This is Sean, Eddie, and Jimmy as shown in the opening credits.
Regular Characters
Sean Finnerty (Donal Logue) He has been raised by his kids
since day one
of the show. At first he was an electrician, then he became a bar owner
in Season III. Sean and Claudia are the only TV couple I remember being
this hot for each other, and best friends.
He cheated as a referee at
Henry's soccer game so Henry would win, then cheated so they would lose
a game later. He took his sons to see a high rise blown up in Season I,
and got way too close to the explosion.
Claudia Finnerty (Megyn Price) Now expecting baby number four.
She is taking
some college classes. Like Sean, she is raised by her kids.
A "fashion
photographer" interested in discovering her as a model was really a
public school photographer in Season IV. Claudia plagiarized a paper
from Lilly, who had just bought it online.
Eddie Finnerty (Kevin Fitzgerald Corrigan) He is generally up to
no good. He is
mysterious and he had wilder hair at first. You can't get a
straight answer out of him on many things.
Recently he stared at a
humidifier and ended up seeing a shrink. In Season II he tried to tell
Sean
"in
Africa, the river beds are full of diamonds.... there you can use
diamonds as aquarium gravel." He drives a tiny electric car.
In Season
IV, he dumped someone by saying "It's not me, its you."
Lilly Finnerty (Lynsey
Bartilson) This is probably one of
the most convincing
teenage girls I have ever seen on TV. The "Big Spender" talent
show was hilarious in Season I.
In some episodes Brad is distracted
from Lilly by Claudia. In Season IV, Lilly came home to find a smelly
bum
sleeping in her bed.
In Season I, she had progressively worse
flashbacks of her conversation with Frank, the hot dog guy, after
buying a hot dog and Diet Coke from him. She was thinking of hearing
"...and a Diet Coke" which became "and a *Diet* Coke" then "and a
"*DIET* Coke (with a sneer)" and finally "Dear Lord you
are so freaking fat!"
Jimmy Finnerty (Griffin Frazen) He grew an "afro" the past few
years. Later
seasons seem to show more of him, though in Season I he really kicked
some butt in one episode.
He's now the only Finnerty son on the show.
He couldn't sleep after Sean and Claudia were walked in on
by Henry in his bed! In Season IV, he smelled like the inside of a cab
in one
episode.
Henry Finnerty (Jake Burbage) (1/2001 - 5/2004) Was the most
optimistic of the
family. No longer on the show, because Jake Burbage's family moved back
east during the summer of 2004. This is why no one saw Henry on
Season V.
One of his funniest moments was walking
in on his parents when they were in Jimmy's bed, while having "marital
relations." He had a botched haircut from Sean in Season I. He was not
seen any time in Season V, but he was mentioned.
Brad O'Keefe (Bret Harrison)
Lilly's nerdy off and on
boyfriend. He was on
the very first episode, making out with Lilly in a car, and Sean threw
fried chicken at the car in response. Lilly and Brad both cheated on
each other during the summer of 2004.
Recurring Characters
Walt Finnerty (Richard Riehle) (a regular the first two seasons.)
He tells Sean
how he should parent. However, once he accidentally let Lilly get
wasted on some alcoholic cider when Sean and Claudia were gone. He is
from the old school. The Catholic pamphlets flashbacks of Season IV was
hilarious.
Sister Helen (Miriam Flynn) (on almost every episode until
the network
switch.) She frequently gets on Sean's case about how to raise
kids. After all, homework is more important than a Ramones concert.
Seen much more the first two seasons than later.
Near the end of Season
II, she said an obscenity to Sean, and she didn't say "fo-get you."
Sean royally blackmailed her after that.
Dean Peramotti(Mike Vogel) He was Lilly's boyfriend in Season II
and Season
III. He played the drums at a wedding in Season II. Sean daydreamed
about Lilly being pregnant by him. "Put your hand here, you can feel
him drumming."
Dan O'Keefe (Gregory Jbarra)
Brad's father, and the Finnerty's
next door neighbor.
In the second season, he really hated Sean, and Sean kicked his butt in
a boxing match.
In Season IV, he was busted for having an affair,
because Sean challenged him to a tennis match and Sean noticed it
seemed like all the weekend "tennis lessons" Dan had were
useless. Then Connie realized he had been cheating on her, and he was not
playing tennis.
Connie O'Keefe (Nancy Cassaro) Brad's mom. In Season IV, she was
seen making out
with Eddie in Eddie's electric car. She wanted to "get me some." This
was after she found out about
Dan's affair ("tennis lessons".)
In Season II she gave all the
crappy PTA jobs to Claudia, because Claudia could not make the parent
meetings because of her work schedule.
Tony Bustamante (Stephen Root) He plays Claudia's dad. He throws up past
loans at Sean, and was histrionically helpless after "major surgery" in
2004, which really ended up being liposuction. Also Stephen Root might have played the Walt character.
Danny Trejo played a bouncer on Season IV. He is also famous for saving a baby's life in a wreck in Sylmar, California on 8/7/2019.
