| Genre: | Sitcom |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 5 |
| Num Episodes: | 91 |
| List Episodes: | List of Grounded for Life episodes |
| Camera: | Film |
| Runtime: | Approx. 22 minutes |
| Network: | Fox |
| Network2: | The WB |
Grounded for Life is an American television sitcom that debuted on January 10, 2001, as a mid-season replacement on Fox. Created by Mike Schiff and Bill Martin, it ran for two seasons on the network until being canceled only two episodes into its third season. It was immediately picked up for the rest of the third season by The WB, where it aired for two additional seasons until the series ended on January 28, 2005.
The show starred Donal Logue and Megyn Price as Sean and Claudia Finnerty, an Irish Catholic couple living on Staten Island, New York, with their three children: Lily (Lynsey Bartilson), Jimmy (Griffin Frazen), and Henry (Jake Burbage). The show also starred Kevin Corrigan, Bret Harrison, and Richard Riehle. It featured guest stars such as Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Mila Kunis, Wilmer Valderrama (cast of That '70s Show), Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Scott Thompson (cast of The Kids in the Hall), Mike Vogel, Natasha Lyonne, Vincent Pastore, Miriam Flynn, Stephen Root, and Elizabeth Berridge (Kevin Corrigan's wife).
See main article: List of Grounded for Life characters.
| Actor | Character | Episode count | Season | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||||
| Donal Logue | Sean Finnerty | 91 | Main | ||||||||
| Megyn Price | Claudia Finnerty | 91 | Main | ||||||||
| Kevin Corrigan | Edwin "Eddie" Finnerty | 91 | Main | ||||||||
| Lynsey Bartilson | Lily Finnerty | 91 | Main | ||||||||
| Griffin Frazen | Jimmy Finnerty | 91 | Main | ||||||||
| Jake Burbage | Henry Finnerty | 78 | Main | ||||||||
| Richard Riehle | Walt Finnerty | 45 | Main | Recurring | |||||||
| Bret Harrison | Brad O'Keefe | 62 (credit only for 3 episodes of season 5) | Recurring | Main | |||||||
Sister Helen (Miriam Flynn) is the nun and principal at Lily, Jimmy, and Henry's school. She frequently tries to tell Sean and Claudia how to raise their kids, whom she is always berating at school (Lily's skirts are too revealing, Jimmy's hair is too long, etc.). Sean once heard her use the F-word.
Dean Peramotti (Mike Vogel) was the drummer of Sean and Eddie's band. He and Lily date until she leaves him for Brad.
Dan O'Keefe (Floyd Van Buskirk in season 1, Gregory Jbara in all later appearances) is Brad's father. Sean and Dan never get along and are always fighting. He is busted for having an affair when Sean challenges him to a tennis match and then notices that Dan has been useless all the weekend "tennis lessons." Connie discovers this, and they break up. Connie then has a brief fling with Eddie, but she and Dan soon get back together.
The household that makes for the primary location for the series features exciting background props that refer to the family's interests. Throughout the series, there is a picture of Lou Thesz hanging in the living room and a real-life picture of a young Lynsey Bartilson, who plays Lily in the series. The living room also features a framed and hung vintage baseball bat, a broken guitar (used by Sean in his younger days), and a pair of crucifixes, representing the Catholic religion of the family.
The refrigerator in the kitchen is always changing but prominently features fruit magnets and a sticker resembling a video game developer's logo Rockstar Games. Jimmy's room often changes throughout the series, especially after the Henry character departs from the show. Still, at least one piece of WWE merchandise can be spotted in any given scene in the location. The most notable example is a pillow bearing the WWE logo. However, in the last few season five episodes, the pillow is turned over, hiding the logo. Jimmy's room also features a vintage Indianapolis Speedway poster (dated May 30, 1914), a dartboard, a small basketball hoop and at times featured a "Shonen Jump" poster and posters of bands such as Less Than Jake and Green Day.
Lily's room has a computer, a snowboarding poster, and a scrapbook poster, in addition to other commonplace items that change throughout the series. In early episodes, she has several signs featuring Justin Timberlake and 'N Sync.
See main article: List of Grounded for Life episodes.
