# What I Like About You (TV series)

What I Like About You is an American television sitcom co-created by Wil Calhoun and Dan Schneider. It is set mainly in New York City, following the lives of two sisters: vivacious teenager Holly (Amanda Bynes) and her responsible older sister Val (Jennie Garth). The series ran on The WB from September 20, 2002, to March 24, 2006, with a total of 86 episodes produced. With the exception of a brief period early in the second season, What I Like About You was a headline on The WB's Friday night comedy block.

## Cast and characters

Throughout their time on the series, two main characters—Vince and Lauren—are never given last names. Jeff is also never given a last name, although in the artwork for the season 1 DVDs, he is listed as "Jeff Campbell".

### Main

| Actor | Character | Seasons | Seasons | Seasons | Seasons |
| Actor | Character | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Amanda Bynes | Holly Tyler | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Jennie Garth | Val Tyler | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Simon Rex | Jeff Campbell | Main | | | |
| Wesley Jonathan | Gary Thorpe | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Leslie Grossman | Lauren | Recurring | Main | Main | Main |
| Michael McMillian | Henry Gibson | Recurring | Main | Guest | |
| Nick Zano | Vince | | Main | Main | Main |
| Allison Munn | Tina Haven | | Main | Main | Main |
| Stephen Dunham | Peter | | Main | | |

### Recurring

* Dan Cortese as Vic Meladeo (seasons 1 & 4)
* Edward Kerr as Rick (seasons 2–4)
* David de Lautour as Ben Sheffield (season 3)

### Guest

* Abigail Breslin
* Fran Drescher
* Megan Fox
* JoAnna Garcia
* Rebecca Gayheart
* Tony Hawk
* Minka Kelly
* Cameron Mathison
* Jesse McCartney
* Jenny McCarthy
* Jason Priestley
* JC Chasez
* Luke Perry
* Ian Ziering
* Penn Badgley
* Jenna Fischer

## Theme song and opening sequences

The series takes its title from the 1980 song of the same name by American rock band The Romantics; it was written by the group's members Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Rich Cole, and Jimmy Marinos. A cover version of the song, performed by the Canadian all-female rock group Lillix, is used as the theme song for the show. Lillix's cover version can also be heard on the soundtrack of the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and the soundtrack of the film 13 Going on 30. The theme was remixed into a techno/dance style theme for the second season by Philip Steir, who composed all the music for remainder of the series.
The pilot episode has a short opening sequence, and the cast members' names are only shown over the cold open. The first season's opening sequence features intercut scenes (as from home movies) of two girls portraying younger versions of Holly and Val, with shots of Bynes and Garth sticking their tongues out at the camera, mixed with footage excerpted from the first four episodes. The opening title sequence for the rest of the series features the show's cast in front of digitally inserted scenes of New York at night. Different versions of the sequence are used for SD and HD broadcasts.
Due to music costs, and rights, DVD and streaming releases replace the theme song of Lillix's cover. Remarking upon it when the series was added to HBO Max in January 2021 with the replacement music, TVLine called it "royalty-free garbage that not even Shazam can identify."

## Broadcast
### Episodes
#### Series overview

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 22 | 22 | September 20, 2002 | May 9, 2003 |
| 2 | 22 | 22 | September 11, 2003 | May 7, 2004 |
| 3 | 24 | 24 | September 17, 2004 | May 20, 2005 |
| 4 | 18 | 18 | September 16, 2005 | March 24, 2006 |

#### History

What I Like About You premiered on Friday, September 20, 2002, in the 8.00pm timeslot. When the second season premiered on September 11, 2003, the series moved to Thursday nights at 9.00pm, alongside The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. On January 9, 2004, the series moved back to Friday nights, in the 8.30pm timeslot. With the third season premiere on September 17, 2004, the series moved back to its original 8.00pm timeslot and remained there until the series finale in March 2006.

### International

In Canada, the series aired on YTV and later on Nickelodeon.
In Italy, the series aired under the name Le cose che amo di te (The things I Love about you) on Rai 2 from July 7, 2006 until August 2, 2008.

### Streaming

From January 2021 to January 2023, all four seasons of What I Like About You, began streaming on HBO Max.

### Syndication

From April to September 2006, reruns of What I Like About You aired as part of The WB’s Daytime WB weekday afternoon programming block alongside 8 Simple Rules. Reruns of the series moved to The CW (which replaced The WB) on September 18, 2006, airing for a full hour at 3:00PM on weekdays alongside Reba. On September 24, 2007, The CW reduced its daytime reruns of What I Like About You to one episode per day to accommodate the addition of reruns of All of Us, remaining until September 2008. Following the series' departure from The CW, the show began airing on ABC Family (now Freeform) in various timeslots during the daytime. The N aired the series in early 2009, a few months before their rebranding to TeenNick, where the series aired before subsequently being removed in 2013.

## Home media

On May 1, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in region 1. The three-disc set included a gag reel as its only bonus feature. Due to high music licensing issues, Lillix's cover of the theme song was removed and replaced with a generic pop-rock song produced specifically for the set. Due to low sales and high music licensing costs, no further seasons were given a general retail release.
On March 7, 2017, Warner Archive released the second season on DVD in region 1 in a three-disc set. The third season was released on November 27, 2018 in a three-disc set, and the fourth season was released on February 26, 2019 in a two-disc set. The releases for seasons two through four are Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) releases, frequently pressed on DVD-R discs. Although the final three seasons were originally broadcast in widescreen high definition, the episodes are presented on DVD in fullscreen.
| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
| The Complete First Season | May 1, 2007 | 22 | Bonus features include a Gag Reel. |
| The Complete Second Season | March 7, 2017 | 22 | None. |
| The Complete Third Season | November 27, 2018 | 24 | None. |
| The Complete Fourth Season | February 26, 2019 | 18 | None. |

## Ratings
### United States ratings

| Season | Season | U.S. ratings |
| 1 | 2002-2003 | 2.96M |
| 2 | 2003-2004 | 2.55M |
| 3 | 2004-2005 | 2.5M |
| 4 | 2005-2006 | 2.2M |

## Awards and nominations

GLAAD Media Award
| Year | Category | Recipient | Results |
| 2006 | Outstanding Individual Episode (In a Series Without a Regular Gay Character) | "Someone's In the Kitchen with Daddy" | Nominated |
Teen Choice Awards
| Year | Category | Recipient | Results |
| 2003 | Choice TV: Breakout Show | What I Like About You | Nominated |
| Choice TV Breakout Star | Wesley Jonathan | | Nominated |
| Choice TV Actress: Comedy | Amanda Bynes | | Nominated |
| 2004 | Choice TV Actress: Comedy | Amanda Bynes | Nominated |
| 2005 | Choice TV Show: Comedy | What I Like About You | Nominated |
| 2005 | Choice TV Actress: Comedy | Amanda Bynes | Nominated |
Young Artist Awards
| Year | Category | Recipient | Results |
| 2003 | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Guest Starring Young Actress | Chelsea Brummet | Nominated |
| 2004 | Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Leading Young Actress | Amanda Bynes | Nominated |