Today the new era of comedy on television mostly consists of single-camera shows that don’t have laugh tracks that prompt you when you are supposed to laugh. Shows like The Office, 30 Rock, and Modern Family immediately come to mind. But 5-10 years ago the family comedy with laugh tracks was still all the rage. All you need was a stubborn leading father figure to head a family and you would have a recipe for success. For years, According to Jim ruled ABC as the comedy to beat. Fans who have been waiting for the second season of that show to come out on DVD, do not have to wait any longer.
In According to Jim, Jim Belushi stars as Jim. Jim is an architect and owns his own business, which he runs with his brother-in-law. His wife is Cheryl (Courtney Thorne-Smith). She is a stay-at-home mom and works hard to keep their neurotic family in check. Their kids are Gracie (Billi Bruno), Ruby (Taylor Atelian), and Kyle (Anthony & Brian Toro). Gracie is the oldest child, but still very young. Ruby is the middle child and just entering kindergarten. Finally, Kyle is a baby. Extended members of the family also include Dana (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), Cheryl’s single, career-oriented sister who butts heads with Jim, and Andy (Larry Joe Campbell), Cheryl’s brother, who works with Jim and is also his close friend.
According to Jim is like most other family sitcoms with with an absent-minded leading man heading a family that consists of young kids and a wife that is clearly out of the league of the man. This type of sitcom was extremely popular back in the 1990s, but there were still a few shows like that in the beginning of the 2000s. The storylines featured from episode to episode are pretty generic. The jokes aren’t necessarily that funny either, but apparently funny enough to keep the show running for 8 seasons.
The cast mostly have good chemistry with each other. This is probably the main reason the show lasted for so long. Jim Belushi’s character is really a “macho man” jerk and completely unlikable, but the way Belushi plays this character makes him largely likeable or at least someone you like laughing at for his pig-headedness. Courtney Thorne-Smith is the perfect straight woman to Jim. Kimberly Williams-Paisley is surprisingly funny in her role as well. But Larry Joe Campbell often goes way too over-the-top in trying to be funny.
According to Jim is funny every now and then, which is probably why it’s better in syndication now than it ever was on ABC. If you like shows like Everybody Loves Raymond, My Wife and Kids, etc., you will probably enjoy According to Jim in short intervals.
Episodes:
Disc One:
Episode 1 – The Importance of Being Jim
Jim buys a digital camera from one of Dana’s ex-boyfriends, and it comes with stored pictures of the woman he dumped Dana for. Cheryl thinks it will make Dana feel better if she saw how ugly the new girl is, but Jim simply deletes the pictures because they weren’t important enough for him.
Episode 2 – Cars and Chicks
Dana needs to buy a new car and Cheryl offers to go with her, but Jim says chicks are no good buying car by themselves, because they’ll get distracted with other less important things like mirrors or cup holders.
Episode 3 – The Baby Monitor
Cheryl wants to be friends with the new couple who just moved into the neighborhood. She has to be fast and do it before they talk to anyone else and get scared of them.
Episode 4 – The Pizza Boy
Jim’s pizza delivery boy moves in with him and Cheryl after the boy’s father kicks him out of the house because of his dream of doing standup comedy.
Episode 5 – The Closet
Jim asks Cheryl not to intrude his space in the bathroom sink and in their closet, claiming she takes up too much space, and worse, HIS space. Cheryl tries to do something about by getting rid of some of her stuff, but Dana tells her it’s time for women everywhere to show men they also have a need for space.
Episode 6 – Punch & Ruby
Jim is taking the girls to their first Bears football game, and Cheryl asks him to be a good role model and try his best not to swear in front of them. At the game, Jim picks a fight with a Packers fan who was swearing in front of the girls, and the entire fight is televised, with Jim getting the nickname of “Packers Smacker”.
Episode 7 – The Bachelor
Dana gets selected to be on the reality show The Bachelor. At first she’s sure her personality alone will be enough to entertain the guy, but Jim gives her advice on how to behave and what to say to the guy. Dana thinks he’s full of crap, but after her date goes bad she tries Jim’s recipe and scores a second date.
Disc Two:
Episode 8 – Father Disfigure
Cheryl drags Jim down to the church for the new reverend’s mess, which is supposed to be “the next best thing”. Jim sees some familiarity on him, and remembers he was the kid he played dodge-ball with back when they were kids. Jim also remembers that he threw the ball so hard at the guy he got a fat lip (and a funny nickname) for weeks (the nickname lasted for years).
Episode 9 – Thanksgiving Confidential
Cheryl is thrilled when she is offered to be in charge of the set of the girls’ Thanksgiving school play. She asks Jim to help her, and he’s complaining they don’t spend any time together because there’s always someone around them.
Episode 10 – The Christmas Party
Jim’s feud with a neighbor may also prompt one with Cheryl, who preaches peace so they’ll be invited to the neighbors’ Christmas party.
Episode 11 – The Brother-in-Law
Eddie, a country musician who’s dating Dana, comes between Jim and his brother-in-law Andy. After hearing Jim and Andy’s band practice, Eddie invites them to perform with him at the House of Blues. The catch: Eddie plays keyboards instead of Andy.
Episode 12 – Moral Dilemma
Jim takes advantage of a billing error on his credit card by using the windfall to treat Cheryl to an expensive romantic weekend.
