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Dear John is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from 1988 to 1992. The series was originally based on the British sitcom of the same name. Dear John was retitled Dear John USA when it was shown in the UK. During its four-season run, the series was bounced to and from various time periods on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. When the series moved from its postCheers slot on Thursdays to a postNight Court slot on Wednesdays in 1990, series regular Jere Burns appeared in a network promo sidebyside with John Larroquette of Night Court. Dear John can be seen Monday to Friday on the Toronto based "Suntv" at 4:00pm. Except for a brief run on the E! network in the mid 1990s, the series hasn't aired in the US in years.

Not an option but I would have voted for Exit Stage Right... Ralph. The show was never the same when he left and a little later in Season 4 when Kate married a cop, she was no longer a part of the group it was barely watchable.

I don't think it boned. The few episodes I saw were funny and it could easily have become a "Taxi" sort of show, but it was never to be.

Wow, I never realized this show lasted four years!!

Season 4. Too many new characters and Ralph was gone. NBC kept moving it around on the schedule. Nobody could find it. I probably only saw about half the episodes the last season. Some channel should pick this show up.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070225141752/http://jumptheshark.com/


Other Thoughts:

I can't believe I was the one that had to get this show on the list! This show actually started out pretty decent. Kirk (Jere Burns) was hilarious and Judd Hirsch wasn't even that annoying. I liked that guy who sat in the back of the support group who never spoke. He was basically a regular extra. It jumped when Judd and his female love interest, Kate did it. After that it was more like "Deer John" because you were like a zombie caught in the headlights watching the now lame "lovers" storylines. (Or maybe John Deere because you wanted to chop up the writers with a lawn mower).
This show was remade for the US audiences and was, in actual fact, a British show with an entirely different cast. That's not to say that the US version was any better or worse than the UK version, but the series *was* written specifically for the actor who played John in the UK, Ralph Bates. It stopped being made when he died (prematurely) - so I guess this could count as being both Death *and* SCDA (for ALL the characters). But then, I guess technically it was an entirely different series... (or it's a new category). Incidentally, the powers that be showed *both* the UK and the US versions in the UK.
I loved this show!!! I hated when Kirk seemed to get more air time than the star, though. His character went through that "Fonzie Syndrome".
Eeeeyaaa, the opening credits. Ten years later I still get the theme song stuck in my head.... the syrupy woman's voice... the stupid lyrics.... I'm sure it will be playing over the loudspeaker in Hell.
John opening the door, then that awful voice bursting "Dear John!" The entire premise was offensive.
"DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR john!!!!!!!DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR john!!!!!!! By the time you read these lines, I'll be gone!!!" My friend claims every time she sang the theme song to her dog, Foxy, it would seriously freak out and shriek like a woman.
The very second the annoying theme music played for the first time. Listening to that shrill "Deeeeeeeear Jooooooooooohn" makes me want to disembowel myself with a jagged beer bottle.
This show was god-damn-awful to the very core. It made even Night Court look like "ER" in comparison; at least with Night Court you had Markie Post buxon figure to look at. The acting was so awful that I am sure I have seen better performances from actors at dinner theatres. But I did watch it once or twice, like a deer caught in the headlights, to see how much mental stress I could handle in a half hour. But my stress meter could not handle it when they brought in that old women to the cast. You know the one whose only joke was that she was a sexed up old witch who would hit on any man available. Who finds that **** funny. Yeah, he he ha ha!! How ironic. Hey folks, look at this old old broad who looks like she makes lemonade for he grandchildren every sunday try and hit on the janitor in the school and ask if he wants to do her in an uncomfortable place in the janitors closet. Ha ha isn't she precious. Hey, Maybe next week she will put on some S & M gear in next weeks show and bark like a dog.
I don't remember much about this show except I think Judd Hirsch played a defense lawyer. At one point, he was getting some pressure from somebody or some group. He was afraid of going to jail and the line he used was: 'They're trying to put my tookie in the squisher!' Is that crap or what? Give credit to Hirsch in surviving this to go on to Taxi and Dear John.
