''What I Like About You'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

co-created by

Wil Calhoun Wil Calhoun is an American television producer and writer. He is best known for his work on the sitcom ''Friends'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1999. In 2002, Calhoun along with Dan Schneider created the series '' What I L ...

and Dan Schneider. It is set mainly in New York City, following the lives of two sisters: vivacious teenaged sister Holly (

Amanda Bynes Amanda Laura Bynes (born April 3, 1986) is an American actress, known for her work in television and film throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Bynes began her career as a child actress, working on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series ''All That'' ( ...

) and her responsible older sister Val (

Jennie Garth Jennifer Eve Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom '' What I Like About You'' (2002–06). In 2012, she starre ...

). The series ran on

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

from September 20, 2002, to March 24, 2006, with a total of 86 episodes produced. With the exception of a brief period early in the second season, ''What I Like About You'' was a headline on The WB's Friday night comedy block.

Cast and characters

Throughout their time on the series, two main characters—Vince and Lauren—were never given last names. Jeff was also never given a last name, although in the artwork for the season 1 DVDs, he is listed as "Jeff Campbell".

Main

Recurring

Dan Cortese Daniel James Cortese (; born September 14, 1967) is an American actor and director. He played Perry Rollins on '' Veronica's Closet'' and Vic Meladeo on '' What I Like About You''. Early life and education Of Italian (Calabrese) descent, Cortes ...

as Vic Meladeo (seasons 1 & 4) * Edward Kerr as Rick (seasons 2–4) *

Stephen Dunham Stephen Dunham (September 14, 1964 – September 14, 2012) was an American actor, best known as Edward Pillows on the series '' DAG'' and known internationally for his roles as Isaac Henderson in '' The Mummy'' and Dr. Paul Chamberlain in ''M ...

as Peter (season 2) *

David de Lautour David Hugh de Lautour (born November 28, 1982) is a New Zealand television actor. He was born in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand and attended King's College, then The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) to which he received a $50 ...

as Ben Sheffield (season 3)

Guest

Abigail Breslin Abigail Kathleen Breslin (born April 14, 1996) is an American actress. She rose to prominence with the comedy-drama film ''Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at ...

Fran Drescher Francine Joy Drescher (born September 30, 1957) is an American actress, comedian, writer, activist, and trade union leader. She is known for her role as Fran Fine in the television sitcom '' The Nanny'' (1993–1999), which she created and prod ...

Megan Fox Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film '' Holiday in the Sun'' (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy ...

JoAnna Garcia JoAnna García Swisher (''née'' García; born August 10, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Sam in '' Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (1994–96), Vicki Appleby in '' Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000), and Cheyenne Hart-M ...

Rebecca Gayheart Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a teen model in the 1980s and subsequently appeared in a student short film by Brett Ratner, with whom she had an extensive relationship. In the ea ...

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...

Minka Kelly Minka Kelly (born June 24, 1980) is an American actress and model. Her first starring role was in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2009) and she has also appeared on the shows '' Parenthood'' (2010–2011), ''Charlie's Ang ...

Cameron Mathison Cameron Arthur Mathison (born August 25, 1969) is a Canadian-American actor and television host. From 1997 to 2011, he played the role of Ryan Lavery on ''All My Children''. Early life and personal life Mathison was born on August 25, 1969, in S ...

Jesse McCartney Jesse McCartney (born April 9, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama ''All My Children'' as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo m ...

Jenny McCarthy Jennifer McCarthy Wahlberg (' Jennifer Ann McCarthy; born November 1, 1972) is an American actress, model, and television personality. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for ''Playboy'' magazine and was later named their Playmate of ...

Jason Priestley Jason Bradford Priestley (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian actor and television director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–1998, 2000), as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick in t ...

JC Chasez Joshua Scott "JC" Chasez (; born August 8, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, and occasional actor. He started out his career as a cast member on '' The Mickey Mouse Club'' before rising to stardom with NSYNC, and ...

Luke Perry Coy Luther "Luke" Perry III (October 11, 1966 – March 4, 2019) was an American actor. He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the Fox television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He ...

Ian Ziering Ian Andrew Ziering (; born March 30, 1964) is an American actor best known for his role as Steve Sanders on the television series '' Beverly Hills, 90210'', which he played from 1990 to 2000. He is also the voice of Vinnie on '' Biker Mice from ...

Penn Badgley Penn Dayton Badgley (born November 1, 1986) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles as Dan Humphrey in The CW teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007–2012) and as Joe Goldberg in the Netflix thriller series '' You'' (2018 ...

Jenna Fischer Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

Production

Theme song and opening sequences

The series takes its title from the song of the same name, which was originally released on a hit record by The Romantics in 1980; it was written by the group's members Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Rich Cole, and Jimmy Marinos. A cover version of the song, performed by the Canadian all-female rock group

Lillix Lillix () was a pop rock band from Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, formed in 1997 when the early members were in high school. The band was originally an all-girl group under the name Tigerlily composed of guitarist Tasha-Ray Evin, keyboard ...

