According to Jim

According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children (and then five children, starting with the seventh season finale). It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001, to June 2, 2009.

According to Jim
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Tracy Newman Jonathan Stark
Starring	Jim Belushi Courtney Thorne-Smith Kimberly Williams-Paisley Larry Joe Campbell Taylor Atelian Billi Bruno Conner Rayburn
Opening theme	"Sweet Home Chicago" cover by Jim Belushi
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	182 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Tracy Newman Jonathan Stark Suzanne Bukinik Marc Gurvitz Jim Belushi John D. Beck Ron Hart David Feeney Warren Bell Bob Nickman Howard J. Morris Nastaran Dibai Jeffrey B. Hodes John Peaslee Judd Pillot
Producer(s)	Robert Heath Harry Hannigan Christopher J. Nowak
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Newman-Stark Productions Suzanne Bukinik Entertainment Brad Grey Television Touchstone Television (2001–2007) ABC Studios (2008–2009)
Distributor	Buena Vista Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV)
Original release	October 3, 2001 (2001-10-03) – June 2, 2009 (2009-06-02)

Synopsis

The cast of According to Jim.

Jim is a happy-go-lucky suburban father. Much like his real-life counterpart, Jim's character is a fan of blues music, as well as the Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls, and Chicago Blackhawks. Together with his wife Cheryl, they have three children, daughters Ruby and Gracie and son Kyle. In the seventh season they become parents of twin boys Gordon and Jonathan.

Jim often finds himself in difficult situations, because his slacker sensibilities cause him to search for alternative ways to get things done with less effort. While Cheryl's brother Andy is Jim's best friend/brother-in-law, her sister Dana frequently teams up with Cheryl against Jim. He also prefers to lie to Cheryl and Dana to do his own activities but they end up backfiring on him. He hates losing to women, especially if Cheryl or Dana find out. He doesn't like people interrupting him when he talks, so he speaks over them to shut them up. Jim often makes an example of Andy, who for most of the series does not have a steady girlfriend. Dana and Jim argue constantly, but Dana flirts with Jim when she's drunk, discovering after one such event that she respects Jim as a loving father despite his flaws.

Episodes

Main article: List of According to Jim episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	22	October 3, 2001	May 15, 2002
	2	28	October 1, 2002	May 20, 2003
	3	29	September 23, 2003	May 25, 2004
	4	27	September 21, 2004	May 27, 2005
	5	22	September 20, 2005	May 2, 2006
	6	18	January 3, 2007	May 16, 2007
	7	18	January 1, 2008	May 27, 2008
	8	18	December 2, 2008	June 2, 2009

Cast

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Jim Belushi	James Orenthal "Jim"	Main
Courtney Thorne-Smith	Cheryl Mabel	Main
Kimberly Williams-Paisley	Dana Gibson	Main							Special Guest
Larry Joe Campbell	Andy	Main
Taylor Atelian	Ruby	Main
Billi Bruno	Gracie	Main
Mitch Rouse	Ryan Gibson	Does not appear		Recurring	Main			Does not appear	Guest
Conner Rayburn	Kyle	Does not appear			Recurring	Main

Production

Development

According to Jim was created by Tracy Newman and Jonathan Stark. The sitcom was produced by ABC's in-house production company and Newman/Stark, Suzanne Bukinik Entertainment and Brad Grey Television. The series was filmed at the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles.

Belushi, besides playing Jim, directed 30 episodes and is credited as executive producer.

Belushi's fictional character Jim's band in the series is the real-life House of Blues band The Sacred Hearts, for which Jim Belushi often sings lead.[1]

Influences

Belushi says he set the show's trademark tone back in the show's 2001 pilot.[2]

"The original script called for Jim to go to the wife and apologize," he recalls. "I said to the writers, 'Why do we have to do a show where the guy is going to apologize at the end of every episode? Was he really wrong? He's contrite, sure. But isn't he just being a man?'"