The above posters who can't stand that screechy, shrill nails-on-chalkboard theme singer are absolutely RIGHT! She makes Roseanne sound as classy and soothing as Lena Horne! TPTB should have the 'Dear John' Screecher flush out Osama bin Laden from whatever cave he's hiding in (as of 12-16-01)! No doubt he'd prefer to be hung on CNN to being forced to listen to another second of HER!
It was never funny to me. Judd Hirsch is too homely to look at every week. But worse is that awful sappy song! Deeeeeeear Jooooooohn! btw, I think it was sung by Bernadette Peters.
I guess I'm alone here, but I dug the show. Even the American version was very English feeling. Kirk was far and away my favorite character, followed by Ralph the hapless tollbooth collector. I thought it was hilarious when I was 12 and, after seeing it again in re-runs in college, still thought it was funny. The theme was rotten, the acting was stagy, but that was sort of the point.
This show is nothing more than "Taxi" where it takes place in a support group room rather than a taxi office and Hirsch is referred to as John rather than Alex. I have to admit that Kirk made the show somewhat worthwhile. The stupidest show was when one of John's former students shows up to his English class and gives a presentation about a career in publishing. Seeing how John is overworked and underpaid as a teacher, she gets him a job with her firm as an editor starting at 50K. He does a great job. Everyone is impressed. John gets to meet with famous writers and the hot looking former student has a crush on him. So what does he do? He goes back to teaching!!! I'm not saying that money is everything, but for crying out loud, we are to believe he leaves this great career because it's more fulfilling to him to be ignored and disrespected by a bunch of spoiled teenage hoodlums? Maybe if the made the publishing career sucked a little bit, I might have believed the story.
As someone who saw both versions (UK & US) the British version was far funnier. The US version was syrupy.The British version bitter sweet.The untimely death of Ralph Bates meant the British show didnt go on too long.
Eh, the show itself was all right. But that theme song was TERRIBLE! To this day, I still sometimes hear that awful soprano trilling in my head, "Life goes onnnnn, right or wronnnnnnnnng!" ARGH! >_<
Oh Judd? What did you do? From Taxi to this piece of sh*t. How far has Alex Reeger fallen? This show blew. I can't believe it was on for 4 years! I hated Kirk & that counselor with the annoying accent. Nice show Judd! Why don't ya do "Without A Trace 2"? A story about trying to find what's left of your career & dignity!
My favorite moment was when the helicopter pick up kirk (Jere Burns) outside the window of the support group room! Funny sh*t
I found the concept of this show appalling from the get-go. The show's opening depicts a guy coming home to his (expected) wife and finding a "Dear John" letter instead, as a perky female voice sings the show's theme song. What sort of show expects relentless hilarity from a guy whose wife walked on him? Judd Hirsch played the same kind of schlep on Taxi, but that was part of the point on that show. Here, he gets saddled with similarly unfunny, neurotic singles, the worst one being Kirk (Jere Burns, whose acting here turned me off of him for good). How could a show start off so wrong-headed?
Dear John was excellent at it's beginning. The pilot was very funny. When Dear John began to mention Millie Vanilli and L.L. Cool J. and Dan Quayle and others, it began to sag a bit. Time slot changes and preemptions did not help. The cast was superb. All of them had other credits.
After reading the other posts, I guess I'm in the minority here, but I really enjoyed DEAR JOHN during its too brief tenure on NBC. Television had already proved that humor can be mined from divorce and this show was further proof. Once again, Judd Hirsch was the calm at the center of the storm of some real wackos, especially Jere Burn's Kirk, who sometimes bordered on being cartoonish, but was nevertheless amusing. Isabella Hoffman was solid as Kate and I don't think the show jumped when she and John did it. I also enjoyed Harry Groener, Susan Walters, and Billie Bird's contributions to the show. The writing was a little uneven at times and the show was less amusing whenever it moved away from the One on One Club, but I found it an entertaining diversion that never jumped the shark.
I am a fan of Judd Hirsch-I think he is a great actor- but DEAR JOHN was nothing more than a mediocre show. It was OK its first season but got old really fast afterwards. And, oh yeah, that theme song was TERRIBLE!!!

It's been forever since I've seen this show but I remember liking "Dear John" as a kid- great show and great theme song.:) :cool: