TVSquad

This week, we're going to take a bit of a departure from the shows we normally cover. It's very rare that a show that puts out 76 episodes could be considered by anyone to be gone too soon, and yet I make the argument that 8 Simple Rules (for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is that show.

I'm also not going to try and convince you that 8 Simple Rules was one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, because it simply wasn't. It was a fairly standard, solid series headlined by a brilliant comic actor... and then it became something else.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

This is a rather confusing week for DVD releases. Besides the sets below, there are many limited edition "combo pack" sets being released this week, including sets for 30 Rock, The Office, Battlestar Galactica, House, Monk, and Psych that include two different seasons each. There are many Taggart sets being released too

• 8 Simple Rules - Season 2
• 24 - Season 7
• 24 - Seasons 1-7 set
• Classic TV Western Collection - Collector's Tin
• Dragon Ball Z - Season 9
• Friday Night Lights - Season 3
• Ice Road Truckers - Most Dangerous Episodes

Hey, let's all mark our calendars, because it's a big day in the TV world. Now all the people who aren't watching According to Jim on TV can not watch it on DVD.

Season one of the ABC comedy (it's a comedy, right?) will be released on Oct. 21, 2008. It's part of a deal ABC Studios inked with Lionsgate Home Entertainment to distribute select titles on DVD. Season one of Reaper is next on Nov. 4, followed by Boy Meets World (which was discontinued in 2006), Hope and Faith, and 8 Simple Rules.

That's interesting, because I've got Season one of 8 Simple Rules here (no, I didn't buy it, a publicist sent it to me), and it's from Buena Vista Home Entertainment. So Lionsgate must be taking over distribution.

Sometimes it's really easy to forget that some of your favorite stars are getting up there in age. For example, Rockford Files/8 Simple Rules star James Garner.

The veteran actor, now 80, suffered a minor stroke the other day. Entertainment Tonight is reporting that he had surgery and will be home later this week. No other details are available at this time (even that ET page above is rather brief), but he seems to be doing well. I'm sure the TV show will have more information later today.

Older fans will remember Garner from such shows as Nichols. Really old fans will remember him from the '50s western Maverick (a role he reprised in the early '80s series Bret Maverick). Checking his credits, I completely forgot that he played God in the short-lived animated series God, The Devil, and Bob in 2000. Of course, I forget that show in general.

[via TV Tattle]

The two doctors who treated actor John Ritter after he went to the hosptial from the set of 8 Simple Rules... have been cleared of negligence charges.

Ritter's wife, actress Amy Yasbeck, sued the two doctors for $67 million, saying that they didn't do as much as they could do to save the veteran actor that night. The jury decided that the doctors were not at fault because nothing could be done to save his life after he suffered an aortic dissection. Defense attorney Stephen Fraser says that Ritter either didn't follow up in his care or didn't take his medication after a previous examination. The actor went to the hosptial from the show's set because he thought he was having a heart attack.

Interestingly, Yasbeck and her family have already collected $14 million from the hospital and other workers at the hospital.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• 8 Simple Rules... - Season 1
• The Adventures of Jim Bowie - Complete Series
• Charlie Lola - Vol. 5
• Daniel Boone - Season 5
• Darkwing Duck - Vol. 2
• The Dresden Files - Season 1
• Full House - Season 7
• The Hills - Season 2
• Home Improvement - Season 7
• Inside The Actor's Studio - Barbra Streisand
• The Muppet Show - Season 2
• Rome - Season 2
• Roseanne - Season 8
• Saved By The Bell - Hawaiian Style and Wedding in Las Vegas movies
• The Simpsons - Season 10
• Soul Food - Season 2
• The Suite Life of Zack & Cody - Vol. 2
• Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - Complete Series
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 5
• That Girl - Season 3
• The Tick - Season 2