In an interview, Jim Belushi explained that the show many times directly reflected his actual life. Quite a few episodes were experiences taken directly from Belushi's home. Most of the episodes were taken from experiences inside the writers' homes, too. He adds:[3]

"Every show is based in somebody's reality. Whether it's [co-stars] Larry's, or mine, or Courtney's, or the writers'. Because it was a relationship show about a family, everyone would bring in their experiences as a family, and we would do shows around them."

Family names

Last names were never really addressed for the entire run of the show. None of the main characters did get a last name until Season 4 when Kimberly Williams-Paisley's character Dana married Dr. Ryan Gibson (played by Mitch Rouse). She became Dana Gibson with their marriage. Only guest characters had first and last names in most cases.[3]

History

The show first aired following the surprise hit comedy My Wife and Kids and quickly developed an audience of its own. For its second season ABC placed it on its revitalized Tuesday line-up, which also included John Ritter's 8 Simple Rules, Bonnie Hunt's Life with Bonnie and Sara Rue's Less Than Perfect. Week by week, the show attracted more and more viewers, becoming ABC's second most watched sitcom. The show performed so well that the network made a risky move: putting Jim opposite the NBC juggernaut Frasier. Although Jim did not beat the competition, it performed well enough to secure itself that spot on the 2003 fall schedule.

On May 15, 2007, ABC announced that According to Jim would not be renewed for another season. ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson said, "We are talking to the studio to see if there's something financially, a deal that would make sense for us."[4] But on June 27, 2007, ABC renewed the show for a seventh season with 18 episodes.[5][6]

According to Jim returned to ABC's schedule on Tuesday, January 1, 2008, with two episodes at 9 pm and 9:30 pm. After that, the series moved to its regular time slot at 8 pm. Despite the writer's strike, ABC announced that the show would produce all 18 episodes ordered for this season.[7]

On February 27, 2008, it was reported that ABC was close to renewing According to Jim for an eighth season.[8] On May 13, 2008, ABC officially renewed the series and Season 8 began airing on December 2, 2008.[9] Kimberly Williams-Paisley left the show's regular cast at the beginning of Season 8 and was not in the Season 8 opening credits,[10] to devote her time to motherhood. She made a guest appearance only in the season finale.

In December 2008, co-star Larry Joe Campbell said that the sets had been destroyed, indicating that the series was canceled, but that a series finale had been recorded.[11] After the first six episodes of Season 8 all aired in December, According to Jim returned to ABC's schedule on April 14, 2009, for the final 12 episodes.[12] The series finale of According to Jim aired on June 2, 2009, on ABC, and was titled "Heaven Opposed to Hell."

Home media

Lionsgate Home Entertainment (under license from ABC Studios) has released the first five seasons on DVD in Region 1.

DVD Name	Ep#	Release Date
The Complete First Season	22	October 21, 2008 (2008-10-21)
The Complete Second Season	28	May 4, 2010 (2010-05-04)
The Complete Third Season	29	May 3, 2011
The Complete Fourth Season	27	July 5, 2011
The Complete Fifth Season	22	October 4, 2011
The Complete Sixth Season	18	TBA
The Complete Seventh Season	18	TBA
The Complete Eighth and Final Season	18	TBA

Reception

Ratings

The sitcom debuted in 2001 on ABC with an average of 10 million viewers for its first year. The audience grew in the second year to over 10.3 million. The ratings remained consistent for Seasons 3 and 4 as well. Starting with Season 5, the ratings began to decline. The series was often scheduled against the hugely successful American Idol. By Season 6, According to Jim was down to 6.7 million viewers.

