Grounded for Life was one of the shows on Fox that was always on the brink of cancellation, yet ended up with a five-season run (although a couple of those seasons were partial seasons, so in episode count, the series had about 4 "full" seasons worth of episodes). The 22-episode second season aired during the 2001/2002 season.
The feel of the second season was much like the first, with the episodes telling a self-contained story, picking up the story in the middle (or later) of the story, and then catching the audience up using flashbacks. This season tackled topics like pregnancy scares, the teenage sex talk, Claudia taking up smoking again, adolescent love, both requited and unrequited, etc. The show told serious stories with a comedic twist, without going over the top into stupid, hokey comedy.
The best part of the show is that it depicted real people in relatable situations. The cast did not look like a bunch of supermodels, and the people were not depicted as perfect like a lot of sitcom families are. It filled in the studio audience's reactions with laugh tracks, but that never bothered me. I know some people hate shows with laugh tracks, so if that is you, it is worth keeping in mind.
As with the first season release, this DVD set is fairly bare-bones. It contains the 22 episodes on three discs. The discs are in paper sleeves inside the case, which sit in a rectangular cutout. It is actually a pretty good setup to keep the discs from getting scratched up. There are no captions, which may be a pain if you are hard of hearing or watch TV while working out on a treadmill or elliptical or something like that. There are about 25 minutes of extras, including an interview with Kevin Corrigan, a gag reel, an interview with Jake Burbage and Griffen Frazen, a sizzle reel of season-two highlights, and a segment on Ashton Kutcher's guest-starring role. Other notable guest stars in season two include Stephan Root, Natasha Lyonne, and football players Jim McMahon and Willie Gault during a Superbowl episode.
Chances are anyone who knows about the show after all this time will be a fan trying to track down the DVDs. They are getting harder to find at a reasonable price as they are now out of print. So, if you are a fan and you see the sets at a good price, snap them up because they may not be around that much longer, and I have not (as of this writing) seen the show on any of the streaming services. The DVD release is not great, but it is likely the best that will ever be put out for the show.
The feel of the second season was much like the first, with the episodes telling a self-contained story, picking up the story in the middle (or later) of the story, and then catching the audience up using flashbacks. This season tackled topics like pregnancy scares, the teenage sex talk, Claudia taking up smoking again, adolescent love, both requited and unrequited, etc. The show told serious stories with a comedic twist, without going over the top into stupid, hokey comedy.
The best part of the show is that it depicted real people in relatable situations. The cast did not look like a bunch of supermodels, and the people were not depicted as perfect like a lot of sitcom families are. It filled in the studio audience's reactions with laugh tracks, but that never bothered me. I know some people hate shows with laugh tracks, so if that is you, it is worth keeping in mind.
As with the first season release, this DVD set is fairly bare-bones. It contains the 22 episodes on three discs. The discs are in paper sleeves inside the case, which sit in a rectangular cutout. It is actually a pretty good setup to keep the discs from getting scratched up. There are no captions, which may be a pain if you are hard of hearing or watch TV while working out on a treadmill or elliptical or something like that. There are about 25 minutes of extras, including an interview with Kevin Corrigan, a gag reel, an interview with Jake Burbage and Griffen Frazen, a sizzle reel of season-two highlights, and a segment on Ashton Kutcher's guest-starring role. Other notable guest stars in season two include Stephan Root, Natasha Lyonne, and football players Jim McMahon and Willie Gault during a Superbowl episode.
Chances are anyone who knows about the show after all this time will be a fan trying to track down the DVDs. They are getting harder to find at a reasonable price as they are now out of print. So, if you are a fan and you see the sets at a good price, snap them up because they may not be around that much longer, and I have not (as of this writing) seen the show on any of the streaming services. The DVD release is not great, but it is likely the best that will ever be put out for the show.
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