Episode 13 – You Gotta Love Somebody (Part 1)
Jim’s old friend Danny visits him, and brings his partner in crime, Laraine, with him. Cheryl and Dana offer to help Laraine pick out a dress for the police ball, and after realizing she has feelings for Danny, Cheryl convinces Jim to talk to Danny about asking her to the ball. Cheryl reveals to Jim that if it wasn’t for Danny, they might never have gotten together, as they remember the time they met at a bar back in the 80’s.
Episode 14 – You Gotta Love Somebody (Part 2)
Jim’s old friend Danny visits him, and brings his partner in crime, Laraine, with him. Cheryl and Dana offer to help Laraine pick out a dress for the police ball, and after realizing she has feelings for Danny, Cheryl convinces Jim to talk to Danny about asking her to the ball. Cheryl reveals to Jim that if it wasn’t for Danny, they might never have gotten together, as they remember the time they met at a bar back in the 80’s.
Disc Three:
Episode 15 – The Smell of Success
Cheryl disapproves of Jim’s latest idea, a flatulent doll named Gassy Gus, but he gets support from Andy, who builds the protoype, and Dana, who locates investors.
Episode 16 – Slumber Party
When Cheryl gets sick on the day of Ruby’s birthday party, Jim is stuck trying to entertain a house full of little girls.
Episode 17 – The Ring
When Jim and Cheryl run into his old girlfriend, Jim worries that Cheryl may find out the truth about his past when she invites the woman to dinner.
Episode 18 – Wonder Woman
Cheryl is mugged at the mall parking lot, but instead of calling the police she chases the guy and tackles him to get her purse bag. When she tells Jim what happened, he decides to get two killer German shepherd to guard her.
Episode 19 – The Pass
Cheryl’s upset when a wealthy client, a former high school buddy of Jim’s, makes a pass at her, but it’s Jim’s reaction that she’s upset about.
Episode 20 – Dana Gets Fired
When Jim vociferously objects to the way Dana gets treated by her boss, he succeeds in getting her fired. Meanwhile, Andy has problems with the plans for his birthday party.
Episode 21 – Bo Diddley
Cheryl has to have dental surgery and asks Jim to stay besides her the whole time because she’s scared of dentists. While Cheryl is sedated, Andy shows up saying he met blues legend Bo Diddley and Jim decides to meet him too, leaving Cheryl unattended. There’s no harm since she’s sedated, he justifies.
Disc Four:
Episode 22 – Deal with the Devlins
Cheryl makes friends with another mom from the girls soccer team. The woman is sweet, yet a bit obnoxious. Jim is annoyed by her presence, but Cheryl insists on him being nice to her. Little by little, Cindy starts to get into their lives and tell them what to do and not to do.
Episode 23 – The Helmet
Pretending to be a man for an online auction, Cheryl discovers that Jim is bidding on memorabilia instead of shopping for a new dryer, but Jim thinks he’s found a kindred spirit.
Episode 24 – No Harm No Fowl
A trained bird flies into Andy’s head in the backyard and Gracie adopts it as her bird pet, Daphne. The bird is driving everyone insane and they all can’t wait to get rid of it, but unfortunately Gracie developed a deep emotional attachment to it.
Episode 25 – About a Girl
Dana gets attention from a single father she meets in the park by pretending to be Ruby’s mother. Meanwhile, Cheryl requests that Jim exercise more often – as a special favor to her.
Episode 26 – Mom’s Boyfriend
Cheryl is suspicious of her recently widowed mother’s new fiance, but Jim and Andy think he’s great.
Episode 27 – Vegas, Baby (Part 1)
Jim and Andy are going to Vegas on a business trip and ask Dana to join them, since they need an extra help and she happens to be their “rabbit’s foot” on gambling. Cheryl decides to join them and blackmails Jim when he says no at first.
Episode 28 – Vegas, Baby (Part 2)
Andy is upset because no one approves or believes in his marriage to Roxanne. Jim goes to talk to her and walks in on her packing to run off with her ex boyfriend. He tries to stop her, unsuccessfully. Jim and Cheryl try to break the news to Andy before the business presentation, but he’s so upset that he breaks down in tears on stage.
The video is given in widescreen color with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The transfer is great and it’s pretty much on par with other new release TV shows these days. There are no major problems at all.
The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound or Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. The dialogue and music come out loud and clear. There are no major problems here either.
Audio Commentaries –
There are two audio commentaries on two separate episodes from this season. Both the commentary for “The Brother-in-Law” episode and the “Deal with the Devlins” episode feature actors, Jim Belushi and Larry Joe Campbell. These are both entertaining and surprisingly insightful. So fans of the show will definitely want to check these out.
“Season Two According to Jim” Featurette –
This runs 10 minutes and in it Jim Belushi talks about making the second season of the show. This is a more recent interview, but he still gives viewers a great amount of information behind making season two.
“Acting Out Behind Camera” Featurette –
This runs 8 minutes and it features interviews with the entire cast and how and why they each directed episodes of the show. Again a good feature that fans will want to check out for sure.
Not the funniest sitcom ever, but season two of According to Jim is when the show was at its funniest. That means it’s mildly funny at times.
Lionsgate/ABC Studios Home Video presents According To Jim: Season 2. Created by Tracy Newman and Jonathan Stark. Starring Jim Belushi, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Larry Joe Campbell, Taylor Atelian, and Billi Bruno. Running time: 595 minutes. Rated: NOT RATED. Released on DVD: May 4, 2010. Available at Amazon.com.
