicole's actual paternity is never revealed on the show, but in the episode "Pop, the Question," Michael and Joey after a falling out have a DNA test to determine which of them is Nicole's biological father. The test is conducted against Nicole's wishes; she is happier not knowing who her true father is, and she destroys the results before opening them. Michael and Joey later resolve their differences and reconcile. Judge Wilbur looks at the results, but throws them away without revealing them to the audience.

The series comes to an end (in the episode called "See You in September?") when Joey reconnects with a former girlfriend named Sarah, and eventually moves to San Francisco to live with her and her daughter, Grace. He stays in contact with Nicole, Michael and Judge Wilbur, all of whom remain in New York. Nicole writes a letter to Joey, in which she makes reference to going out to San Francisco to visit, and she ends by saying that no matter what, or where he is, or who he is with, she would always be happy with him as one of her two dads.

Cast and characters

Cast

The lead cast of My Two Dads: Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan (top); Staci Keanan (bottom) My 2 Dads.gif
The lead cast of My Two Dads: Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan (top); Staci Keanan (bottom)

Characters

The series regularly featured Giovanni Ribisi and Chad Allen as two boys (Cory Kupkus and Zach Nichols, respectively) who competed for Nicole's affections, similar to how her two dads had done for her mother's. Florence Stanley appeared as Judge Margaret Wilbur, who was responsible for assigning Nicole's custody, and who regularly looked over the family; she was also their landlady, being the resident owner of the apartment building where the family lived. Amy Hathaway played Nicole's worldly best friend, Shelby Haskell. The cast was rounded out by former football player Dick Butkus, who managed the cafe on the building's first floor. The cafe (Klawicki's) was the second spot in the show around which a plot usually revolved; the first being the family's apartment. In the third season, when Dick Butkus left the series, the diner was then run by cook Julian (Don), but there was no explanation as to what happened to Ed Klawicki. Ownership of the diner was explained to have been taken over by Judge Wilbur at this point, and it was renamed The Judge's Court Cafe.

Night Court crossover

My Two Dads had crossovers with another NBC show, Night Court . Judge Margaret W. Wilbur, played by Florence Stanley, appeared on Night Court. In turn, Richard Moll guest starred as his Night Court character Bull Shannon in the My Two Dads episode "Playing with Fire", protecting Judge Wilbur from a recently released criminal that she had sent to prison years before. [3]

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 22September 20, 1987 (1987-09-20)August 14, 1988 (1988-08-14)
2 16January 11, 1989 (1989-01-11)July 29, 1989 (1989-07-29)
3 22September 24, 1989 (1989-09-24)April 30, 1990 (1990-04-30)

Broadcast

In August 1990, USA Network paid Columbia Pictures Television Distribution about $250,000 an episode, for as many as 15 runs over a three-year period, a price that was the syndication record until Major Dad surpassed that price two years later. [4] Reruns of the show aired on the USA Network through the 1990s and again in the early 2000s.

Home media

Shout! Factory (under license from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) has released the first two seasons of My Two Dads on DVD in Region 1. Season 2 was released as a Shout! Factory Exclusives title, available exclusively through their online store. [5]

Mill Creek Entertainment released a 10 episode best-of set entitled My Two Dads – You Can Count on Me on March 22, 2011. The single disc release features episodes from the first 2 seasons. [6]

DVD nameEp #Release dateSpecial Features
The Complete First Season22March 3, 2009A look back at My Two Dads with Greg Evigan and Staci Keanan.
The Complete Second Season16March 16, 2010N/A

Awards

YearAwardCategoryRecipientResultRefs
1988 Young Artist Awards The Most Promising New Fall Television SeriesMy Two DadsWon
Best Young Actress Featured, Co-starring, Supporting, Recurring Role in a Comedy or Drama Series or SpecialStaci KeananWon
People's Choice Awards Favorite New TV Comedy ProgramMy Two DadsWon
1989 Young Artist Awards Best Young Actor Guest Starring in a Drama or Comedy SeriesChad AllenWon

Related Research Articles

<i>The Wild Thornberrys</i> American animated series

The Wild Thornberrys is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman, and Stephen Sustarsic for Nickelodeon. The series portrays the zany hijinks of an American family of wildlife documentary filmmakers known as the Thornberrys, which consist of the British nature documentary television host Nigel, his wife and camera operator Marianne, their 16-year-old daughter Debbie, their younger daughter Eliza, their adopted son Donnie, and a chimpanzee named Darwin. The series focuses in particular on Eliza, who has a magical ability to communicate with animals. The Thornberry family travels to every continent and wildlife environment in the ComVee, a recreational vehicle equipped with safety mechanisms to handle any terrain or body of water, to document their journeys in detail, with typical episodes involving Eliza befriending an animal and subsequently finding herself in peril.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Reiser</span> American actor

Paul Reiser is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He played the roles of Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom My Two Dads, Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom Mad About You, Modell in the 1982 film Diner, Carter Burke in the 1986 film Aliens, and Detective Jeffrey Friedman in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024). More recently, he has gained recognition for his roles as Jim Neiman in the 2014 film Whiplash and Dr. Sam Owens in the Netflix series Stranger Things.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Reiser</span> American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer

Hans Thomas Reiser is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer. In April 2008, Reiser was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Nina Reiser, who disappeared in September 2006. He subsequently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, as part of a settlement agreement that included disclosing the location of Nina Reiser's body, which he revealed to be in a shallow grave near the couple's home.

