Unhappily Ever After

The series was created by Ron Leavitt and Arthur Silver, with Leavitt having previously co-created Married... with Children, and the two shows were often compared due to their similar dysfunctional-family themes.

The show was initially written as a starring vehicle for Stephanie Hodge, whose character Jennifer was the focus of the first few episodes, before the focus shifted to Jack Malloy.

Jack's imaginary companion, Mr. Floppy, was conceived as a surrealistic mockery of both ALF and The Muppets.

Mr. Floppy the stuffed rabbit was physically performed by Allan Trautman and voiced by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait.

In season four, producers decided to kill off Jennifer's character, turning her into a ghost known as 'Dead Mom,' but brought her back to life in a metafictional scene where a network executive tells the characters the jokes about her death 'are no longer funny.'

Despite being revived through this metafictional storyline, Stephanie Hodge decided to leave the show anyway, and her character was later written out by having her elope with a lesbian lover.

The original season one theme song was sung by Bobcat Goldthwait, with lyrics about a father kicked out by his wife who now only has his stuffed bunny for company; slightly modified lyrics of this same song were used in the final scene of the series finale.

Starting in season two, the theme song changed to Ray Charles' 'Hit the Road Jack,' referencing Jennie kicking Jack out of the house, with Floppy lip-syncing the male vocals and various female cast members lip-syncing the female vocals depending on the season.

Unhappily Ever After was one of four sitcoms that launched The WB network's original Wednesday night two-hour lineup, alongside The Wayans Bros., The Parent 'Hood, and Muscle.