The Bill Engvall Show

The Bill Engvall Show
The Bill Engvall Show intertitle
Created by	Bill Engvall Michael Leeson
Starring	Bill Engvall Nancy Travis Jennifer Lawrence Graham Patrick Martin Skyler Gisondo Tim Meadows
Composer(s)	Jonathan Flood
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	30 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	23 minutes
Production company(s)	Welladay, Inc. (season 1) Parallel Entertainment TBS Productions
Release
Original network	TBS
Original release	July 17, 2007 – September 5, 2009

The Bill Engvall Show is a sitcom which ran on TBS from July 17, 2007 to September 5, 2009. The series starred comedian Bill Engvall and was written and created by Engvall and Michael Leeson.^[1] The series was canceled on September 25, 2009.^[2][3]

Set in suburban Louisville, Colorado, Engvall played a family counselor called Bill Pearson who cannot always understand his own family. Nancy Travis co-starred as his wife and Tim Meadows played his best friend. The Pearson children were portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence in her teens, Graham Patrick Martin, and Skyler Gisondo.

On June 9, 2008, the show had a one shot airing on CBS.^[4]

Plot

Engvall in 2010

Engvall and Travis offer a look at what it takes to be a parent in today’s world. They face day-to-day parenting issues like allowance controversies, driver’s licenses, parking tickets and larger issues like raising responsible children in today's world. They do all this while trying to keep the spark alive in their marriage and balancing work with family life.

Teenage daughter Lauren (Lawrence) is a typical high-school girl who is trying to find her way through classes and dating. Dim but lovable Trent (Martin) is the middle child. Bryan (Gisondo) is the resident baby and Brainiac of the family.

Bill works in the same building as his closest friend Paul Dufrayne (Meadows). Paul is a hair-replacement specialist who is treated like part of the Pearson family. The Pearsons often need to save Paul from his own neurosis.

Characters

Actor	Character	Description
Bill Engvall	Bill Pearson	A family counselor whose family needs some help as well.
Nancy Travis	Susan Pearson (née Murray)	Bill's witty and loving wife. She always tries to keep the family together.
Jennifer Lawrence	Lauren Pearson	Bill and Susan's daughter. She is the oldest and is the leader when the kids scheme and plan.
Graham Patrick Martin	Trent Pearson	Bill and Susan's older son. He lacks common sense, although he proves to be intelligent at times.
Skyler Gisondo	Bryan Pearson	Bill and Susan's younger son. A bit on the "odd" side, Bryan loves to show off his vast knowledge of strange and unusual facts. This naturally makes him the target of his siblings' jokes.
Tim Meadows	Paul Dufrayne	One of Bill's best friends since the 1980s. Originally he wanted to be a doctor, as seen in the episode "How Bill Met Susan", but ended up opening a hair transplant practice located in the same building as Bill.
Brian Doyle-Murray	Mr. Faulkner	The Pearsons' gruff and crotchety neighbor. He likes to give Bill a hard time but has a soft spot for Susan. It is revealed his first name is Ernest.
Cynthia Watros	A.J.	Susan's best friend. A.J. currently lives in a "vanabago" and has been known to park it in the Pearson family's driveway from time to time.

International broadcasters

• Nine Network Primary Channel – Australia
• Super Channel – Canada
• Kanal 7 – Denmark
• TV1 – Lithuania
• TV2 – New Zealand
• TVNorge – Norway
• TV Slovenija 2 – Slovenia
• TV3 – Sweden
• Novyi Kanal – Ukraine
• Dubai One – United Arab Emirates

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	8	July 17, 2007	September 4, 2007
	2	12	June 12, 2008	November 15, 2008
	3	10	July 18, 2009	September 5, 2009

Episodes

Season 1: 2007^[5]

No. in season	No. in series	Written by	Directed by	Title	Original air date
1	1	"Good People"	TBA	TBA	July 17, 2007
Trent, the third string quarterback ends up as the starting quarterback and Bill struggles trying to help the boy improve his skills. Bill goes a little too far and Trent decides he does not want his dad at the game. Meanwhile, Lauren wants to get her belly button pierced.
2	2	"Aloha, Raffles"	TBA	TBA	July 24, 2007
Bill plans to take the family on vacation to Hawaii. When he discovers that the family dog, Raffles is sick, the family must decide whether or not to try an expensive surgery. The kids try to help raise money to save Raffles in an unconventional way.
3	3	"How Bill Met Susan"	TBA	TBA	July 31, 2007
To celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary, Susan gets Bill tickets to a Broncos game. Their plans are derailed, however, after Bill reveals that when he and Susan first started dating, he was also seeing another woman.
4	4	"Have You Seen My Muffins, Man?"[6]	TBA	TBA	August 7, 2007
Susan decides she wants to sell her muffins to make some extra money, and Bill tries his best to support her even though he's not thrilled with the idea. Bryan works on his rocket for the science fair with the goal to beat one of his friends.
5	5	"Feel Free To Say No"	TBA	TBA	August 14, 2007
Bill and Susan have many issues on to address in their home. Trent is having trouble in school, Bryan's pet snake got loose and Lauren got into a car accident.
6	6	"Jealous Guy"	TBA	TBA	August 21, 2007
Susan informs Bill that they need some more "us time", but when Bill tries to use Paul's advice and tries to take Susan to a Chris Isaak concert, Susan declines because she had a relationship with Chris Isaak in college.
7	7	"The Birthday"	TBA	TBA	August 28, 2007
Bill is celebrating his 46th birthday with the family. Bill is hoping for a motorcycle, but is surprised by his actual gift. Lauren works on getting a fake ID to get into a club.
8	8	"Go Ahead, See If I Karaoke"	TBA	TBA	September 4, 2007
Bill takes Susan out with friends to sing Karaoke and someone has a little too much to drink. Lauren meets a new boy that Bill does not like.

Season 2: 2008^[7]

No. in season	No. in series	Title	Written by	Directed by	Original air date
9	1	"But That's Not Fair"	TBA	TBA	June 12, 2008
Bill and Susan don't believe that their kids are earning their allowances. To rectify the situation, they make the kids clean the garage for free. The kids respond by going on strike. Meanwhile, Bill struggles with the cell phone company.
10	2	"Ask Your Mother"	TBA	TBA	June 19, 2008
Bill decides to become more involved at home, when he discovers that his kids go to their mother for everything. But the plan backfires when Bill lets Lauren go to the mall with a shoplifter. So he decides to make a grid, actually a chart, of all the things the kids do, but he "quits" when it gets too complicated. Meanwhile, Paul has more lady troubles.
11	3	"No Gifts Please"	TBA	TBA	June 26, 2008
Susan breaks her "no gift" policy, leaving Bill with a terrible surprise and guilty conscience. Trent can't sleep so the family tries to make him go to sleep earlier.
12	4	"Pineblock Derby"	TBA	TBA	July 3, 2008
Bill agrees to help Bryan build a car for the pineblock derby, but things backfire when Bill and Bryan are disqualified from "The Pine Block Derby" because Bill lied to Bryan that he built the car, and it turns out that Uncle Paul put Led in the car to make it go faster. Meanwhile, Lauren's new friend takes a liking to Trent. At first, Lauren steps back on their friendship, but then when she learns from her friend that Trent is being "Used" it's time for Lauren to step in.
5	13	"Susan's Best Friend"	TBA	TBA	July 10, 2008
Susan's best friend, who has a wild side, comes for a visit; Bill worries that he and Susan are in a rut.
6	14	"Bill Talks a Good Game"	TBA	TBA	July 17, 2008
While Bill and Trent are playing a "Father-And Son" game of Basketball, Bill discovers that Trent can beat him at it. But Trent is talking to Bill about his problem at school, and Bill doesn't even listen because he's trying to prove something to HIMSELF. Meanwhile, Susan feels left out when Lauren And Aunt AJ start spending more time together, really connecting with each other.
7	15	"Drinking Party"	TBA	TBA	July 24, 2008
After Trent seems to lie to Bill and Susan, they snoop around his room to find out more information about a party they think he might be going to where alcohol will be served. Meanwhile, Raffles hides under Faulkner’s house and the family tries to figure out a way to get him out.
8	16	"Dream Lover"	TBA	TBA	July 31, 2008
Susan has a premonition that Bill will get involved in an affair with a woman named Penelope; Trent wants to get practice time to prepare for his driver's test.
9	19	"A Reptile Dysfunction"	TBA	TBA	August 7, 2008
Paul asks Bryan and Trent to watch his precious iguana terrarium; Lauren gets a job to earn enough money to buy a designer purse.
10	20	"Promzilla"	TBA	TBA	August 7, 2008
Susan goes a little overboard when helping Lauren with her prom and Bill is a little suspicious. Meanwhile Trent comes up with ideas on how to become famous on the internet with the help of Bryan.
11	21	"The Night Before Christmas"	TBA	TBA	November 15, 2008
When the kids do not show an interest in the upcoming Christmas holiday, Bill tries to show them the true meaning of Christmas.
12	22	"Honey Do"	TBA	TBA	November 15, 2008
When Susan begins to fix things around the house, Bill gets threatened by it and tries to regain his 'power' as man of the house. Meanwhile, the kids must decide who gets the money that is collected in the coin bottle.