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of According to Jim on ABC.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Premiere	Finale	TV season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1st	Wednesday 8:30 p.m.	October 3, 2001	May 15, 2002	2001–2002	#55[13]	10.0
2nd	Tuesday 8:30 p.m.	October 1, 2002	May 20, 2003	2002–2003	#51[14]	10.3
3rd	Tuesday 9:00 p.m.	September 23, 2003	May 25, 2004	2003–2004	#51[15]	9.9
4th	Tuesday 9:00 p.m.	September 21, 2004	May 17, 2005	2004–2005	#47[16]	9.9
5th	Tuesday 8:00 p.m.	September 20, 2005	May 2, 2006	2005–2006	#108[17]	6.7
6th	Wednesday 9:00 p.m.	January 3, 2007	May 16, 2007	2006–2007	#119[18]	6.7
7th	Tuesday 9:00 p.m.	January 1, 2008	March 11, 2008	2007–2008	#146[19]	5.3
	Tuesday 8:30 p.m.	April 15, 2008	May 27, 2008	2007–2008	#171[19]	4.1
8th	Tuesday 9:00 p.m.	December 2, 2008	December 30, 2008	2008–2009	#104[20]	5.6
	Tuesday 9:30 p.m.	December 2, 2008	December 30, 2008	2008–2009	#127[20]	4.8
	Tuesday 8:00 p.m.	April 14, 2009	June 2, 2009	2008–2009	#148[20]	3.8
	Tuesday 8:30 p.m.	April 14, 2009	June 2, 2009	2008–2009	#149[20]	3.8

Accolades

According to Jim was nominated for 20 awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (all for cinematography).

Association	Year[lower-alpha 1]	Category	Nominee(s) / Work	Result	Ref(s)
NAACP Image Awards	2007	Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series	Lauren Breiting "The Stick"	Nominated
Primetime Emmy Awards	2006	Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series	George Mooradian "Mr. Right"	Nominated	[21]
	2007	Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series	George Mooradian "Hoosier Daddy"	Nominated	[21]
	2008	Outstanding Cinematography for a Half-Hour Series	George Mooradian "The Chaperone"	Nominated	[21]
	2009	Outstanding Cinematography for a Half-Hour Series	George Mooradian "Heaven Opposed to Hell"	Nominated	[21]
Young Artist Awards	2002	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Young Actress Age Ten or Under	Taylor Atelian	Nominated
			Billi Bruno	Nominated
	2003	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Young Actress Age Ten or Younger	Taylor Atelian	Nominated
	2004	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Young Actress Age Ten or Younger	Taylor Atelian	Nominated
			Billi Bruno	Nominated
	2005	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Young Actress Age Ten or Younger	Taylor Atelian	Nominated
			Billi Bruno	Nominated
	2006	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Young Actor Age Ten or Younger	Connor and Garret Sullivan	Nominated
		Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Young Actress Ten or Younger	Taylor Atelian	Nominated
			Billi Bruno	Nominated
		Best Family Television Series (Comedy)	According to Jim	Nominated
	2007	Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Actress Age Ten or Younger	Billi Bruno	Nominated
		Best Performance in a TV Series – Guest Starring Young Actor	Austin Majors	Nominated
	2008	Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Actor Ten or Under	Conner Rayburn	Nominated	[22]
		Best Performance in a TV Series – Supporting Young Actress	Taylor Atelian	Nominated	[22]

Notes

1. Indicates the year of ceremony. Each year is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.

References

1. "The Sacred Hearts".
2. "According to Jim wraps his run".
3. "7 things you didnt know about According to Jim".
5. "ABC Renews 'According to Jim'". TVWeek. June 27, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
7. "Breaking News - 'Jim' to Finish Out Season for Abc - TheFutonCritic.com". thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
8. "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Wayback.archive.org. October 21, 2012. Archived from the original on June 3, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
9. "Breaking News - ABC Unveils 2008-09 Primetime Schedule - TheFutonCritic.com". thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
10. "Breaking News - ABC Sets Return Date for "Jim," End Date for "Boston" - TheFutonCritic.com". thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
11. Archived January 22, 2009, at Archive.today
12. "Breaking News - According to Jim to Return to ABC Tuesdays - TheFutonCritic.com". thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
13. "USATODAY.com - How did your favorite show rate?". usatoday.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
14. "Rank And File". ew.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
15. "ABC Medianet". abcmedianet.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
16. "ABC Medianet". abcmedianet.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
17. Archived May 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
18. Archived January 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
19. Archived April 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
20. Archived January 31, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
21. "According to Jim Emmy nominations". emmys.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
22. "Young Artist Awards 2008". famousfix.com. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2020.

External links

• According to Jim on IMDb
• According to Jim at TV.com
• Nydaiynews.com