Men Behaving Badly (American TV series)

For the original British version, see Men Behaving Badly.

Men Behaving Badly is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 18, 1996, to December 17, 1997. It is based on the 1992 British sitcom of the same name.^[2][3]

Men Behaving Badly
Title screen
Genre	Sitcom
Based on	Men Behaving Badly by Simon Nye
Developed by	Matthew Carlson
Written by	Matthew Carlson
Starring	Rob Schneider Ron Eldard Justine Bateman
Composer	Ben Vaughn
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	35 (7 unaired)
Production
Executive producers	Marcy Carsey Tom Werner Caryn Mandabach
Producer	Beryl Vertue
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Vanity Logo Productions The Carsey-Werner Company^[1]
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 18, 1996 (1996-09-18) – December 17, 1997 (1997-12-17)
Related
Men Behaving Badly (UK)

Synopsis

Set in Indianapolis, Indiana, the show starred Rob Schneider, Ron Eldard, and Justine Bateman. Kevin (Eldard) and Jamie (Schneider) were college buddies sharing an apartment and living out a second childhood, much to the chagrin of Kevin's girlfriend Sarah (Bateman). Brenda (Dina Spybey) was an upstairs neighbor that Jamie flirted with.^[4]

Eldard and Bateman left after the first season amid rumors that they clashed with Schneider and the show's producers.^[5] They were replaced by Ken Marino and Jenica Bergere, and Spybey was promoted from recurring to series regular.

Cast

• Rob Schneider as Jamie Coleman
• Ron Eldard as Kevin Murphy (season 1)
• Justine Bateman as Sarah Stretten (season 1)
• Dina Spybey as Brenda Mikowski
• Julia Campbell as Cherie Miller (season 1)
• Ken Marino as Steve Coprin (season 2)
• Jenica Bergere as Katie (season 2)

Justine Bateman and Ron Eldard left after season one due to salary demands.

Reception

Reviewers found the show's content to be too risqué, pushing its brand of gross-out humor beyond all but the raciest cable shows of the day.^{[6][7][8][9] [10]} The first season ran for 22 episodes. Altogether 13 episodes were completed for the second season, albeit with Schneider as the sole original member in the main cast.^[2] Only six of those completed episodes ever aired during the initial run because of dropping ratings and steep competition from CBS's Top 10 hit Touched by an Angel, Fox's Top 20 hit The Simpsons, and ABC's Top 40 hit The Wonderful World of Disney.

Home media

The entire series of 35 episodes was released as a Region 1 DVD box set in February 2007.^[11][12]

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	22		September 18, 1996 (1996-09-18)	June 4, 1997 (1997-06-04)
2	13		September 28, 1997 (1997-09-28)	December 17, 1997 (1997-12-17)

Season 1 (1996–97)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Viewers (millions)
1	1	"Babies Having Babies"	James Burrows	Matthew Carlson	September 18, 1996 (1996-09-18)	14.8^[13]
2	2	"Temptation"	James Burrows	Gary Murphy & Neil Thompson	September 25, 1996 (1996-09-25)	11.8^[14]
3	3	"The Bed"	James Burrows	Matthew Carlson	October 2, 1996 (1996-10-02)	11.0^[15]
4	4	"Hot Parkas"	Jeff Melman	Tom Brady	October 23, 1996 (1996-10-23)	11.5^[16]
5	5	"Getting the Bugs Out"	James Burrows	Billiam Coronel	October 30, 1996 (1996-10-30)	11.5^[17]
6	6	"Jamie's in Love"	James Burrows	Matthew Carlson	November 6, 1996 (1996-11-06)	10.1^[18]
7	7	"Drunken Proposal"	Michael Zinberg	Gary Murphy & Neil Thompson	November 13, 1996 (1996-11-13)	9.5^[19]
8	8	"Sarah's Vestigial Organ"	Jeff Melman	Bill Freiberger	November 20, 1996 (1996-11-20)	9.1^[20]
9	9	"Road Trip"	Tom Cherones	Gary Murphy & Neil Thompson	December 11, 1996 (1996-12-11)	10.1^[21]
10	10	"Christmas"	Rod Daniel	Matthew Carlson	December 18, 1996 (1996-12-18)	11.3^[22]
11	11	"Wet Nurse"	Ellen Gittelsohn	John Frink & Don Payne	January 8, 1997 (1997-01-08)	11.77^[23]
12	12	"The Odds Couple"	James Burrows	Tom Brady	January 15, 1997 (1997-01-15)	11.48^[24]
13	13	"Jamie Needs a Kid"	Michael Zinberg	Reid Harrison	February 5, 1997 (1997-02-05)	10.33^[25]
14	14	"Playing Doctor"	James Burrows	John Frink & Don Payne	February 12, 1997 (1997-02-12)	10.40^[26]
15	15	"Brenda is Moved"	Michael Zinberg	Tom Brady	February 19, 1997 (1997-02-19)	10.42^[27]
16	16	"I Am What I Am"	Michael Zinberg	Story by : Tom Brady & Bill Freiberger Teleplay by : Tom Brady	April 2, 1997 (1997-04-02)	11.74^[28]
17	17	"The Party Favor"	Michael Zinberg	Brown Mandell	April 9, 1997 (1997-04-09)	12.13^[29]
18	18	"Getting Rid of Harry"	Rick Beren	Simon Nye	April 16, 1997 (1997-04-16)	10.14^[30]
19	19	"After Midnight"	Shelley Jensen	Steven Levitan	May 7, 1997 (1997-05-07)	9.08^[31]
20	20	"Testing, Testing"	Michael Zinberg	Rob Hanning	May 14, 1997 (1997-05-14)	8.67^[32]
21	21	"It's Good to Be Dead"	Michael Lembeck	Rick Nyholm	May 21, 1997 (1997-05-21)	7.66^[33]
22	22	"The Box"	Brian K. Roberts	Joe Becker & Jim Longstreet	June 4, 1997 (1997-06-04)	8.78^[34]

