What I Like About You (TV series)
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| What I Like About You | |
|---|---|
 Season 1 title card |
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| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Wil Calhoun Dan Schneider |
| Starring | Amanda Bynes Jennie Garth Wesley Jonathan Simon Rex (season 1) Michael McMillian (season 2, regular; season 1, recurring; season 3, guest star) Leslie Grossman (recurring season 1, regular seasons 2-4) Nick Zano(seasons 2-4) Allison Munn (seasons 2-4) Dan Cortese (season 4 regular; Season 1 recurring) |
| Theme music composer | Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Rich Cole, and Jimmy Marinos (lyrics) Philip Steir (seasons 2-4; remixed version of theme song) |
| Opening theme | "What I Like About You", performed by Lillix |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 86 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Brian Robbins Mike Tollin Joe Davola (all; entire run) Wil Calhoun Dan Schneider (both; seasons 1-2) Caryn Lucas (seasons 3-4) |
| Camera setup | Film; Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Tollin/Robbins Productions Warner Bros. Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | The WB |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV; entire run) 720p (HDTV; seasons 2-4) |
| Audio format | Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound |
| Original run | September 20, 2002 – May 30, 2006 |
What I Like About You is an American television sitcom set mainly in New York City, following the lives of two sisters, Valerie Tyler (Jennie Garth) and Holly Tyler (Amanda Bynes). The series ran on The WB Television Network from September 20, 2002, to May 30, 2006, with a total of 86 episodes produced. With the exception of a brief period early in the second season, What I Like About You was a headline on The WB's Friday Night Comedy Lineup.
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[edit] Synopsis
When their dad had to move to Japan for his new job, Holly Tyler elects to stay in New York City with her older sister Valerie. Though Val welcomes her sister, their conflicting personalities and Val's sense of responsibility towards helping the unpredictable Holly as she grows up means dealing with more trouble than either of them anticipated. The sisters initially live in a moderately sized apartment and they later move into a larger loft apartment.
While the first season focused on Holly and Valerie's relationship and learning to live together, subsequent seasons moved toward the relationships the sisters developed with other people. A love triangle develops between Holly, Henry, and Vince; while Holly is uncertain who she wants to be with, Val disapproves of a relationship with Vince because she believes that Vince is a player and will end up hurting Holly. After waiting for Holly to return from an internship in Paris, Henry and Vince are upset to learn that she has found a new boyfriend, a British musician named Ben. However, Holly and Vince's feelings for one another remain strong and one of the recurring arcs in the series involves them attempting to resolve their differences and learning to trust one another in order to establish a romantic relationship.
Like Holly, Val's romantic relationships are also focused upon during the series. After breaking up with her boyfriend Jeff due to conflicting ideas relating to marriage, Val becomes involved with her old high school boyfriend Rick, who leaves his fiancée Julie, when he realizes he still has feelings for Val. They become engaged and are about to marry when Rick reveals his fear of commitment, which forces Val to call off their wedding. The breakup has a lingering effect on Val throughout the third season, particularly as she blames Holly ruining her relationship with Rick, and culminates in a chance meeting with her old boss-turned-firefighter Vic Meladeo in Atlantic City, where they get married while drunk. Val attempts to annul the marriage, but finds that Vic believes their relationship was meant to be and that he is determined to make her fall in love with him.
During the series, Val works at a PR firm alongside Lauren, but later quits and forms PR firm of her own until Lauren's irresponsible business practices force them to close their company. Val takes a risk and ends up buying and opening a successful bakery with Lauren and Gary helping her. Meanwhile, Holly goes through several part-time jobs and eventually elects not to attend college, much to Val's consternation, and instead finds a stable job as a manager for music talent at a notable agency.
[edit] Episodes
| Season | Episodes | First airdate | Last airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 22 | September 20, 2002 | May 9, 2003 |
| Season 2 | 22 | September 11, 2003 | May 7, 2004 |
| Season 3 | 24 | September 17, 2004 | May 20, 2005 |
| Season 4 | 18 | September 16, 2005 | May 30, 2006 |
[edit] Cast and characters
[edit] Main Cast
- Amanda Bynes as Holly Tyler
- Jennie Garth as Valerie "Val" Tyler
- Wesley Jonathan as Gary Thorpe
- Simon Rex as Jeff Campbell (season 1, main)
- Leslie Grossman as Lauren (season 1, recurring; seasons 2-4, main)
- Michael McMillian as Henry Gibson (season 1, 3, recurring; season 2, main)
- Allison Munn as Tina Haven (seasons 2-4, main)
- Nick Zano as Vince (seasons 2-4, main)
- Dan Cortese as Vic Meladeo (season 1, recurring; season 4, main)
[edit] Cast Recurring
- David de Lautour as Ben Sheffield (season 3, recurring)
- Stephen Dunham as Peter (season 2, recurring)
- Edward Kerr as Rick (season 2-3, recurring)
[edit] Production
[edit] Theme song and opening sequences
The series takes its title from the song of the same name, which was originally released on a hit record by The Romantics in 1980 and written by the group's members Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Rich Cole, and Jimmy Marinos. A cover version of the song, performed by the Canadian all-female rock group Lillix, was used as the theme song for the show. Lillix's cover version of "What I Like About You" was also heard on the soundtrack of the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and 13 Going on 30. The theme was remixed and turned into a techno/dance style theme for the second season by Philip Steir (who composed the music for remainder of the series including the music to signal commercial breaks).
