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The Bizarre 90s Sitcom That Broke The Fourth Wall Has Been Erased From History

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published

Back in 1995, a new broadcast television network was launched, The WB, and despite having the financial backing of Ted Turner, every single show looked like it had a budget roughly equivalent to a college production of Hamlet.

One of the highlights of the initial launch was Unhappily Ever After, a sitcom from Ron Leavitt, the same man behind Fox’s smash hit, Married…With Children. While the two shows were similar on the surface, Unhappily Ever After has become more famous for the backstage drama than anything that was put on screen.

The Spiritual Sequel To Married … With Children

Unhappily Ever After

Unhappily Ever After was about a highly dysfunctional family featuring the mom, Jennifer (Stephanie Hodge), as mean-spirited, judgmental, and hateful towards everyone for different reasons. The father, Jack (Geoff Pierson), is a schizophrenic alcoholic who frequently seeks life advice from Mr. Floppy, a stuffed bunny voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait. There are three kids: the not-bright Ryan (Kevin Connolly), the perfect Tiffany (Nikki Cox), and the forgotten, most normal child, Ross (Justin Berfield).

It sounds like a fairly standard sitcom setup, even if it’s a little mean-spirited. So how did this show go so far off the rails that, in-universe, a WB executive appeared on camera to reverse the death of one of the characters?

Bobcat Goldthwait Stole The Show

Unhappily Ever After

For starters, despite the low-budget appearance and often laughably bad acting, Unhappily Ever After was a success. The series ran for over 100 episodes and five seasons, hitting the magical number needed to run in syndication. Ron Leavitt’s production team was also in tune with viewers, making changes each season based on viewer feedback, such as having Jack move back into the house and developing more stories centered on Ryan and Tiffany.

The problem was that as the show went on, and the spotlight shifted from Jennifer and Jack to the kids, it became more about high school and college adventures than the dysfunctional family. As a result, in Unhappily Ever After Season 4, Jennifer is killed off-screen with the explanation that she fell asleep in a tanning booth and started haunting the family as a ghost. To say that the audience didn’t receive this well would be an understatement.

Breaking The Fourth Wall Before Fading Into Obscurity

Unhappily Ever After

The Unhappily Ever After writers knew this would happen, as they reversed course in the next episode by having a WB executive walk on set and announce that the storyline wasn’t working, so Jennifer returned alive (following a failed exorcism). Stephanie Hodge left the show after the season, with the excuse given that she ran away with her lesbian lover, but the damage was done. It remains the strangest moment on an already strange sitcom.

Audiences accepted a schizophrenic dad talking to a stuffed bunny, but a ghost mom was a bridge too far. Granted, part of that could be that Bobcat Goldthwait had all the best lines as Mr. Floppy, often acting as a crass version of Wilson from Home Improvement.

Unhappily Ever After

If you want to see Nikki Cox start her career as a brainy Honors student or enjoy the life advice of Mr. Floppy, you can’t. Not only has Unhappily Ever After never been on a streaming service, but it also never had a DVD release. For now, the sitcom will remain a strange fever dream that seems too weird to have ever existed.


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How to watch Norway vs. England online for free

TL;DR: Live stream Norway vs. England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free on ITVX. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN, an Official Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026.


The 2026 FIFA World Cup is reaching its dramatic conclusion. One half of the semi-final stage has already been decided, and now Norway face off against England for a place in the final four.

England came through an epic clash with Mexico in the last round, relying on goals from Bellingham and Kane. Norway shocked the world by beating Brazil thanks to two goals from Erling Haaland. Can the Manchester City striker do the same against England? It’s going to be a fascinating battle between two confident sides.

If you want to watch Norway vs. England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Norway vs. England?

Norway vs. England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off at 5 p.m. ET on July 11. This fixture takes place at the Miami Stadium.

How to watch Norway vs. England for free

Norway vs. England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup is available to live stream for free on ITVX.

ITVX is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock ITVX to live stream the 2026 World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Norway vs. England for free by following these simple steps:

  1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)

  2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

  3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

  4. Visit ITVX

  5. Watch Norway vs. England for free from anywhere in the world

$12.99 only at ExpressVPN

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the 2026 World Cup without actually spending anything. This obviously isn’t a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Norway vs. England (plus more World Cup fixtures) before recovering your investment.