Season 3: 2009^[8]

No. in season	No. in series	Title	Original air date
301	21	"Give Me a Break"	July 18, 2009
With money getting tight, Bill must tell Lauren that the family can't afford her spring break trip. Meanwhile, Paul must explain how he lost all of Trent's baby pictures.
302	22	"You Decide"	July 18, 2009
Bill realizes that he is being passive aggressively manipulated by Susan and decides to do something about it by taking it upon himself to shop for their new bedspread. Trent, meanwhile, tries too hard to impress a girl and, with Bryan and Lauren's help, winds up joining her on a mock United Nations delegation representing India. And then Bill and Susan get an eye-full when their neighbor, Mr. Faulkner (guest star Brian Doyle-Murray), decides to indulge in his new hot tub au natural.
303	23	"Let It Go"	July 25, 2009
Bill gets upset when he finds out Susan and her friends discuss their husbands during their girls-only game night, and he's determined to find out what has been said about him. Meanwhile, Bryan struggles to accept his first B on a science test so Lauren convinces him this is the beginning of what will surely be a steady decline in his IQ, and uses it to her advantage to tease her little brother.
304	24	"The Way We Were"	August 1, 2009
When Susan tells Bill she misses the excitement of young love, he decides to revive that feeling by recreating the best moments from their dating days. While they're out, Lauren and Trent have to babysit Bryan, but they each have dates to go see a movie. The only solution is to take him to the movies as well, which is a great plan until Bryan disappears. NASCAR driver Carl Edwards guest-stars.
305	25	"Oh Brother"	August 8, 2009
Bill invests a hefty chunk of money in his brother Dan's latest sure-thing business proposition, something he's done too many times before. Determined to put a stop to it, Susan pushes Bill to talk to his brother about being a responsible adult. Meanwhile, when Trent and Lauren get into a feud over a pen, Bryan pulls a Yojimbo by playing his siblings against each other for his own gain. Stephen Dunham (The Mummy) guest-stars.
306	26	"I Like It That Way"	August 15, 2009
When Bill refuses to shave his beard after a fishing trip, Susan decides to teach him a lesson, and Paul winds up in the crossfire. Meanwhile, Bryan tries to join Trent in tormenting Lauren, but it's unclear he has what it takes to be a prankster.
307	27	"The Coffee Maker"	August 22, 2009
Now that Bill's brother Danny has hit it big, he's been showering Bill's family with gifts. But Bill disapproves of what he believes to be Danny's attempt at buying their love. Paul makes a donation to the school's silent auction and winds up with a crushed ego.
308	28	"United Front"	August 29, 2009
After Susan grounds Lauren for a month for lying to her, Bill has trouble agreeing with the severity of the punishment. And Paul enlists the aid of Bryan and Trent to create an online profile that will make him look good to the ladies.
309	29	"Car Trouble"	September 5, 2009
After Trent earns enough money to buy a car, Bill decides to help him pick out just the right vehicle. But his research doesn't produce the results Trent wants. And Bryan has problems dealing with a school bully.
310	30	"Trash Talk"	September 5, 2009
Bill and Susan get into a feud with a new neighbor over trashcans on the curb, but Bill goes a little overboard in his tactics, especially when Paul decides to get involved. Meanwhile, Trent fails his driving test, and he's convinced it's because he lost his lucky red quarter.

Home release

The first season of The Bill Engvall Show was released on DVD on May 20, 2008. Bonus features include an overview of the show, a set tour, interviews with the cast and an "Ask Bill" segment.^[9] Beginning January 22, 2013, Warner Archive released seasons 2 & 3 together in one set, completing the series on DVD.

References

1. "TBS "The Bill Engvall Show"".
2. Sassone, Bob (25 September 2009). "Will you miss The Bill Engvall Show?". AOL. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
3. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/25/confirmed-tbs-ends-the-bill-engvall-show/28468
4. "Zap2it, "'Bill Engvall Show' Travels to CBS"".
5. "The Bill Engvall Show Season 1 Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
6. Cf. nursery rhyme "The Muffin Man".
7. "The Bill Engvall Show Season 2 Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
8. "The Bill Engvall Show Season 3 Episode Guide". MSN.com. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
9. "TBS".

External links

• The Bill Engvall Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bill Engvall Show at TV.com