, was used as the theme song for the show. Lillix's cover version was also heard on the soundtrack of the 2003 remake of ''

Freaky Friday ''Freaky Friday'' is a comedic children's novel written by Mary Rodgers, first published by Harper & Row in 1972. It has been adapted for several films, including versions in 1976, 1995, 2003, and 2018, and was reinterpreted as a horror film f ...

'' and the soundtrack of the film ''

13 Going on 30 ''13 Going on 30'' (released as ''Suddenly 30'' in some countries) is a 2004 American fantasy romantic comedy film written by Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith, directed by Gary Winick, and starring Jennifer Garner. It follows a 13-year-old girl in ...

''. The theme was remixed into a techno/dance style theme for the second season by Philip Steir (who composed all the music for remainder of the series). The pilot episode had a short opening sequence and the cast members' names were only shown over the

cold open A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Amer ...

. The first season's opening sequence featured intercut scenes (as from home movies) of two girls portraying younger versions of Holly and Val, with shots of Bynes and Garth sticking their tongues out at the camera, mixed with footage excerpted from the first four episodes. The opening title sequence used for the rest of the series featured the show's cast in front of digitally inserted scenes of New York at night. Different versions of the sequence were used for SD and HD broadcasts. Due to music costs, and

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory ...

, DVD and streaming releases replaced the theme song of Lillix's cover of a song by the same name of the series by The Romantics. Remarking upon it when the series was added to HBO Max in January 2021 with the replacement music, TVLine called it "royalty-free garbage that not even Shazam can identify."

Broadcast

Episodes

Series overview

History

''What I Like About You'' premiered on Friday, September 20, 2002, in the 8PM timeslot. On September 11, 2003, the series moved to Thursday nights at 9PM, alongside ''

The Jamie Kennedy Experiment ''The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' is a half-hour-long American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series that debuted in 2002 and was broadcast on The WB. The host and star of the show is Jamie Kennedy, a comedian who presented a rea ...

''. On January 9, 2004, the series moved back to Friday nights, in the 8:30PM timeslot. On September 17, 2004, the series moved back to the original 8:00PM timeslot, remaining there until the series finale in March 2006.

International

In Canada, the series aired on YTV and later on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

. In Italy, the series aired under the name '' Le cose che amo di te'' (''The things I Love about you'') on

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting ''TG2'' news bulletins, tal ...

from July 7, 2006 until August 2, 2008.

Streaming

In January 2021, all four seasons of ''What I Like About You,'' began streaming on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

Syndication

From April to September 2006, reruns of ''What I Like About You'' aired as part of The WB’s ''Daytime WB'' weekday afternoon programming block alongside ''

8 Simple Rules ''8 Simple Rules'' (originally ''8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter'') is an American sitcom television series originally starring John Ritter and Katey Sagal as middle-class parents Paul and Cate Hennessy, raising their three chi ...

''. Reruns of the series moved to

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

(which replaced The WB) on September 18, 2006, airing for a full hour at 3:00PM on weekdays alongside '' Reba''. On September 24, 2007, The CW reduced its daytime reruns of ''What I Like About You'' to one episode per day to accommodate the addition of reruns of ''

All of Us ''All of Us'' is an American sitcom television series that premiered on the UPN network in the United States on September 16, 2003, where it aired for its first three seasons. On October 1, 2006, the show moved to The CW, a new network formed ...

'', remaining until September 2008. Following the series' departure from The CW, the show began airing on

ABC Family The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...

(now Freeform) in various timeslots during the daytime.

The N The N (standing for Noggin) was a nighttime programming block on the Noggin television channel, aimed at preteens and teenagers. It was launched on April 1, 2002, by Viacom and Sesame Workshop. Before the block's introduction, Noggin's daytim ...

aired the series in early 2009, a few months before their rebranding to

TeenNick TeenNick is an American pay-TV channel that is operated by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Aimed primarily at teens and tweens, its programming includes a variety of live-action series inherited from sister channel Ni ...

, where the series aired before subsequently being removed in 2013.

Home media

On May 1, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in region 1. The 3-disc set included a gag reel as the set's only bonus feature. Due to music licensing issues along, Lillix's cover of the theme song was removed and replaced with a generic pop-rock song produced specifically for the set. Due to low DVD sales and high music licensing costs, no further seasons were given a general retail release. On March 7, 2017,

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inten ...

released the complete second season on DVD in region 1. The 3-disc set is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available only from online sellers such as Amazon.com and their CreateSpace MOD program. Despite being a Manufacture-on-Demand release, the theme song is still replaced with the same song used for the season 1 DVD set, and although it was originally broadcast in widescreen high definition (the first season of the series to do so), the episodes are presented on the DVD in fullscreen format. The complete third season was released on November 27, 2018. The complete fourth and final season was released on February 26, 2019.

Ratings

United States ratings

Awards and nominations

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their liv ...

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United ...

Young Artist Awards The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:What I Like About You (Tv Series) 2000s American teen sitcoms 2002 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings English-language television shows Television series about sisters Television series about teenagers Television series by Tollin/Robbins Productions Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series created by Dan Schneider Television shows set in New York City The WB original programming