My Problem With '8 Simple Rules'

Hey Guys x

Today's post might come out as more of a rant, which I'm OK with because I haven't ranted about something in a while!

Last year, I started watching the show '8 Simple Rules' when it started playing on Comedy Central. It originally came on between 2002 and 2005 but I didn't watch it when it was first on. Anyway, I really got into it. There were only three seasons, so it was over before I wanted it to be.

And I loved this show, and I still love it. Comedy Central doesn't play it anymore but if it did I would dive right back into it because I love a good sitcom.

However, I have a major gripe with a plotline of the show, that got more prominent in season 2/3.

Let me just explain the characters a bit, so you know who I'm taking about in case you never watched it.

The show revolves around a family, Paul and Cate Hennessy, and their children Bridget, Kerry and Rory. In the second season, the father in the show died (due to John Ritter's real-life tragic death), so the show introduced a grandfather and cousin figure to replace him, Jim Egan and C.J. Barnes. 

The problem that I had was overwhelmingly the way that Kerry, the middle child, was treated by literally everyone.

The premise of the show is that you have the beautiful child, Bridget (played by Kaley Cuoco) and the not-so-beautiful child, Kerry (played by Amy Davidson).

First of all, Kerry wasn't less beautiful than Bridget in my opinion, Bridget was just blonde and popular, so it came across that she better fit the conventional standards of beauty.

But my point isn't about who was prettier, I don't really care about that. And anyway, the pretty dumb girl vs the smart less-pretty girl is a formula for TV that has been done since the rest of time, and I'm OK with it.

It's the fact that Kerry was treated awfully.

When the father figure died and the show became less focused on the two girls, Kerry was pushed to the side so much by her own family. I don't care how her siblings treated her because siblings will always treat each other like shit sometimes and then revere them at other times, that's the point of a sibling.

It was by the adult figures in her life, especially her mother and older cousin, but her grandfather too, to some extent.

She was just seen as the independent smart one that could be ignored - which is why I think she decided to lose her virginity so young in season 3, to prove that she wasn't just the smart girl that everyone could ignore.

In the second season, I assumed that this blatant mistreatment of Kerry would be used as a plot device which would be used to further the development of all of the characters. However, as the third season ended, it seems like the only person who really changed was Kerry.

I guess it affects me because I've felt like a Kerry in my life, and I know many other Kerry's in my life, and it sucks that her own family treated her like she didn't matter.

What do you think? Am I being dramatic? Or did Kerry deserve better?

Lou xx