Two episodes from Season 3, "Oh, What a Knight" and "Part-Time Lover," were not broadcast during the show's original network run, and were later aired in syndication on ABC Family.
The series began as a single-camera comedy when it was ordered by Fox in May 2000 as a midseason replacement.[1] The series' early episodes reflect this in their style and the late addition of a laugh track; by September, the network was reworking the series into a multi-camera sitcom.[2] However, single-camera shooting styles were incorporated into certain scenes even after the development format shift, principally those shot in outdoor settings, close-ups shot in indoor sets, and tracking shots between set pieces. In December 2000, Fox cancelled the sitcom Normal, Ohio and announced that Grounded for Life would premiere in its place in January 2001.[3] [4]
Upon the looming threat of a writers strike, and impressed by the early ratings, Fox ordered seven additional episodes in February 2001 that would be delayed to the Fall in the case of a strike.[5] [6] In May 2001, Fox renewed the series for a second season, with five of the additional ordered episodes airing as part of the second season.[7] In December, Fox cut the episode order of the second season by two episodes.[8]
In May 2002, Fox renewed the series for a third season consisting of 13 episodes.[9] However, after airing the first two episodes of the season, Fox continually delayed the series' return. Finally, on November 18, Carsey-Werner announced that the series would be moving to The WB within the same season, with an additional six episodes ordered; Fox would receive a cut of future syndication profits in exchange for the move.[10] [11] Fox aired three more episodes before the series went on hiatus in December. The WB premiered new episodes beginning February 28.[12]
The WB renewed the series for a 22 episode fourth season in April 2003.[13] The network delayed the additional six-episode order to air within the fourth season, creating a larger 28 episode season. In May 2004, the network renewed the series for a 13-episode fifth season.[14] On October 26, the network announced that it would not order a full season, effectively cancelling the series.[15]
| Season | Ep # | Time Slot | First Airdate | Last Airdate | Rank | Viewership | Network | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (2000–2001) | 15 | Wednesday 8:30 | January 10, 2001 | May 23, 2001 |
| 8.9 | Fox | |
| 2 (2001–2002) | 22 | Wednesday 8:30 | September 26, 2001 | May 8, 2002 |
| 7.2 | Fox | |
| 3 (2002–2003) | 13 | Wednesday 8:30 (1–5) Friday 9:30 (6–13) | September 17, 2002 | May 9, 2003 |
| 8.10 | Fox/WB | |
| 4 (2003–2004) | 28 | Friday 9:00 | September 5, 2003 | May 7, 2004 |
| 2.79 | WB | |
| 5 (2004–2005) | 13 | Friday 8:30 | September 17, 2004 | January 28, 2005 |
| 2.7 | WB |
Grounded for Life has been nominated for several Young Artist Awards for best TV comedy choice, best family TV comedy series, best performance by a guest star in a TV comedy series, and best-supporting actor in a comedy or drama series,[16] it has also won a Young Artist Award for supporting young actor in a TV comedy series. It has also been nominated for an Artios Award,[17] Teen Choice Award,[18] GLAAD Media Award and an Emmy Award.
| Year | Result | Award | Category | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Artios | Best Casting For TV, Comedy Pilot – Meg Liberman, Camille H. Patton | ||
| 2001 | Teen Choice Award | TV – Choice Comedy | ||
| 2001 | Emmy | Outstanding Choreography – Kenny Ortega for episode: "Mrs. Finnerty, You Have a Lovely Daughter" | ||
| 2002 | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Supporting Young Actor – Griffin Frazen | ||
| 2002 | Young Artist Award | Best Family TV Comedy Series | ||
| 2002 | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Guest Starring Young Actor – Eddie Carr | ||
| 2002 | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Guest Starring Young Actor – Kevin G. Schmidt | ||
| 2003 | GLAAD Media Award | Outstanding Individual Episode (In a Series Without a Regular Gay Character) for episode: "Relax!" | ||
| 2004 | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Supporting Young Actor – Griffin Frazen |
The series aired in syndication on ABC Family on an intermittent basis since 2005,[19] having gone through several timeslot changes during its run on the network. When first aired on ABC Family, the tag scenes were edited out; but when ABC Family re-acquired Grounded for Life, newer prints with the tag scenes are now shown.