ExpressVPN’s regular 30-day money-back guarantee is not available for any subscriptions purchased during the FIFA World Cup between June 10 and July 11. ExpressVPN remains our top pick for sport, but you will need to pay the monthly rate. Alternatively, Proton VPN still offers that all-important money-back guarantee.

What is the best VPN for ITVX?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on ITVX, for a number of reasons:

  • Servers in 105 countries including the UK

  • Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

  • Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

  • Fast connection speeds free from throttling

  • Up to 10 simultaneous connections

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99. That covers you for the duration of the World Cup.

Live stream Norway vs. England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free.

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James Gunn’s Raunchy, R-Rated Superhero Comedy With Office Star Delivers Swift And Brutal Justice 

By Robert Scucci
| Updated

Any grown man will tell you that some of the best moments of his childhood involved playing superheroes with his friends. If you could use your imagination, throw some sort of mask over your eyes, and maybe even arm yourself with the lid from a trash can, you were all set. It goes without saying that every friend group had one sociopath who wanted to be the villain, which is why the trash can lid came in handy. You didn’t have much time before they started throwing rocks, which more often than not resulted in parents getting involved.

If you’re wondering what it might look like if a grown adult decided to play dress-up and start fighting crooks after punching out from his day job, you pretty much get 2010’s Super, starring none other than Rainn Wilson as Frank Darbo, or, as he would like to be known, The Crimson Bolt.

Super 2010

Thinking about how kids playing superheroes is pretty much universal (my 5-year-old son has the capes in his toy chest to prove it), Super feels almost like wish fulfillment for those kids after they grow up. Except our hero is so misguided in his vigilantism that the best we’re going to get from him is “Shut up, crime!” before humiliating himself in most situations.

From Loser To Super

When we’re first introduced to Frank Darbo (Rainn Wilson) in Super, it’s well established that he’s not exactly a prize catch. He’s deeply religious, works as a short-order cook, and lets everybody walk all over him. This includes his wife Sarah (Liv Tyler), a reformed drug addict who quickly shifts her attention to a ruthless drug dealer named Jacques (Kevin Bacon). Absolutely heartbroken, and worried sick that his wife will relapse in her new lover’s company, Frank decides it’s time to take matters into his own hands after the religious superhero from the local TV station known as The Holy Avenger (Nathan Fillion) pays him a visit in a dream.

Super 2010

Now calling himself The Crimson Bolt, Frank heads to the comic book store to do some research, where he meets Libby (Elliot Page), a nerd of the highest order who wants to help him fully embrace his alter ego. When he’s not working or researching, Frank is field-testing his Crimson Bolt suit by hiding behind dumpsters and waiting for crime to happen.

At first, we bear witness to some truly vulgar displays of power, if you could call it power because he has none. Frank gets into fights with people who cut him in line, and most of his crime fighting leaves both him and everybody else worse off after he intervenes. Once he starts building a reputation as a force for good, though, everybody catches on. Jacques and his goons realize he’s out for revenge because that’s what kicked off this entire crusade in the first place. Meanwhile, Libby wants in on the action. She knows Frank is running around as The Crimson Bolt and decides she should call herself Boltie and become his sidekick.

Super 2010

Together, The Crimson Bolt and Boltie are a force to be reckoned with. But is Frank’s gumption, and his sudden interest in building pipe bombs, enough to take down Jacques? And will The Holy Avenger support this kind of behavior? Only time will tell, but rest assured plenty of people get their asses kicked in Super.

Deserves Its Cult Status, But Don’t Compare It To Kickass

What’s most baffling to me is how Super only garnered a 50 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. For a dark comedy, it checks all the boxes. It has a conflicted protagonist who channels serious Dwight Schrute energy when he’s pushed into an awkward situation, and Kevin Bacon looks like he’s having an absolute blast playing the bad guy.

One possibility is that the James Gunn film was constantly compared to Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass, which came out the same year. It could be that audiences only had so much bandwidth for superhero comedies, and when push came to shove, Kick-Ass simply ended up being the more popular movie. Commenting on the similarities between the films, Millar chalked the whole thing up to parallel thinking. The reality is they were both working on similar ideas at roughly the same time, but the end result is two very different movies.

