I miei due papà

This was a great show in the tradition of The Wonder Years and Silver Spoons. Really good characters, particularly 12 year old Nicole. I'm sure there are many who would disagree with me but it leaves Friends in the dust. Nicole's two fathers Michael and Joey do a lot for the show too and her young friend Cory (a great kid also) and Judge Wilber certainly contribute also. My favourite episodes are Nicole's Big Adventure, Crime and Punishment, Advice and Consent and Nicole's First Date. I've really enjoyed the first season on DVD and I now have season 2 on order. I'm not sure if season 3 has been released on DVD yet. If not then I hope it will be at sometime because this is one of those shows you just can't get enough of.

Childhood best friends Michael Taylor (Paul Reiser) and Joey Harris (Greg Evigan) have been estranged since fighting over girlfriend Marcy Bradford thirteen years earlier. They are brought in to the reading of her will. They are shocked to discover that they both inherited her 12 year old daughter Nicole Bradford (Staci Keanan). The father is biologically indeterminate. Michael is a stuffy financial advisor and Joey is the irresponsible free-spirit artist. They move into Michael's artistic loft. Judge Margaret W. Wilbur oversees their case and also owns Michael's apartment building. They often hang out at a local diner owned by Ed Klawicki (Dick Butkus). Cory Kupkus (Giovanni Ribisi) has a crush on Nicole while she has a crush on Zach Nichols (Chad Allen). Shelby Haskell (Amy Hathaway) is her wild friend.

It's a bright neon 80's family sitcom with an odd premise. The judge makes no sense. Here's my idea. The two guys can move into the Bradford home. The judge is the neighbor friend which is why she is the executor of the estate and often comes over to their home. Instead, she's just randomly the owner of Joey's building and even takes over Klawicki's diner. Paternity testing became much more accurate during the 80's although popular culture may not have caught up. They do eventually tackle the issue in season three. The premise is convoluted but ultimately harmless. The show is passable. There is missed opportunity to pair up Cory with Shelby. Reiser does a few slightly funny things. Evigan is a good foil for him. The girl is cute and sweet. It's way too early to do a gay couple parenting a kid. Instead, we're doing Three Men and a Baby in a network sitcom. Just in case anyone is wondering. This show came first. I watched this back in the day. It's not that memorable or outstanding. I remember a few episodes and definitely the bright 80's neon-art loft apartment. Otherwise, this is a mostly forgotten show with a memorable name.

When my wife and I married in 1985, I became the step-father of an eight-year old girl, whom I have raised as my own. At the time she had recently been adopted by another man because she never met her real father. In a sense, she now had two dads. When the show aired we had been in this situation for three years. This show gave her a connection to the rest of the world because she thought she was the only kids with two dads. The man who had adopted her was very money-oriented and I am an artist, so she felt a real connection to Nichole. I hated to see the series end because it was a great source of excitement for my daughter and it made me feel like our whole situation was not so abnormal. Although the show was a comedy, it made a lot serious statements about life and how to deal with situations as they are thrust upon you.

Need one of television's ad hoc families? I recommend this one. Nicole's (Staci Keenan) mother dies, and her two old flames inherit her per her will. One of them is her father, but no one knows who. They used to be best friends, but parted enemies, and now make up their differences for Nicole's sake and move into Joey's apartment and try to put up a "normal" family. Of course, the two dads have totally different personalities;Michael is an uptight consultant while Joey is a carefree, spontaneous artist. This makes for the funniest situations which of course get settled by the end of the episode. I think this is one of the funniest comedies of the '80s. If you have the time, check it out.

*** out of ****

I enjoyed this show very much when it was on. I think some people read to much into the premise of a show. It is a nice show that showed that people in a family can actually love and take care of each other. Maybe it wasn't an Emmy winning show, but, it was fun to watch. Paul Rieser is hilarious to watch. Greg Evigan I thought did a great job in this show of being able to give it back to Paul's character. The daughter may have been a little bratty at times, but, aren't we all? I would love to see this show back on TV in reruns. I would really enjoy watching it with my own teenagers. I think they would get a kick out of it. Thank you for listening. I hope you all have a nice day. There should be more descent shows like this one out there.