Editing My Two Dads

{{short description|American sitcom}}
{{About|the American sitcom|the Doogie Howser, M.D. episode|List of Doogie Howser, M.D. episodes#ep44}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2016}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = My Two Dads.png
| image_size           =
| image_alt            = "My Two Dads" title card
| genre                = [[Sitcom|Family sitcom]]
| creator              = [[Michael Jacobs (producer)|Michael Jacobs]]<br>Danielle Alexandra
| starring             = {{Plainlist|
* [[Paul Reiser]]
* [[Greg Evigan]]
* [[Staci Keanan]]
* [[Florence Stanley]]
* [[Dick Butkus]]
* [[Giovanni Ribisi]]
* [[Chad Allen (actor)|Chad Allen]]
}}
| theme_music_composer = Greg Evigan,<br>Lenny Macaluso &<br>Michael Jacobs
| opentheme            = "You Can Count on Me,"<br>performed by Greg Evigan
| endtheme             = "You Can Count on Me" (instrumental)
| composer             = Don Peake (1987–1988)<br>[[Ray Colcord]] (1988–1990)
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 3
| num_episodes         = 60
| list_episodes        = List of My Two Dads episodes
| executive_producer   = Michael Jacobs
| camera               = [[Videotape]]; [[Multi-camera setup|Multi-camera]]
| runtime              = approx. 22 minutes
| company              = [[Michael Jacobs (producer)|Michael Jacobs Productions]]<br>[[TriStar Television|Tri-Star Television]]<br>(1987)<br>(season 1)<br>[[Columbia Pictures Television]]<br>(1988–1990)<br>(seasons 1–3)
| network              = [[NBC]]
| first_aired          = {{Start date|1987|09|20}}
| last_aired           = {{End date|1990|04|30}}
| related              =  
}}

'''''My Two Dads''''' is an American [[sitcom]] television series that was produced by [[Michael Jacobs (producer)|Michael Jacobs Productions]] in association with [[TriStar Television|Tri-Star Television]] (later [[Columbia Pictures Television]]) and distributed by [[Stephen J. Cannell|TeleVentures]]. It stars [[Paul Reiser]], [[Greg Evigan]], and [[Staci Keanan]]. The series premiered on [[NBC]] on September 20, 1987,<ref name="LAT-review">{{cite news |first=Howard |last=Rosenberg |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-19-ca-2171-story.html |title=The New Fall TV Season: Television Reviews: 'My Two Dads' |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=September 19, 1987 |access-date=June 13, 2017}}</ref> airing three seasons through to April 30, 1990.

==Synopsis==
{{Quote_box|width=45%|align=Centre|"This is me, Nicole Bradford. Cute, huh? This is my dad and this is my dad. How did I get two dads? They inherited me. This is the judge who brought us together. She's here to make sure we're one happy family, with one dad who's down to earth and one dad with his head in the clouds!"| - Nicole Bradford's opening narration.}}
The series begins in 1987, after Marcy Bradford (only seen in the second-season episode "In Her Dreams"), the mother of 12-year-old Nicole Bradford, has died. The two men who had competed for Marcy's affections in [[Key West]] during the summer of 1974 - Michael Taylor, a successful but slightly neurotic financial advisor, and Joey Harris, a struggling, but laid-back artist (former friends turned rivals over their mutual interest in Marcy) - are awarded joint custody of Nicole.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/m/mytwodads_1299002265.shtml |title=Guide to Comedy: My Two Dads |date=January 29, 2005 |website=[[BBC]] |access-date=July 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050129054255/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/m/mytwodads_1299002265.shtml |archive-date=January 29, 2005 }}</ref>

Each week, the mix-ups and trials of two single men raising a teenage daughter provide the stories. Judge Margaret V. Wilbur, a family court judge who gave custody of Nicole to Michael and Joey, frequently visits the new family. She bought the building in which Joey lived, so is now the live-in landlord. Michael originally has his own condo uptown, but in Episode 2, Nicole stages a sit-in at school because she feels she had no home, and the men decide it is better to all live in one home. They choose Joey's loft.

Nicole's paternity is never revealed on the show, but in the episode "Pop, the Question," Michael and Joey{{snd}}after a falling out{{snd}}have a [[DNA profiling|DNA test]] to determine which of them is Nicole's biological father. The test is conducted against Nicole's wishes; she is happier not knowing who her true father is, and she destroys the results before opening them. Michael and Joey later resolve their differences and reconcile. Judge Wilbur looks at the results, but throws them away without revealing them to the audience.

The series comes to an end (in the episode called "See You in September?") when Joey reconnects with a former girlfriend named Sarah, and eventually moves to [[San Francisco]] to live with her and her daughter, Grace. He stays in contact with Nicole, Michael and Judge Wilbur, all of whom remain in New York. Nicole writes a letter to Joey, in which she makes reference to going out to San Francisco to visit, and she ends by saying that no matter what, or where he is, or who he is with, she would always be happy with him as one of her two dads.