Season 2 (1997)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Viewers (millions)
23	1	"No Retreat, No Surrender"	Michael Zinberg	Story by : Jeff Martin Teleplay by : John Bowman & Tom Brady	September 28, 1997 (1997-09-28)	11.23^[35]
24	2	"Got Milk?"	Michael Zinberg	Stacie Lipp	October 5, 1997 (1997-10-05)	9.70^[36]
25	3	"The Sting"	Michael Zinberg	Jeff Filgo & Jackie Filgo	October 12, 1997 (1997-10-12)	8.84^[37]
26	4	"Spoils of War"	Rod Daniel	Rick Nyholm	November 2, 1997 (1997-11-02)	7.20^[38]
27	5	"Special Delivery"	Sam Simon	Jeff Filgo & Jackie Filgo	November 9, 1997 (1997-11-09)	8.35^[39]
28	6	"The Gift of Jami"	Michael Zinberg	Matt Tarses	December 17, 1997 (1997-12-17)	8.40^[40]
29	7	"Here We Go Again"	Michael Zinberg	Story by : John Bowman Teleplay by : Jeff Martin & Tom Brady	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A
30	8	"Jamie's Got Next"	Michael Zinberg	Matt Tarses	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A
31	9	"The Tape"	Michael Zinberg	Amy Welsh	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A
32	10	"The Truth About Cats and Ducks"	Rod Daniel	Bill Wrubel	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A
33	11	"The Fur Man Cometh"	Michael Zinberg	Stacie Lipp	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A
34	12	"Welcome to JamieCo"	Michael Zinberg	Stacie Lipp	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A
35	13	"Carpe Dino"	Michael Zinberg	Rick Nyholm	Unaired (Unaired)	N/A

References

1. "Men Behaving Badly". 17 September 1996.
2. . January 20, 2005. Archived from the original on 2005-01-20.
3. "20 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT MEN BEHAVING BADLY FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT TV'S MOST POLITICALLY INCORRECT SITCOM THE SHOW'S CREATOR WAS OUT BOOZING WITH HIS BUDDIES WHEN HIS WIFE WENT INTO LABOR & HE WAS TOO DRUNK TO ATTEND THE BIRTH OF HIS CHILD". New York Daily News.
4. James, Caryn (September 18, 1996). "Men Will Be Boys, And Slobs and Dogs". The New York Times.
5. "Eldard, Bateman bail out of 'Men Behaving Badly'". Deseret News. June 20, 1997.
6. "BAD BEHAVIOR ON 'MEN' HAS SLOB APPEAL". Chicago Tribune. 9 November 1996.
7. Hass, Nancy (January 26, 1997). "Sex and Today's Single-Minded Sitcoms". The New York Times.
8. "Trouble With 'Men' Isn't Just Guy Thing". Los Angeles Times. December 2, 1996.
9. "NBC's "Men Behaving' isn't so bad". Tampa Bay Times.
10. "Full Groan men behaving badly". Washington Post.
11. "Men Behaving Badly – Complete Series, PopMatters". March 6, 2007.
12. "DVD Talk". www.dvdtalk.com.
13. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. September 25, 1996. p. 3D.
14. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. October 2, 1996. p. 3D.
15. Graham, Jefferson (October 9, 1996). "Baseball on NBC helps CBS". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
16. Bush, Alan (October 30, 1996). "World Series lineup gives Fox a major win". Life. USA Today. p. 3D.
17. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. November 6, 1996. p. 3D.
18. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. November 13, 1996. p. 3D.
19. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. November 20, 1996. p. 3D.
20. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. November 27, 1996. p. 3D.
21. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. December 18, 1996. p. 3D.
22. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. December 25, 1996. p. 3D.
23. "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 6-12)". The Los Angeles Times. January 15, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
24. "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 13-19)". The Los Angeles Times. January 22, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
25. "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 3-9)". The Los Angeles Times. February 12, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
26. "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 10-16)". The Los Angeles Times. February 20, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
27. "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 17-23)". The Los Angeles Times. February 26, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
28. "National Nielsen Viewership (March 31-April 6)". The Los Angeles Times. April 9, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
29. "National Nielsen Viewership (April 7–13)". The Los Angeles Times. April 16, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
30. "National Nielsen Viewership (April 14–20)". The Los Angeles Times. April 23, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
31. "National Nielsen Viewership (May 5–11)". The Los Angeles Times. May 14, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
32. "National Nielsen Viewership (May 12–18)". The Los Angeles Times. May 21, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
33. "National Nielsen Viewership (May 19–25)". The Los Angeles Times. May 29, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
34. "National Nielsen Viewership (Jun. 2-8)". The Los Angeles Times. June 11, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
35. "National Nielsen Viewership (Sept. 22-28)". The Los Angeles Times. October 1, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
36. "National Nielsen Viewership (Sept. 29-Oct. 5)". The Los Angeles Times. October 8, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
37. "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 6-12)". The Los Angeles Times. October 15, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
38. "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 27-Nov. 2)". The Los Angeles Times. November 5, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
39. "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 3-9)". The Los Angeles Times. November 12, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 
40. "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 15-21)". The Los Angeles Times. December 24, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. 

External links

• Men Behaving Badly at IMDb  
• Men Behaving Badly at epguides.com