8 Years Later: Remembering John - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

bobola · 12-29-2011, 02:27 PM

The year was 2003. I was 18 years old; the War in Iraq began on March 20; and on September 12, 54-year-old television icon John Ritter died.

Though I never had the privilege of meeting John, I had been a HUGE fan of his work on the hit 1970s sitcom Threes Company via reruns on Nickelodeon.

In 2002, I was honored to watch Johns big comeback to TV via the then-new series 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, which I learned months later was adapted from a humor book of the same name by Bruce Cameron.

The morning of Johns death, I remember as vividly as possible flipping through the channels (normal for me) until I turned to CNN, when I saw the words John Ritter Dies--and I just FROZE!!!!!!!

My instant gut feeling was, He cant be dead; he has a hit TV show to do.

From what CNN and other reputable news outlets reported in the days following, the previous day, September 11 (ironically, his daughter Stella celebrated her 5th birthday that day), John fell ill with what he initially thought was food poisoning; instead, by 8 p.m. ET & 5 p.m. PT that night, John was rushed across the street to the local hospital right across from the Studio lot where 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter was filmed in front of a live audience (ironically, the very same hospital where he had been born); however, at 1 a.m. ET, on September 12, 2003, he was dead.

Johns cause of death was reported as a dissection of the aorta (a medical condition I previously had NEVER heard of before where his aorta burst).

That weekend, on the CBS Early Show, Johns fellow colleagues, past and present, shared with them how they too were shocked and saddened over the sudden demise of their friend--and it gave me a comforting feeling, knowing I wasnt alone in feeling surprised over this.

The irony of Johns demise was that he was about to turn 55 on September 17; he died on his wife Amy Yasbecks 41st birthday, September 12; and he and Amy were about to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary on the 18th.

Besides Amy and Stella, John was survived by his mother, Dorothy Fay (who died the following November 5, 2003), and 3 grown children, including actor son Jason, now aged 31, who followed papa John and Grandpa Tex into the entertainment industry (Grandpa Tex died in 1974, aged 68).

12-29-2011, 02:27 PM	#1
bobola Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 07, 2011 Location: Statesboro, Georgia Posts: 14	8 Years Later: Remembering John The year was 2003. I was 18 years old; the War in Iraq began on March 20; and on September 12, 54-year-old television icon John Ritter died. Though I never had the privilege of meeting John, I had been a HUGE fan of his work on the hit 1970s sitcom Threes Company via reruns on Nickelodeon. In 2002, I was honored to watch Johns big comeback to TV via the then-new series 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, which I learned months later was adapted from a humor book of the same name by Bruce Cameron. The morning of Johns death, I remember as vividly as possible flipping through the channels (normal for me) until I turned to CNN, when I saw the words John Ritter Dies--and I just FROZE!!!!!!! My instant gut feeling was, He cant be dead; he has a hit TV show to do. From what CNN and other reputable news outlets reported in the days following, the previous day, September 11 (ironically, his daughter Stella celebrated her 5th birthday that day), John fell ill with what he initially thought was food poisoning; instead, by 8 p.m. ET & 5 p.m. PT that night, John was rushed across the street to the local hospital right across from the Studio lot where 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter was filmed in front of a live audience (ironically, the very same hospital where he had been born); however, at 1 a.m. ET, on September 12, 2003, he was dead. Johns cause of death was reported as a dissection of the aorta (a medical condition I previously had NEVER heard of before where his aorta burst). That weekend, on the CBS Early Show, Johns fellow colleagues, past and present, shared with them how they too were shocked and saddened over the sudden demise of their friend--and it gave me a comforting feeling, knowing I wasnt alone in feeling surprised over this. The irony of Johns demise was that he was about to turn 55 on September 17; he died on his wife Amy Yasbecks 41st birthday, September 12; and he and Amy were about to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary on the 18th. Besides Amy and Stella, John was survived by his mother, Dorothy Fay (who died the following November 5, 2003), and 3 grown children, including actor son Jason, now aged 31, who followed papa John and Grandpa Tex into the entertainment industry (Grandpa Tex died in 1974, aged 68).