A cast reunion for 8 Simple Rules took place on Friday at the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health’s 20th Anniversary Evening event in Los Angeles, bringing together the cast of the sitcom in honor of their late co-star John Ritter. Originally titled 8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter, the series originally aired on ABC from 2002 to 2005, consisting of three seasons. Ritter led the cast of the show as the patriarch of the family with the series also starring Katey Sagal, Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson, and Martin Spanjers as the different members of the Hennessy family. Ritter died during the production of season 2, and the series moved on in his absence.
Ritter’s Hennessy family co-stars were all present at the event, including Sagal, Cuoco, Davidson, and Spanjers. Some of them can be seen in images shared to Cuoco and Davidson’s Instagram accounts, which also include them meeting up with Ritter’s wife, Amy Yasbeck. Cuoco gave a shout-out to her 8 Simple Rules co-stars while delivering an opening speech at the event as well.
“My Hennessy family from a little show called 8 Simple Rules is also here tonight so it’s great to be back together,” Cuoco is quoted as saying, via People. “Amy Davidson, Martin Spanjers, and Katey Sagal, just, thank you. This is really awesome. I think John is laughing his ass off right now. He cannot believe we’re here.”
Related: Annette O’Toole Joins Fans in Remembering John Ritter: ‘Will Never Not Miss Him’
John Ritter Is Missed
ABC
Davidson also shared a fond memory she has of Ritter, going back to her first table read for the show. She said that at the time, she had gotten “emotional,” and after the read, Ritter gave her some words of encouragement that helped her move forward.
“When that scene was over, he grabbed my hand under the table and he said, ‘You’re so f—ing talented,'” Davidson remembers. “And from then on, I knew I had a supporter — and a fan, I guess, if you will, and a dad. I felt supported like [with] my dad.”
In 2003, Ritter had been on the set when he suddenly fell ill and passed away from aortic dissection. He was just 54 years old. Yasbeck partnered up with the Thoracic Aortic Disease Coalition to establish the John Ritter Foundation in 2010. The org has established what is called the “Ritter Rules,” a nod to 8 Simple Rules, created to help educate others on how to recognize, threat, and prevent thoracic aortic dissection.
“It’s a trade-off. Because the legacy is keeping his family alive,” Yasbeck told People about keeping Ritter’s legacy alive.”And he thought everyone was connected and everyone is everyone’s family, which I believe, but he believed it very deeply. So in my heartfelt effort to understand what aortic dissection is, understand the genetic component, which is extremely high, and trying to protect John’s kids and his brother.”
To revisit the classic sitcom, you can find 8 Simple Rules streaming on Disney+.
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