The exterior shots of the building were taken at 484 Broome Street in [[New York City]]. {{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

==Cast and characters==

===Cast===
[[File:My 2 Dads.gif|thumb|The lead cast of ''My Two Dads'': Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan (top); Staci Keanan (bottom)|right]]
*[[Paul Reiser]] as Michael Taylor
*[[Greg Evigan]] as Joey Harris
*[[Staci Keanan]] as Nicole Bradford
*[[Florence Stanley]] as Judge Margaret V. Wilbur
*[[Giovanni Ribisi]] (credited as Vonni Ribisi) as Cory Kupkus
*[[Dick Butkus]] as Ed Klawicki (seasons 1 & 2)
*[[Chad Allen (actor)|Chad Allen]] as Zach Nichols (seasons 2 & 3)
*[[Amy Hathaway]] as Shelby Haskell (seasons 2 & 3)

===Characters===
The series regularly featured [[Giovanni Ribisi]] and [[Chad Allen (actor)|Chad Allen]] as two boys (Cory Kupkus and Zach Nichols, respectively) who competed for Nicole's affections, similar to how her two dads had done for her mother's. [[Florence Stanley]] appeared as Judge Margaret Wilbur, who was responsible for assigning Nicole's custody, and who regularly looked over the family; she was also their landlady, being the resident owner of the apartment building where the family lived. [[Amy Hathaway]] played Nicole's worldly best friend, Shelby Haskell. The cast was rounded out by former [[American football|football]] player [[Dick Butkus]], who managed the cafe on the building's first floor. The cafe (Klawicki's) was the second spot in the show around which a plot usually revolved; the first being the family's apartment. In the third season, when Dick Butkus left the series, the diner was then run by cook Julian (Don), but there was no explanation as to what happened to Ed Klawicki. Ownership of the diner was explained to have been taken over by Judge Wilbur at this point, and it was renamed The Judge's Court Cafe.

===''Night Court'' crossover===
''My Two Dads'' had [[Fictional crossover|crossovers]] with another NBC show, ''[[Night Court]]''. Judge Margaret W. Wilbur, played by [[Florence Stanley]], appeared on ''Night Court''. In turn, [[Richard Moll]] guest starred as his ''Night Court'' character Bull Shannon in the ''My Two Dads'' episode "Playing with Fire", protecting Judge Wilbur from a recently released criminal that she had sent to prison years before.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nbcsandiego.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/TV-Judges-Bad-Judge-to-Night-Court-Kate-Walsh-277627541.html| title=Good, "Bad," Hilarious: TV's Best Judges| first=Colin| last=Bertram| date=October 2, 2014| work=[[KNSD]] News| access-date=2021-10-25| language=en}}</ref>

==Episodes==
{{Main|List of My Two Dads episodes}}
{{:List of My Two Dads episodes}}

==Broadcast==
In August 1990, [[USA Network]] paid Columbia Pictures Television Distribution about $250,000 an episode, for as many as 15 runs over a three-year period, a price that was the syndication record until ''Major Dad'' surpassed that price two years later.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Jim |last1=Benson |author2=John Dempsey |url=https://variety.com/1992/tv/news/dad-shipped-off-to-cable-100864/ |title='Dad' shipped off to cable |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=October 28, 1992 |access-date=June 13, 2017}}</ref> Reruns of the show aired on the USA Network through the 1990s and again in the early 2000s.

From 2017 to 2021, the show aired on [[Antenna TV]] and is currently airing on [[Rewind TV]] since 2022.<ref>https://rewindtv.com/title-item/my-two-dads/</ref>

==Home media==
[[Shout! Factory]] (under license from [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment]]) has released the first two seasons of ''My Two Dads'' on DVD in Region 1.  Season 2 was released as a ''Shout! Factory Exclusives'' title, available exclusively through their online store.<ref>{{cite web| title=My Two Dads – Retailers May Spurn Stocking a 2nd Season, but Shout! Keeps Going Anyway| url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dads-Season-2/13096| first=David| last=Lambert| website=[[TVShowsonDVD.com]]| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204050714/http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dads-Season-2/13096| archive-date=2015-02-04}}</ref>

Mill Creek Entertainment released a 10 episode best-of set entitled ''My Two Dads – You Can Count on Me'' on March 22, 2011. The single disc release features episodes from the first 2 seasons.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.sitcomsonline.com/mytwodadsyoucancountonmedvdreview.html| title=My Two Dads – You Can Count on Me!| date=18 January 2011| access-date=2021-10-25| website=Sitcoms Online}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
!DVD name!!Ep #!!Release date!!Special Features
|-
|The Complete First Season || align="center" |22  || March 3, 2009 || A look back at ''My Two Dads'' with Greg Evigan and Staci Keanan.
|-
|The Complete Second Season || align="center" |16 || March 16, 2010 || N/A
|}

==Awards==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2017}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Recipient
! Result
! Refs
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1988
| rowspan="2" | [[Young Artist Awards]]
| The Most Promising New Fall Television Series
| style="white-space:nowrap;" | ''My Two Dads''
| {{Won}}
| 
|-
| Best Young Actress Featured, Co-starring, Supporting, Recurring Role in a Comedy or Drama Series or Special
| Staci Keanan
| {{Won}}
| 
|-
| style="white-space:nowrap;" | [[People's Choice Awards]]
| Favorite New TV Comedy Program
| ''My Two Dads''
| {{Won}}
| 
|-
| 1989
| [[Young Artist Awards]]
| Best Young Actor Guest Starring in a Drama or Comedy Series
| Chad Allen
| {{Won}}
| 
|}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0092410}}
* {{epguides|id=MyTwoDads|title=My Two Dads}}

{{People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy}}

[[Category:1980s American multi-camera sitcoms]]
[[Category:1987 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:1990s American multi-camera sitcoms]]
[[Category:1990 American television series endings]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]
[[Category:Fictional trios]]
[[Category:Television series about shared parenting]]
[[Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television]]
[[Category:Television series created by Michael Jacobs (producer)]]
[[Category:Television shows set in New York City]]
[[Category:NBC sitcoms]]