<i>Step by Step</i> (TV series) American television sitcom (1991–1998)

Step by Step is an American television sitcom created by William Bickley and Michael Warren that ran on ABC as part of its TGIF Friday night lineup from September 20, 1991, to August 15, 1997, then moved to CBS, where it aired from September 19, 1997, to June 26, 1998, with a total of 160 half-hour episodes spanning seven seasons. The series follows Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers who star as single parents Frank and Carol, respectively, each with three children, who wed and form a blended family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Samms</span> British actress and TV host

Emma Elizabeth Wylie Samuelson MBE known professionally as Emma Samms, is an English actress and TV host, known for her role as Holly Sutton on the American daytime soap opera General Hospital and as the second actress to play Fallon Carrington Colby on the prime time soap opera Dynasty. She also portrayed the recurring role of Amanda Vardalis on the British soap opera Doctors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Evigan</span> American actor (born 1953)

Gregory Ralph Evigan is an American film, stage, and television actor. He began his career in theater, appearing in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar, followed by a stage production of the musical Grease, in which he portrayed the lead, Danny Zuko. Evigan made his feature film debut in Scorchy (1976), then was cast as the lead in the comedy series B. J. and the Bear, in which he starred between 1979 and 1981.

Anastasia Love Sagorsky, also known as Staci Keanan, is an American lawyer, law professor and former actress. Keanan is best known for portraying the role of Nicole Bradford on the NBC sitcom My Two Dads, from 1987 to 1990, and as Dana Foster on the ABC/CBS sitcom Step by Step, from 1991 to 1998.

Marissa Ribisi is an American actress. She has appeared in the films Dazed and Confused (1993), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), Pleasantville (1998), True Crime (1999), and Don's Plum (2001) and television shows such as Felicity, Friends, Grace Under Fire, Watching Ellie, and Tales of the City. She is the twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Stanley</span> American actress (1924–2003)

Florence Stanley was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her roles in Barney Miller (1975–1977) and its spinoff Fish (1977-1978), My Two Dads (1987–1990), and Nurses (1991–1994), and the voice of Wilhelmina Bertha Packard in the franchise of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

"The One with the Embryos" is the twelfth episode of Friends' fourth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on January 15, 1998. In the episode, Phoebe agrees to be the surrogate mother for her brother Frank Jr. and his older wife Alice Knight. Meanwhile, a display by Chandler and Joey of how well they know Monica and Rachel by guessing the items in their shopping bag leads to a large-scale bet on a quiz, for which Ross acts as the gamemaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvette Nicole Brown</span> American actress

Yvette Nicole Brown is an American actress. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom Community, as Dani in the 2015 reboot of The Odd Couple on CBS and as Dina Rose on the ABC sitcom The Mayor. Brown has had guest roles in television shows such as Drake & Josh, That '70s Show, The Office, Boston Legal, Chuck, The Soul Man, Mom, and Big Shot. In 2021, she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role in A Black Lady Sketch Show.

<i>Vanished</i> (TV series) 2006 American TV series

Vanished is an American serial drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox. The series premiered on August 21, 2006 on Fox and its last episode aired on November 10, 2006. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the series begins with the sudden disappearance of the wife of a Georgia senator, which is quickly revealed to be part of a wider conspiracy. The family of the missing woman, a pair of FBI agents, a journalist and her lover/cameraman, are all drawn into an evolving mystery with political and religious undertones. The show was created by CSI writer Josh Berman, and executive produced by Mimi Leder, who also directed the show, and Paul Redford.

The Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead paternity case, a.k.a. Birkhead v. Marshall, was a high-profile legal battle that revolved around the paternity of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn. Larry Birkhead, Smith's former love interest, filed a lawsuit against Howard K. Stern, Smith's live-in partner who was listed as the father on the birth certificate, seeking to establish his paternity rights. Dannielynn stood to inherit a substantial fortune if Smith's estate succeeded in its ongoing legal battle to claim inheritance from her late husband, an affluent oil tycoon. Given its significant implications and media coverage, the case involved various legal proceedings and garnered substantial public attention. G. Ben Thompson, a former boyfriend of Smith's who worked as a real-estate developer in South Carolina, claimed that pregnant Smith approached him to inform him that he was the father of her unborn child, but he balked telling Smith that was impossible because he had a vasectomy.

"The One Where Ross Is Fine" is the second episode of Friends' tenth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on October 2, 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Briana Evigan</span> American actress

Briana Evigan is an American actress and dancer best known for her roles in the Step Up series and for her scream queen roles in numerous horror films. Born in Los Angeles, Evigan is the daughter of actor Greg Evigan and his wife Pamela, a dancer, model and choreographer. She began dancing and acting at a young age, graduating from Los Angeles Valley College with a degree in speech and communication.

The 11th Youth in Film Awards ceremony, presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film and television for the 1988–1989 season, and took place in the spring of 1990 in Hollywood, California.

Amy Hathaway is an American former actress. She first came to prominence as a teenaged actor, playing the role of Shelby Haskell in seasons two and three of My Two Dads (1989–90). She had major co-starring roles in the TV movie Last Exit to Earth (1996) and the feature film Joyride (1997). Her last television role was in a 2009 episode of The Closer, and her last film was a lead role in Gemini Rising (2013).

References

  1. Rosenberg, Howard (September 19, 1987). "The New Fall TV Season: Television Reviews: 'My Two Dads'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  2. "Guide to Comedy: My Two Dads". BBC . January 29, 2005. Archived from the original on January 29, 2005. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  3. Bertram, Colin (October 2, 2014). "Good, "Bad," Hilarious: TV's Best Judges". KNSD News. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  4. Benson, Jim; John Dempsey (October 28, 1992). "'Dad' shipped off to cable". Variety . Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  5. Lambert, David. "My Two Dads – Retailers May Spurn Stocking a 2nd Season, but Shout! Keeps Going Anyway". TVShowsonDVD.com . Archived from the original on 2015-02-04.
  6. "My Two Dads – You Can Count on Me!". Sitcoms Online. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 2021-10-25.