According to Jim



Standard Dom Com (2001-2009) with Bumbling Dad ("Jim" Belushi) and long suffering hot wife (Courtney Thorne-Smith). A total of 182 episodes were released in its eight seasons.


 * American Football: Jim and Andy live and breathe it. BEARS, NOT PACKERS.
 * Analogy Backfire: When Andy dates a girl Jim dislikes, he compares this with him and Osama bin Laden being together to Cheryl and Andy (on separate occasions) in order to make his point, only for this trope to take place (Andy contemplates turning bin Laden in for reward, whereas Cheryl wonders whether the relationship is serious), much to Jim's frustration.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: On the Halloween Episode, Jim's kids pick out their own costumes: Ruby is a cowgirl, Gracie goes as Statue of Liberty, and Kyle's costume is... Cinderella.
 * Back for the Finale: Dana.
 * Birthday Hater: Jim hates his birthday as a result of having been caught with his pants down on his 13th birthday.
 * Bucket Booby Trap: Double subverted. The kids tricked Andy into thinking they were going to do it, then when he refuses to fall for it and puts on his slippers, he gets pudding all over his feet. Then he chases the kids into the kitchen to get pudding dropped on his head.
 * Bumbling Dad: Jim
 * Butt Monkey: Andy
 * The Cast Showoff: Jim Belushi wrote the theme song and he regularly performs in a band on the show showing off his harmonica skills.
 * Caught with Your Pants Down: This happens in Jim's youth, causing him to detest surprise parties on his birthday.
 * Crazy Prepared: Cheryl kept a binder listing all the times she was right about something and Jim was wrong from the day they started dating in the off-chance Jim suggested that he was right about things more than she was.
 * The Couch
 * The Danza: Jim Belushi as Jim.
 * A Date with Rosie Palms: After getting turned down to take Cheryl to a baby shower in Jim's place, Andy quips: "I guess it's just me and my palm tonight."
 * Of course, he's actually referring to his Palm Pilot.
 * More explicitly hinted at in the episode where Jim has to give a sperm sample but asks Andy to give it in his place.
 * Disappeared Dad: Jim's dad left him when he was a kid, reuniting with him after 35 years.
 * Drink Order: How Jim judges women's personalities. White wine=classy yet unpretentious, lemon drop=high maintenance, and cosmos=Axe Crazy.
 * Double Standard: In several episodes Cheryl will get mad at Jim for saying something stupid, usually sexist. Only to later find herself in a situation in which proves Jim was right, and goes to great lengths to prevent him from finding out.
 * For example in one episode Jim explains that men and women's brains are wired so they won't remember certain things, Cheryl gets mad at him, only to later find herself trapped in the garage because none of the girls can remember the key code for the door, which her toddler son punches in effortlessly. She makes one last ditch effort to prove him wrong but can't even remember the code when hes just explained it to her.
 * Eating Contest: Jim and Andy participate in one that involves hot dogs, whose winner would get to be in a local commercial for said hot dog. Too bad for them a woman ends up the winner. Jim's so disgruntled that he challenges her to another one.
 * Escalating War: Between Jim and Andy, in two separate episodes, all for a grill.
 * Happily Married: Unlike other Dom Coms that ran during its time, Jim and Cheryl enjoyed a pleasant, equal marriage, with no Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male), Double Standard, or any other things that you watch and think to yourself "why are these two married at all?".
 * Garage Band: Jim, Andy, and their friends have one.
 * Groin Attack: Andy has been a victim of this.
 * Hot Mom: Cheryl
 * I Want You to Meet An Old Friend of Mine: Dan Aykroyd guest starred in two episodes as an old friend of Jim's.
 * Instrumental Theme Tune
 * Ironic Echo Cut: Jim competes in an Eating Contest during a family picnic. Cheryl urges him to stop, but Jim replies: "They'd have to pump my stomach before I quit!" Cut to the next scene where paramedics carry Jim off to hospital, saying: "He'll be fine after we pump his stomach."
 * Jerkass: Everybody has their moment of this from time to time, but mostly Jim, Dana and Andy.
 * Long Runners
 * Loony Fan: BEARS YAY, PACKERS NAY.
 * Momma's Boy: Andy, again.
 * Most Annoying Sound: The Devlins, the single most IRRITATING couple you'll ever meet, both in-universe and out, they're perpetually happy and overly friendly people who NEVER seem to get mad at anyone for anything, they laugh at EVERYTHING in the most annoying way and make the WORST jokes imaginable. I know them being annoying was the point, but the writers succeeded in that department a little TOO well.
 * No Name Given: Jim, Cheryl, Andy and the kids are only referred to by their first names; Dana originally had no last name as well, but this changed after she married Dr. Ryan Gibson and adopted his surname.
 * Obnoxious In-Laws: Played straight with Dana, but also averted with Andy.
 * Jim's also got a very healthy and friendly relationship with his mother in-law, to the point that Andy often got jealous about Jim being her favourite "son". When Dana married Ryan, Jim actually became jealous of losing his spot.
 * Paintball Episode
 * Practical Joke: Cheryl, Andy, and Dana make Jim think his dead friend came back to life, because Jim stole back his playing card that said friend stole the day before he died.
 * Primal Fear: Jim is terrified of spiders.
 * Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: From Jim: "Give... me... the... check." In a different episode, Cheryl asks: "Did... you... write... those... notes?"
 * Put on a Bus: Kimberly Williams-Paisley
 * Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: When Jim uses an earpiece and hidden microphone to communicate to Andy, he tells him to tell the girl he's picking up to "Stay beautiful," and walk away. Andy tells her "Stay beautiful and walk away." Twice.
 * Real Life Relative: Jim's real-life son Robert Belushi appeared in about eleven episodes - sometimes as an older version of Kyle.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: Courtney Thorne-Smith's pregnancy was written in, and so were both of Kimberly Williams-Paisley's pregnancies.
 * Real Men Eat Meat: Jim and, to a vocally lessor extent, Andy.
 * Running Gag: Jim not remembering Gracie's name and referring to her as "the little one", followed by Cheryl reminding him of Gracie's name.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Andy and Jim.
 * Shock Party: The organizing variation; Jim throws one for Cheryl.
 * Shot in the Ass: By a TURKEY named "Angry Pete".
 * Sibling Rivalry: Between Andy and Dana, and sometimes between both of them and Cheryl.
 * Sure, Let's Go with That: what with this show heavily relying on wacky antics, this is pretty much a given. Case in point - the episode with Andy buying... er, "second-hand" jewels for his fiancée, and hen sharing the same plan with Jim. When Cheryl asks Jim if that was in order to make it the "best birthday ever", he pretty much goes with that hypothesis.
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Jim and Cheryl.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Jim and Andy.
 * You Look Familiar: The same guest actor to play Jim's son in Imagine Spots of the future and for various other random roles throughout the series, including a waiter and a lonely guy at the bar-was Jim Belushi's real son.