Grounded for Life

Grounded For Life is a 2001 Sitcom from FOX. The Dom Com starred Donal Logue and Megyn Price as Sean and Claudia Finnerty, an Irish American couple who lived in Staten Island, New York, while raising their three kids, Lily (Lynsey Bartilson), Jimmy (Griffin Frazen), and Henry (Jake Burbage) and dealing with Sean's shady & eccentric younger brother Eddie (Kevin Corrigan). The show also starred Richard Riehle as Sean & Eddie's father Walt for the first two seasons (Recurring otherwise), and Bret Harrison as next door neighbour Brad O'Keefe from season 3 onwards (Recurring otherwise). The show heavily featured cutaways, but unlike Scrubs or Family Guy, the cutaways were frequently used to show flashbacks to events that had previously taken place off camera & these flashbacks would frequently be revisited to show the events from another perspective.

It lasted 5 seasons with 95 episodes.

"She's a mafia princess. She's too close to know the truth."
 * Actor Allusion: In one episode a couple of ex-NFL players were watching the Super Bowl at the Finnertys' house. One of them said something to the effect of "I love watching it here! It's like I'm actually there on the field!"
 * The Art of Bra Removal
 * Brother Chuck: Henry's actor moved east with his family, so his character was dropped. He was still alluded to from time to time but never seen.
 * Bumbling Dad: As typical for a nineties Dom Com. Even though it was a few years too late.
 * Buxom Is Better: Claudia - In high school, she faked being ill in gym class to avoid having to do activities that would result in her Gainaxing, much to the dismay of the boys.
 * Channel Hop: The series aired on Fox for 2 seasons, then was picked up by the WB for the last 3 seasons.
 * Dawson Casting: In flashbacks to Sean, Eddie & Claudia's teenage years, the characters were still played by their regular actors.
 * Dear Negative Reader: After spending the entire episode trying to win over a blogger who wrote a bad review of the bar he & Sean owned, Eddie wound up writing one to the critic. He even declared that he'd started his own blog, for the sole purpose of insulting the critic.
 * Dom Com
 * Flash Back: Most episodes start about halfway through the story, so a significant part is told in flashback.
 * Girlfriend in Canada: Subverted in the episode "Space Camp Oddity", where Brad says that he had a girlfriend at Space Camp, and brings up several lame excuses when people want to meet her. Eventually, she appears, played by Mila Kunis.
 * High School Sweethearts: Sean & Lily in their youth; Brad & Lily.
 * Hollywood Homely: Lily. Although maybe it's from comparing herself to her incredibly gorgeous mother.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Brad O'Keefe to Lily. He assumed that her emotions were divided between himself (whom she barely noticed and openly discouraged any kind of advance) and her boyfriend (who she was all too ready to get hot and heavy with). Eventually he decided to "back down" and openly referenced the concept that they were in a "love triangle" to the boyfriend, whose only concern was "The two end points don't touch, do they?". Eventually subverted, because Lily & Brad wound up in a realtionship for most of the show's run.
 * Hot Mom: Claudia. In one episode it's even revealed that Lily is jealous of the effect that her mother has on boys her age.
 * Mafia Princess: Claudia learns her uncle is in the mob.


 * Mistaken for Gay: Shawn took his kids to the amusement park. It was "Gay Day" there and everyone was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. Guess what he was wearing...
 * Name's the Same: In the last episode, Claudia gives birth to a second daughter & they decide to call her Rose to carry on the flower motif they already had with Lily. Everyone just assumes they named the baby after the woman from Titanic, so they decide to change the baby's name.
 * Oireland: The Finnertys are of Irish descent. A later (small) plot point, in that Sean & Eddie bought a bar, and used their heritage to their advantage on St Patrick's Day, by touting the fact that their bar was run by a legitimatly Irish family, as opposed to their corporate rivals.
 * One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Sean confronted Lily's boyfriend because he thought he slept with her. It turns out they just got tattoos together.
 * Production Posse: This show was created the guys behind That '70s Show so there were appearances from Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Lily and Brad big time by the end of Season 3.
 * Retroactive Recognition: a pre-fame Miranda Cosgrove shows up as Lily's kid sister Jessica.
 * Second Hand Storytelling: Flashback, too, in each episode.
 * Sexy Shirt Switch: Eddie is shown to reverse the roles, putting on the female's shirt/blouse the morning after. In one episode, when Eddie goes off with another girlfriend for the night, it's even said "You know, he'll really look good in that blouse."
 * Teen Pregnancy: Lily was one.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Henry, the poor boy believed anything he was told - For example, Jimmy once told Henry he was a robot & that's why there aren't baby photos of him.
 * Written-In Absence: The actor playing Henry isn't in the final season. In the final episode, Walt casually mentions that "he's around here somewhere".