Shark Bytes

Typical eighties tripe. Over-acting, stale jokes, bad writing. One of the biggest problems I had with this show is that it took an actor I really loved, Judd Hirsch, and put him in a second-rate sitcom. He should never have taken this part. It was way below his calling.

And, yes, the theme song was awful.

This was another one of those '80s shows that critics heralded as a magnificent example of highly intellectual sitcommery (see also: The Famous Teddy Z) but that was, in fact, merely a typical "schlub show" that occasionally indulged itself in supposedly witty wordplay (the name of John's support group? The 1-2-1 Club. Ouch.)

Jere (the guy doesn't know how to spell "Jerry"?) Burns as Kirk was someone the critics slobbered all over - didn't he even win an Emmy at some point? - but his acting was hammy in the extreme. Kirk made Larry Dallas from Three's Company look like a model of tasteful sophistication.

This overhyped bit of TV flotsam jumped the moment it was conceived.

Oh jeez, I can't believe I stumbled upon this show while browsing through the 'D' section of this website. I had completely, and mercifully, forgotten about this pitiful excuse for a television sitcom! Agh!

Having read most of the comments, yes, yes and YES, the theme song was far and away one of the worst in the history of TV. That voice made me wince! I've heard better sounds come out my BUTT! Dear John has become one of the very few shows I have ever seen that I use in order to compare other sh*tty shows to. It makes Night Court and Barney Miller actually appear to be funny by comparison, and that's saying a lot! It's even the same type of show as those two. We have the main character, who is pretty much the ONLY person around him who is sane. The writers must have thought that's a tried and true format for success, but to me, it's just old and worn out. Let's try something more original... and funnier. Next!

I actually watched this show a second time after the first horrific episode I saw because 1) I thought maybe I just caught a bad one and 2) I was stuck babysitting my little niece who wanted to watch it. It was worse than the first show I had seen weeks before! Embarrassingly bad! Dear John was to comedy what Etch-a-Sketch is to art! I only wish I could have turned it upside down and shaken it to erase it like I can an Etch-a-Sketch. PU!

All that and Judd Hirsch has a big nose, too. That Kirk guy was about as funny as Bull on Night Court. That is to say, not at all.

I know I've been beating around the bush and you still don't know what I think of this skunker, so I'll just say Dear John JTS on Daaaaaaaaaay oooooooone... Daaaaaaaaay oooooooone..... (Yep - that's sung to the Dear John theme....)

Peace.

Loved it. Cute show.

sucked hard from day 1 thank god i have never been that lonely & desperate to actually sit through this steaming heap. hey-i am sure its ok for u though.

i LOVED the theme song!!! are you guys crazy?

Show was average, but The theme song can cut through Glass, Steel AND Titanium all in one blow.

I saw Dear John as a kid but didn't fully understand the premise. So John's wife plays him and leaves and he ends up in a support group? It doesn't make sense. 30 minutes of Judd talking about nothing with his support group is stupid. The show hardly had more than one set. Its as if the cast members were lock in a room and forced to act. Everyone says Kirk was funny but he was actually more annoying than the british lady. The old lady was annoying too. All in all the show was pretty confusing and boring. I can't think of reason why it jts.

This was a pretty stupid show. I saw it in reruns in the mid-'90s. Most of the things I didn't like about have been mentioned already. The sappy theme song was bad, the lady who headed the group was annoying and Kirk was inane. I must admit, though, that there was a side of me who actually thought Kirk was pretty entertaining. Sort of like Larry on Three's Company, only not as funny. I used to hate it, though, when he said, "Cha-CHING!" That was just an attempt at a character catch phrase, but was lame. This whole show was lame. I vote it JTS from day 1. Peace.

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!!!

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.

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.

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?

My favorite moment was when the helicopter pick up kirk (Jere Burns) outside the window of the support group room! Funny sh*t

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!