Ranking ever so slightly above My Wife and Kids and Two and a Half Men in terms of overall quality, According to Jim has never qualified as a great show or even a good show. It takes its basic formula of Jim (Jim Belushi) and his wife Cheryl (Courtney Thorne-Smith) going head to head with their own set of lies as Cheryl’s brother (Larry Joe Campbell) and sister (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) go along for the ride as co-conspirators. While every drama and sitcom goes the marriage counseling route in drumming up extra comedy, According to Jim chooses a healthy dose of dishonesty as its one and only trick and then applies it to as many marital spats as it possibly can. On one hand the formula is incredibly tiring, but on the other hand they’ve done it so much that they’ve almost got the lying and cover ups down to a humorous science.
For the first time in the show’s history, the writers have created a plotpoint that actually made a difference: in the fourth season they married off Dana (Williams-Paisley) and added a new character in the form of her husband, unfamiliar with the scheming of the family he’s marrying into. With Dr. Ryan Gibson (Mitch Rouse) added to the mix, the show gets a new gladiator in the arena of lies that is Jim and Cheryl’s living room, wherein Jim and Andy (Campbell) instruct him in the ways of getting by on the absolute minimum and covering up the slack with lies. Is this how marriage really is or should be? Probably not, but the addition of Ryan gives the formula some badly needed fresh juice and brings Williams-Paisley closer to center stage which is undoubtedly a good thing as she and Thorne-Smith remain the two strongest comic talents in the show. The fourth season also toys with Jim and Cheryl having another kid, but they ultimately pass.
DVD Bonus Features
Extras include two featurettes: the first is Jim Belushi reflecting on the series and talking about the series’ 100th episode, the wave of popularity they were riding, guest stars, and the slight shift to being slightly more adult-centric in its target audience as opposed to its traditional family-friendly tone; the second featurette is the cast looking back on the child actors who play Jim and Cheryl’s kids and chart their growth from being mere props to stars in their own right.
"According to Jim: The Complete Fourth Season" is on sale July 5, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy. Directed by James Belushi, Mark Cendrowski, Philip Charles MacKenzie. Written by Jonathan Stark, Tracy Newman, Ron Hart, John D. Beck, David Feeney. Starring Courtney Thorne Smith, James Belushi, Kimberly Williams Paisley, Larry Joe Campbell, Mitch Rouse.