If I’m being honest, I think Super is the superior movie, mostly because nobody has any enhanced abilities. It’s a spiritual journey that one man goes through after his whole world falls apart, and his naivety about how the world works is what sells most of the humor. If anything, you should watch both films as a double feature because they’re cut from the same cloth while operating in completely different lanes.

Super 2010

As of this writing, Super is streaming for free on Tubi.


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Entertainment

James Gunn’s Raunchy, R-Rated Superhero Comedy With Office Star Delivers Swift And Brutal Justice 

By Robert Scucci
| Updated

Any grown man will tell you that some of the best moments of his childhood involved playing superheroes with his friends. If you could use your imagination, throw some sort of mask over your eyes, and maybe even arm yourself with the lid from a trash can, you were all set. It goes without saying that every friend group had one sociopath who wanted to be the villain, which is why the trash can lid came in handy. You didn’t have much time before they started throwing rocks, which more often than not resulted in parents getting involved.

If you’re wondering what it might look like if a grown adult decided to play dress-up and start fighting crooks after punching out from his day job, you pretty much get 2010’s Super, starring none other than Rainn Wilson as Frank Darbo, or, as he would like to be known, The Crimson Bolt.

Super 2010

Thinking about how kids playing superheroes is pretty much universal (my 5-year-old son has the capes in his toy chest to prove it), Super feels almost like wish fulfillment for those kids after they grow up. Except our hero is so misguided in his vigilantism that the best we’re going to get from him is “Shut up, crime!” before humiliating himself in most situations.

From Loser To Super

When we’re first introduced to Frank Darbo (Rainn Wilson) in Super, it’s well established that he’s not exactly a prize catch. He’s deeply religious, works as a short-order cook, and lets everybody walk all over him. This includes his wife Sarah (Liv Tyler), a reformed drug addict who quickly shifts her attention to a ruthless drug dealer named Jacques (Kevin Bacon). Absolutely heartbroken, and worried sick that his wife will relapse in her new lover’s company, Frank decides it’s time to take matters into his own hands after the religious superhero from the local TV station known as The Holy Avenger (Nathan Fillion) pays him a visit in a dream.

Super 2010

Now calling himself The Crimson Bolt, Frank heads to the comic book store to do some research, where he meets Libby (Elliot Page), a nerd of the highest order who wants to help him fully embrace his alter ego. When he’s not working or researching, Frank is field-testing his Crimson Bolt suit by hiding behind dumpsters and waiting for crime to happen.

At first, we bear witness to some truly vulgar displays of power, if you could call it power because he has none. Frank gets into fights with people who cut him in line, and most of his crime fighting leaves both him and everybody else worse off after he intervenes. Once he starts building a reputation as a force for good, though, everybody catches on. Jacques and his goons realize he’s out for revenge because that’s what kicked off this entire crusade in the first place. Meanwhile, Libby wants in on the action. She knows Frank is running around as The Crimson Bolt and decides she should call herself Boltie and become his sidekick.

Super 2010

Together, The Crimson Bolt and Boltie are a force to be reckoned with. But is Frank’s gumption, and his sudden interest in building pipe bombs, enough to take down Jacques? And will The Holy Avenger support this kind of behavior? Only time will tell, but rest assured plenty of people get their asses kicked in Super.

Deserves Its Cult Status, But Don’t Compare It To Kickass

What’s most baffling to me is how Super only garnered a 50 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. For a dark comedy, it checks all the boxes. It has a conflicted protagonist who channels serious Dwight Schrute energy when he’s pushed into an awkward situation, and Kevin Bacon looks like he’s having an absolute blast playing the bad guy.

One possibility is that the James Gunn film was constantly compared to Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass, which came out the same year. It could be that audiences only had so much bandwidth for superhero comedies, and when push came to shove, Kick-Ass simply ended up being the more popular movie. Commenting on the similarities between the films, Millar chalked the whole thing up to parallel thinking. The reality is they were both working on similar ideas at roughly the same time, but the end result is two very different movies.

If I’m being honest, I think Super is the superior movie, mostly because nobody has any enhanced abilities. It’s a spiritual journey that one man goes through after his whole world falls apart, and his naivety about how the world works is what sells most of the humor. If anything, you should watch both films as a double feature because they’re cut from the same cloth while operating in completely different lanes.

Super 2010

As of this writing, Super is streaming for free on Tubi.


source

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