The pilot episode had a short opening sequence and the cast members' names were only shown in the teaser. The sequence solely consisted of scenes of New York sights with an animation of the show's logo with the letters "i" and "o" enlarging, the word "what" sliding in from the left side of the screen, the word "like" fluctuating in size, the "ab" and "ut" in "about" sliding in from both sides of the screen and the letters in the word "you" sliding up from the bottom of the screen appearing to smack the rest of the title into place. This same animation was carried over to the season one opening titles.
The first season's opening sequence had mixed home movies of two girls portraying younger versions of Holly and Val, shots of Bynes and Garth sticking their tongues out at the camera and scenes from the first four episodes, all shown on rounded rectangles which for most of the sequence moved from right to left sliding in from the right side of the screen. Video headshots of each cast member with their names were shown every two to five clips. Newer episode scenes were inserted in the episode "Valentine's Day" and again in the episode "The Fix-Up", which replaced nearly all of the clips from the first four episodes.
The opening title sequence used for the rest of the series featured the show's cast in front of digitally inserted scenes of New York at night. Different versions of the sequence were used for SD and HD broadcasts: the SD version seen in The WB, TeenNick and until October 6, 2010 in ABC Family airings, featured a letterbox-style version with the cast and creators' names in a black bar below the sequence; HD broadcasts on The WB and in ABC Family airings since October 6, 2010, featured the cast and creators' names within the sequence itself. The sequence was modified twice; the first time was in the episode "The Incredible Shrinking Group" when Stephen Dunham's video headshots were removed and the second modification was in "The Longest Night of the Year" when all traces of Michael McMillian were removed from the sequence and a yellow streak of light was added to the sequence as well.
[edit] Syndication
From February to September 2006, the series aired as reruns in a new weekday afternoon block called "Daytime WB" on its home network, The WB alongside Reba. After The CW network launched in September 2006, reruns of the series aired on the network's "Daytime CW" afternoon block until September 2008.
In 2008, the program moved over to ABC Family to air in various timeslots during the daytime, in a letterbox format. Secondary rights are also held by TeenNick which has aired the series since 2009 shortly before the network's rebrand from The N; that channel mainly aired episodes of the show in two-hour marathon form, until October 2010, when TeenNick began airing three one-hour blocks of the series in different timeslots. Canadian syndicated rights are held by YTV, broadcasting the series for the first time in High Definition when the network introduced an HD channel in 2011.
[edit] DVD release
| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | May 1, 2007 | 22 | Bonus features include a Gag Reel. |
Due to the cost of music licensing, the theme music has been replaced on the show's first season DVD release.[1] The theme is performed by Lillix, who also performed the original theme during the show's syndicated release.
The remaining seasons may be purchased digitally on Amazon.
[edit] Awards
- 2006 - Outstanding Individual Episode (In a Series Without a Regular Gay Character) for "Someone's In the Kitchen with Daddy" (Nominated)
- 2005 - Choice TV Actress: Comedy for Amanda Bynes (Nominated)
- 2005 - Choice TV Show: Comedy (Nominated)
- 2004 - Choice TV Actress: Comedy for Amanda Bynes (Nominated)
- 2003 - Choice TV Actress: Comedy for Amanda Bynes (Nominated)
- 2003 - Choice TV Breakout Star: Male for Wesley Jonathan (Nominated)
- 2003 - Choice TV Breakout Show (Nominated)
- 2004 - Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Leading Young Actress for Amanda Bynes (Nominated)
- 2003 - Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Guest Starring Young Actress for Chelsea Brummet (Nominated)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: What I Like About You (TV series) |
- Official website
- What I Like About You at the Internet Movie Database
- What I Like About You at TV.com
- What I Like About You at epguides.com
- DVD talk and Official logo
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