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Grounded for Life
The cast of Grounded for Life
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Bill Martin Mike Schiff
Starring	Megyn Price Donal Logue Kevin Corrigan Griffin Frazen Lynsey Bartilson Jake Burbage Bret Harrison
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	91 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 minutes (w/ Commercials) 22 minutes (w/o Commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX WB
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	January 10, 2001 – January 28, 2005
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Grounded for Life is an American television sitcom. It debuted on January 10, 2001 as a mid-season replacement on the FOX Network, where it ran for two seasons until being cancelled only two episodes into its third season. It was immediately picked up for the rest of the third season by the The WB Television Network, where it aired for two additional seasons until its cancellation on January 28, 2005. On Tuesday, June 12, 2007, reruns began airing in syndication on ABC Family weekdays at 7 and 7:30 p.m. (two episodes) EST.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cast list 3 Characters 4 See also 5 Syndication 6 DVD releases 7 Trivia 8 External links

The show is set in an Irish neighborhood of Staten Island, New York and is about the comedic interplay of the Irish Catholic Finnerty family. It featured an unusual style of storytelling, often starting with a scene at the end of the story or sometimes in the middle and filling in the gaps with flashbacks.

The opening sequence is set to a guitar theme, performed by the band Ween, that also serves as the music between scenes. The first season intro, showed the family playing sports in a filmed intro. From Season 2 onwards, it showed a mix of scenes from Season 1, with only one new scene, added to replace an old scene every season after that. The intro is a truncated opening sequence: Cast names were shown during the teaser throughout the series.

• Sean Finnerty - Donal Logue
• Claudia Finnerty - Megyn Price
• Eddie Finnerty - Kevin Corrigan
• Lily Finnerty - Lynsey Bartilson
• Jimmy Finnerty - Griffin Frazen
• Henry Finnerty - Jake Burbage (Season 1-4)
• Brad O'Keefe - Bret Harrison (Season 3-5; recurring previously)
• Walt Finnerty - Richard Riehle (Season 1-2; recurring afterwards)
• Sister Helen - Miriam Flynn (recurring season 1-5)
• Dean Piramatti - Mike Vogel (recurring season 2-4)
• Dan O'Keefe - Gregory Jbara (recurring season 2-5)

• Sean Finnerty (Donal Logue) - Initially worked in the city subway lines as a laborer. In the later seasons, he owns and operates a bar with his brother, Eddie. The bar is called the Red Boot Pub. A Red Boot Pub dartboard can be found in the Finnerty household in the living room. Father of three (later four) kids, Sean also deals with his judgemental father, his irresponsible brother, and the head nun/principal at his children's school, Sister Helen. Sean is often getting into antics with his carefree brother.

• Claudia Finnerty (Megyn Price) - The sensible one of the family, Sean's wife, worked at a ritzy restaurant. Claudia then applied to school at Wadsworth Community College and was accepted. Claudia got pregnant with Lily in high school. The birth was at a Live Aid concert and Run DMC front man Rev. Run delivered Lily. Just as Lily was graduating from high school, Claudia gave birth to another daughter named Gracie.

• Uncle Eddie (Kevin Corrigan) - The single carefree brother/uncle. Prior to opening a bar with his brother, his jobs were shady and possibly illegal. (e.g., when he brings a box in to the Finnerty home, and refuses to divulge the contents of the package, but tells Sean when he shakes it "Thats not really a wise thing to do.") Various plots revolve around him arousing chaos with his brother and sister-in-law. (such as when he shoots porn in their living room.)

• Lily Finnerty (Lynsey Bartilson) (14-18 yrs old) - The air-headed teenager is often at odds with her parents. Although she first finds him annoying, she later falls in love with her next door neighbor, Brad O'Keefe. Lily meets a boy named Dean in the episode "Bang on the Drum" and begins to date him from then to the season three finale in which she gets together with Brad.

• Jimmy Finnerty (Griffin Frazen) (12-15 years old) - The black sheep of his family, Jimmy's choices are not always accepted by his parents (such as choosing to become a vegetarian.) Thus, he often confides in his Uncle Eddie.

• Henry Finnerty (Jake Burbage) (9-12 years old) - The youngest son of the family, Henry disappeared at the beginning of the fifth season, but is mentioned several times.

• Brad O'Keefe (Bret Harrison) (14-18 years old) - The sweet, smart but socially inept neighbor, who later becomes Lily's boyfriend at the end of the third season.

• Gracie Finnerty (still an infant at end of series) - Was originally to be named Rose, but it reminded everyone too much of the woman from Titanic. She was born on Lily's high school graduation day, in June 2005. Actress Megyn Price, who played Claudia Finnerty, named her first born baby Grace.

Main article: List of Grounded for Life episodes

Season	Ep #	First Airdate	Last Airdate
Season 1	15	January 10, 2001	May 23, 2001
Season 2	22	September 26, 2001	May 8, 2002
Season 3	13	September 17, 2002	May 9, 2003
Season 4	28	September 5, 2003	May 7, 2004
Season 5	13	September 17, 2004	January 28, 2005

Back-to-back reruns of all five seasons of Grounded for Life currently air on ABC Family every Monday through Friday at 7/6c and at 11am/10c on the weekends.

Season Releases

DVD Name	Region 1 Release Date	Region 2 Release Date	Ep #	Bonus Features
Season 1	February 7, 2006	March 5, 2007	20	Bonus features include audio commentaries by creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, stars Megyn Price, Lynsey Bartilson and Richard Riehle, and writers Chris Kelly, Jim O'Doherty, David M. Israel, Greg Thompson, and Aron Abrams; interview with creators; season one highlights, featurettes, bloopers.
Season 2	May 16, 2006	June 4, 2007	17	Bonus features include bloopers, commentary on one episode with creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, stars Megyn Price and Lynsey Bartilson, interview with Ashton Kutcher and with Kevin Corrigan, Season Two Highlights.
Season 3	August 8, 2006	TBA	13	Bonus features include 6 Commentary Tracks by creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, stars Lynsey Bartilson, Miriam Flynn, and Chris Hogan, and writers Chris Kelly, Ned Goldreyer, Greg Thompson, and Aron Abrams; and also includes the 2 episodes that never aired.
Season 4	November 7, 2006	TBA	28	Bonus features include commentary on 5 episodes by creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff; stars Donal Logue, Lynsey Bartilson, Bret Harrison, and Griffin Frazen; and writers Chris Kelly and Erica Rivinoja.
Season 5	September 25, 2007	TBA	13	No bonus features included

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The season five DVD set is the first to not feature any commentary and not come in a box.
• It is mentioned many times in the show that Lily's favorite CD is the soundtrack to Grease.
• Lily's backpack has the band Third Eye Blind symbol.
• The season three episode "A Fair Knight" did not air on primetime, but can be seen in syndication on ABC Family.
• Jake Burbage (Henry) had to leave the show in the fifth season,^{[citation needed]} though his character is often mentioned.
• Every episode title is based on a song title
• The season one box set includes more bonus features than any other DVD box set because it has bloopers, highlights, and interviews.
• Every season DVD set includes a letter from the creators, but only seasons four and five list it as a bonus feature (possibly because there are no other bonus features)
• The first four seasons were released on DVD between a 10 month period (about 3 months between every release), however season five wasn't released until almost a year after season four (this could be due to low sales on season four).
• The series finale ends with Claudia giving birth to Grace Finnerty, so at the end of the series there are 4 Finnerty children.

• Episode Guide
• Grounded For Life at the Internet Movie Database
• DVD trailer
• Grounded For Life in Jump The Shark