LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - ABC's new comedy "Hope & Faith" has added sitcom veteran Ted McGinley to its cast.

McGinley, currently on CBS' "Charlie Lawrence," will play the husband of Hope (Faith Ford, "Murphy Brown") a stay-at-home mother whose soap opera-actress sister Faith (Kelly Ripa) moves in with the family when her soap character is killed off.

He's replacing Josh Stamberg, who played the part in the pilot, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

McGinley has a number of series to his credit, beginning with "Happy Days" in 1980 and ranging through "The Love Boat," "Dynasty," "Married ... with Children" and Aaron Sorkin's "Sports Night." He's also guest-starred on "The West Wing," another Sorkin creation.

He also has a reputation as a "show-killer," having been part of several ill-fated shows and joining others that were in decline. He's the "patron saint" of JumptheShark.com, a site that tracks when TV shows began their decline. (The site's name refers to an episode of "Happy Days" in which Fonzie jumps over a shark in a water-skiing stunt. The episode aired in 1977, three years before McGinley joined the show.)

Kelly Ripa annoys me for some reason, and there's something about Ted McGinley that does as well. I hated his character on The Love Boat, (whoever came up with the idea that Ace should have a line like "Flash those pearlies" should be ashamed of themselves, it's so bad).
I have yet to see him in a role where he portrays more than than an arrogant, full of himself character. He doesn't seem to have all that much depth based on what I've seen.
What he needs to get is a movie of the week where he's portraying something other than the sex starved man--who attracts women like flies. I'll admit he's good-looking, but he does seem to have a death effect on shows he's in.
I think Love Boat should have been cancelled before he even had a chance to join the cast. Along with the Love Boat mermaids, the ball was dropped on that show once Fred Grandy and Lauren Tewes left.
:(