What I Like About You (TV series)
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What I Like About You | |
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![]() Season 1 intertitle | |
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Philip Steir (remix; seasons 2–4) |
Opening theme | "What I Like About You" by Lillix |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 86 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Production location | California |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 20–22 min. |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | The WB |
Release | September 20, 2002 March 24, 2006 | –
What I Like About You is an American television sitcom set mainly in New York City, following the lives of two sisters: older sister Valerie Tyler (Jennie Garth) and teenaged sister Holly (Amanda Bynes). The series ran on The WB from September 20, 2002, to March 24, 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.[citation needed]
Cast and characters
Throughout their time on the series, two main characters - Vince and Lauren - were never given last names. Jeff was also never given a last name, although in the artwork for the season 1 DVDs, he is listed as "Jeff Campbell".
Main characters
Actor | Character | Seasons | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
Amanda Bynes | Holly Tyler | Main | |||
Simon Rex | Jeff Campbell | Main | |||
Wesley Jonathan | Gary Thorpe | Main | |||
Jennie Garth | Valerie Tyler | Main | |||
Leslie Grossman | Lauren | Recurring | Main | ||
Michael McMillian | Henry Gibson | Recurring | Main | Guest | |
Nick Zano | Vince | Main | |||
Allison Munn | Tina Haven | Main |
Recurring cast
- Dan Cortese as Vic Meladeo (seasons 1 & 4)
- Edward Kerr as Rick (seasons 2–3)
- Stephen Dunham as Peter (season 2)
- David de Lautour as Ben Sheffield (season 3)
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 22 | September 20, 2002 | May 9, 2003 | |
2 | 22 | September 11, 2003 | May 7, 2004 | |
3 | 24 | September 17, 2004 | May 20, 2005 | |
4 | 18 | September 16, 2005 | March 24, 2006 |
Production
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; it was 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 was also heard on the soundtrack of the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and the soundtrack of the film 13 Going on 30. The theme was remixed into a techno/dance style theme for the second season by Philip Steir (who composed all the music for remainder of the series).
The pilot episode had a short opening sequence and the cast members' names were only shown over the cold open. The title sequence used scenes of New York as a background, with an animation of the show's logo in which the letters "i" and "o" appeared first in a larger size than other characters, the word "what" slid in from the left side of the screen, the word "like" expanded and contracted, the "ab" and "ut" in "about" slid in from both sides of the screen to meet the "o", and the word "you" slid upward from the bottom of the screen, appearing to collide with the rest of the title before all the characters settled into place. This same animation was carried over to the season one opening titles.
The first season's opening sequence featured intercut scenes (as from home movies) of two girls portraying younger versions of Holly and Val, with shots of Bynes and Garth sticking their tongues out at the camera, mixed with footage excerpted from the first four episodes; each of these elements were framed in rounded rectangles that moved from right to left across the screen. After every two to five such rectangles, the headshot of each cast member would appear with its name. Newer footage excerpts were inserted in the sequence for the episode "Valentine's Day" and again for the episode "The Fix-Up", which replaced nearly all of the excerpts 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.
Syndication
From April to September 2006, The WB aired a daily hour of reruns of the series during its Daytime WB afternoon programming block alongside 8 Simple Rules. When The CW launched in September 2006, reruns of the series moved to the new network's CW Daytime block, remaining until September 2008.
In 2008, the program moved over to ABC Family (now Freeform) 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.
Home media
On May 1, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in region 1. The 3-disc set included a gag reel as the set's only bonus feature. Because of music licensing issues, Lillix's cover of the theme song was removed and replaced with a generic pop-rock song produced specifically for the set. Due to low DVD sales and high music licensing costs, no further seasons were given a general retail release.
On March 7, 2017 Warner Archive released the complete second season on DVD in region 1. The 3-disc set is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available only from online sellers such as Amazon.com and their CreateSpace MOD program.[1] Despite being a Manufacture-on-Demand release, the theme song is still replaced with the same song used for the season 1 DVD set, and although it was originally broadcast in widescreen high definition (the first season of the series to do so), the episodes are presented on the DVD in fullscreen format.
As of 2018, Warner Archive has no current plans to release the final two seasons.
DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
---|---|---|---|
The Complete First Season | May 1, 2007 | 22 | Bonus features include a Gag Reel. |
The Complete Second Season | March 7, 2017 | 22 | None. |
Awards and nominations
- 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)
References
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- 2000s American sitcoms
- 2002 American television series debuts
- 2006 American television series endings
- English-language television programs
- Television series about sisters
- Television series by Warner Bros. Television
- Television shows set in New York City
- The WB shows
- Television series created by Dan Schneider