On November 16, 2009, MTV began to air the show at random during the week[20] Unlike ABC Family's airings, these airings are the same episodes and are aired more frequently.
In February 2015, all five seasons of the show were added to Netflix for instant play. They are presented in HD for the first time, as they were only shown in standard definition in their network and cable runs.
Laff aired reruns of the show from May 2016, until December 31, 2018, but was added back in 2024.
On August 3, 2017, Amazon added all five seasons in HD through its Prime video service through a distribution deal with FilmRise.
| Country | Channel(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | Seven Network, Fox8, The Comedy Channel | Currently airing on The Comedy Channel. | |
 Belgium | Plug TV | In French; currently airing | |
| Belgium | VTM 2 | In English with Dutch subtitles; currently airing | |
 Bulgaria | BTV Comedy (the former GTV) | Currently airing | |
 Finland | TV Viisi | Goes by the name Perhe Paketissa, meaning "Family in a Package," currently airing in English, with Finnish subtitles | |
 France | France 2, France 4 | Goes by the name "Parents à tout Prix." | |
 Germany | Comedy Central | Goes by the name Keine Gnade für Dad, meaning "No Mercy for Dad." | |
 Hungary | HBO Comedy | Currently airing. Goes by the name Sorscsapás család, meaning "Setback Family" | |
 Italy | Fox | Goes by the name I Finnerty, meaning "The Finnertys" | |
 Switzerland | 4uTV | Goes by the name Keine Gnade für Dad, meaning "No Mercy for Dad." | |
 India | STAR World | ||
 Ireland | RTÉ Two | Aired up until the show's cancellation in 2005 | |
 Israel | HOT3 | Goes by the name ככה זה בחיים (Kacha Ze BaChayim), meaning "That's How Life Is." | |
| Nasa TV | Goes by the name Доживотно казн | ||
 Norway | TV Norge | Goes by the name Familietrøbbel, meaning "Family Trouble." | |
 Netherlands | Comedy Central Extra | Currently airing | |
 Slovenia | HBO Comedy, POP TV | Goes by the name "Sami doma." | |
 Romania | HBO Comedy | Currently airing; titled "Consemnați pe viață" | |
 Serbia | HBO Comedy | Currently airing | |
 Montenegro | HBO Comedy | Currently airing | |
 Sweden | TV3 TV4 Komedi | Aired with the english title "Freaky Finnertys". No longer aired. | |
 Turkey | ComedyMax | Currently airing | |
 United Kingdom | Trouble ITV1 | Trouble closed 1 April 2009; no longer broadcasts on ITV1 |
The entire series of Grounded for Life has been released on DVD; Anchor Bay Entertainment originally held distribution rights to the series, releasing all five seasons in individual sets between 2006 and 2007. For the first two seasons, Anchor Bay opted to release in their originally produced episodes of 20 and 17, respectively, as opposed to the original broadcast of 15 and 22 episodes. The new opening credits introduced in the second season still remain intact for the five restored episodes on the Season One set.
The series was acquired by Mill Creek Entertainment in 2011 who released only the first two seasons, both in their original broadcast episodes, before making the series available in it entirety.
The series has also been made available on DVD in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany, with all episodes consisting of their original broadcast episodes. All releases available contain the two unaired episodes from the third season.
| width=100 rowspan=2 | Season | Release date | Additional | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 4 | |||||
| 1 | February 7, 2006[21] | March 5, 2007[22] | November 8, 2012 | June 7, 2010 | ||
| 2 | May 16, 2006[23] | December 6, 2012 | August 28, 2010 | |||
| 3 | August 8, 2006[24] | January 13, 2013 | ||||
| 4 | November 7, 2006[25] | February 7, 2013 | May 9, 2011 | |||
| 5 | September 25, 2007[26] | March 7, 2013 | May 9, 2011 | |||
| Complete | September 4, 2012[27] | |||||
In 2011, the show was remade by the BBC as In with the Flynns. Six episodes were produced for its first season, using stories and scenes from the US series. A six episode second season used original stories.