After John Ritter died, we collectively wanted to go on. It was a rock-and-a-hard-place position, where it felt really wrong to just leave and end it, but it also felt uncomfortable to continue. There was just no really obvious right thing to do. And the people who make the decisions made that decision to move forward. I thought it was the most honest thing to do, and a way of honoring John as well. I was happy that they decided to let the story unfold as the family loses the father. I did feel like they tried to get back to the funny a little quick. I understand that’s the major thing on sitcoms—you want to get people laughing, but I thought that organically, it could have taken a little more time in telling that real story of the family getting through it. I think we did the best we could. It was just heartbreaking.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/katey-sagal,45150/

I'm glad the show continued. I love all the seasons to this show. Sure it was heartbreaking that John Ritter died, but it helped me at least to see his TV family grieving and moving on as well.

I think John would be proud of the episodes without him.

http://www.looper.com/35589/actor-replacements-ruined-show/

This ABC sitcom was also forced to reformat after the unexpected death of its star. 8 Simple Rules was built around Three's Company vet John Ritter, who starred as cranky suburban dad Paul Hennessy, desperately trying to rein in his wild teenage children. Filming had just begun on the second season of the series in September 2003 when Ritter fell ill on the set and sought medical treatment. He died later that day (http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20030912/explanation-of-john-ritters-death#1) of a heart defect that had never been diagnosed. Ritter was only 54 years old.

ABC announced that 8 Simple Rules would go on—and it did, with some necessary changes. No longer a show about a cranky dad, it became one about a family trying to pick up the pieces after the death of its patriarch (Paul was said to have died of a sudden heart attack). Two new stars joined the cast to fill the void left by Ritter: cousin C.J. (David Spade) and Grandpa Jim (James Garner). In its first season (2002-03), 8 Simple Rules fared a respectable #46 (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.tv/7oLAZAvK6wY) in the TV ratings. Without Ritter, by season three, the show moved to Friday nights and finished in 91st place (http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/final-2004-05-tv-ratings-now-out.201802/). 8 Simple Rules was not renewed for a fourth season.

Read More: http://www.looper.com/35589/actor-replacements-ruined-show/?utm_campaign=clip

They should have just let it go.

http://www.looper.com/35589/actor-replacements-ruined-show/

Somebody on Reddit recently said (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/vsble8/comment/if0enm6/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) that we may never see situations like the buzz that John Ritter's sudden and untimely death created for the show. What I mean, is some outside event that gets people to watch a show that they weren't paying attention to because of the buzz about the lead actor. Supposedly, over 20 million people watched (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/vsble8/comment/if0dhbm/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) the episode where Paul Hennessy dies when it first aired.

I'm glad the show continued. I love all the seasons to this show. Sure it was heartbreaking that John Ritter died, but it helped me at least to see his TV family grieving and moving on as well.

I think John would be proud of the episodes without him.

I'm probably in a minority here, but I don't like sitcoms that reflect too much on reality to a decidedly uncomfortable degree. Maybe it's partially because about eight years after John Ritter died, my own father died from after suffering cardiac arrest. And he like John, had issues with controlling and regulating his blood pressure.

I suppose my point is that, I'm particularly uncomfortable watching a family grieve in almost real time over the death of the patriarch when that essentially happened to me in real life. I guess this is why 8 Simple Rules would be a tough show to revisit and a show that I don't think carries a lot of rewatch value. We as an audience are quite literally and figuratively, reliving John's actual death.

It was handled well.

It was handled well.

Somebody on YouTube said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcYodRwbMOY&lc=UgzPHJQMw8agjtden6F4AaABAg) that the post-John Ritter episodes of 8 Simple Rules must've been hard to write. They couldn't just gloss over Paul's death, but they risked making the show not funny.