This show, to put it succinctly, Plymouth Rocks. It shows the terrible hardships of early settlers and their foibles and hubris. Somehow the puritanical Puritans remain human throughout.Sarah Vowell has a great bit on this show from "This American Life" that you can listen to at: http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=328While it's sad that the show is canceled it is more remarkable that it even got made. Can you imagine the pitch meeting?Pitcher: "Um, yeah, I have this idea for a comedy set in the 17th century Puritan community of New England."Pitchee: "Wow. What's the funniest part, the 50% mortality rate or the hellfire and damnation preaching?"Pitcher: "I saw you last night at Spago's with a woman who I know is not your wife"Pitchee: "Let's make this sumbitch!"If you can find it on DVD anywhere let the IMDb community know. This is the kind of comedy we need.

I loved this show. It got buried during the dog days of summer but Entertainment Weekly raved about it. So I tried it out and was hooked. Funny, smart and also sweet. The lead Father was sexy and terrific. How can a smart satire on early America not last but Jim Belushi stays on season after season? Grrrr. Why doesn't CBS show THANKS every Thanksgiving? I bet tons of people would watch it.We were going through an old VCR tape and I came across the tobacco episode. I showed it to some friends and they were howling. That's what made me think of it recently and I wanted to look up the name of the lead actor. Glad to see there are others who appreciate smart comedy. God Bless THANKS!

A friend of mine tapes EVERYTHING and one night he told me Cloris Leachman had been in this weird funny twisted sitcom about Early America and he looked through his video collection and showed me the first three episodes. I cant believe this show isn't more well known - it was soooo funny and Leachman is great in it (as is the rest of the cast). The satire and dark humor reminded me of The Simpsons and the show where the whole town of Plymouth gets hooked on tobacco was laugh out loud funny. I guess it was on CBS one summer but man, this thing should have been given a chance. Now I'm determined to track down the last three! CBS - DVD release??

CBS's decision to cancel "Thanks" says a lot about the sad state of modern-day network television. This show at least attempted to be different. Unlike almost every other sitcom on TV, "Thanks" wasn't set in New York, wasn't about a bunch of whiney twentysomethings, and wasn't just a collection of tired sex jokes. "Thanks" probably never had a chance. It wasn't the kind of show a focus group would have approved. Maybe it wasn't the best show of all time, maybe it was imperfect, but at least it tried to bring a fresh kind of comedy to network TV. It was different. It didn't try to be the umpteenth "Friends" clone. It deserved a longer run, in part because it dared to be original. "Thanks" lasted five or six episodes. "Suddenly Susan" ran for years. That's modern television in a nutshell.