The show's title and premise were derived from the book '8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter' by W. Bruce Cameron.

John Ritter experienced discomfort during a rehearsal on September 11, 2003, and was taken to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center—the same hospital where he was born—where doctors initially misdiagnosed a heart attack; he was later found to have an aortic dissection and died that night at age 54.

Two days after Ritter's funeral, Disney CEO Michael Eisner emailed ABC executives proposing that Katey Sagal's character Cate become pregnant and give birth during May sweeps, a pitch that was strongly opposed by ABC Entertainment's Braun and Lyne as exploitative, and the idea eventually faded after heated arguments.

James Garner and Suzanne Pleshette guest-starred as Cate's parents and David Spade as her nephew C.J. Barnes in the first post-Ritter episodes, which were shot without a live audience; Garner and Spade later became series regulars to fill the void left by Ritter.

The show returned two months after Ritter's death with a one-hour episode titled 'Goodbye,' which served as a tribute to his character, and the three unaired episodes Ritter had completed before his death were broadcast with an introduction by Katey Sagal.

Paul Hennessy's death was written into the show as an offscreen collapse in a grocery store while buying milk.

ABC cancelled the show in May 2005 despite its ratings being well above surrounding TGIF programs, largely because producing only three seasons (short of the 100-episode syndication threshold) made it commercially unattractive for daily syndication.

Creator and show-runner Tracy Gamble left the series over creative differences before the third season and was replaced by Judd Pillot and John Peaslee, who had previously worked together on the final season of David Spade's sitcom 'Just Shoot Me!'; Gamble later returned mid-season as a consulting producer.