Joe's Life

infobox television
show_name = Joe's Life


caption =
format = Comedy
runtime = 30 min.
creator =
starring = Peter Onorati
Mary Page Keller
Morgan Nagler
Robert Gorman
Spencer Klein
George DiCenzo
Mimi Kennedy
Danny Masterson
John Marshall Jones
Al Ruscio
country = USA
executive_producer =
network = ABC
opentheme =
camera =
first_aired = September 29, 1993
last_aired = December 15, 1993
num_episodes = 11
num_seasons = 1
tv_com_id =
imdb_id =
website =

"Joe's Life" was a short-lived American sitcom which aired on ABC during the first half of the 1993-94 season. Nat Bernstein and Mitchel Katlin served as supervising producers on the series, while Lee Aronsohn and Rita Dillon were producers.

ynopsis

The series starred Peter Onorati as Joe Gennaro, a big lug of a husband to Sandy (Mary Page Keller) and father of three who had just been laid off from his factory job, where he had manufactured parts for aircraft carriers. Joe's untold period of unemployment brought him the duty of being housewife 24 hours a day, something he faced with great apprehension. In order to help the family through tough times, Sandy was forced to initially take a day and night job, leaving her away most of the time. Joe did the best he could in his new domestic responsibilities, but with three growing kids it was often a wild ride. Amy (Morgan Nagler), the oldest of Joe's brood, was the self-absorbed teen; Paul (Robert Gorman) was the super-confident teenage son, whose hormones always got the best of him; and cute little Scotty (Spencer Klein) was just carefree all the way.

Butting in on all the chaos was Joe's older brother Stan (George DiCenzo), who ran a successful, fancy seafood restaurant with his wife Barbara (Mimi Kennedy). Stan seemed to put Joe down for his choices in life and his lack of career stability, but all his disdain was quieted when he was able to offer Joe a position as an overnight chef at his restaurant. Joe gladly settled in to this job, and in turn eased Sandy's schedule as she now only had to work days (primarily as an office temp). Joe still had to play the part of "Mr. Mom" during the day, leading him on a blazing trail of scrapes caused by the kids, but often Sandy would get involved right with him.

Leo (Danny Masterson) was Stan and Barbara's teenage son, who idolized his Uncle Joe, much to the dismay of his parents. Also seen were Joe's friend Frank Ruscio (Al Ruscio), and Ray Wharton (John Marshall Jones), an effete, cultured chef at the restaurant.

Notes

*"Joe's Life" was just one of four sitcoms featured on ABC's fall 1993 schedule that had a common theme - all were about blue-collar or working-class families going to great lengths to get by. Two other new comedies in the same mold were "Thea" and "Grace Under Fire", with the established hit of the group being "Roseanne". Critics ultimately viewed "Joe's Life" as being the most bland of all the newcomers, so it was no surprise that this series bit the dust by mid-season.
*By the time of this series, both Peter Onorati and Mary Page Keller had been placed in many starring vehicles for ABC which had not experienced much success. Onorati had already starred on "Cop Rock" and "Civil Wars", while Keller recently had "Life Goes On", "Baby Talk" and "Camp Wilder" under her belt. For greater perspective, these ABC credits for both all occurred between 1990 and 1993. The suits clearly wanted to make the most out of the actors' contracts, so they paired them together for one more try on the network at series' stardom. After "Joe's Life" failed, Onorati and Keller understandably disappeared from series TV for quite a while, but still kept up their careers elsewhere in show business.
*Actor Robert Gorman was credited on the show as Robert Hy Gorman, which has been seen as a response to the popularity of the child stars on "Home Improvement" and their stage names (most specifically Zachery Ty Bryan's). Coincidentally or not in terms of this reason, "Home Improvement" followed "Joe's Life" on ABC's Wednesday lineup.
*ABC cancelled the show after 10 episodes, but the eleventh and final episode produced before the axing, "A Nightmare on Joe's Street", remains unaired.