Rules of Engagement (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The series often meets at 'The Island Diner.'
• A Polish version called Reguły gry premiered on February 16, 2012, on TVN 7.
• Adhir Kalyan was added to the cast in season 3.

History

The series was heavily promoted by CBS during Super Bowl XLI and launched the following night. The pilot episode remains the highest rated episode of the show. The first season consisted of seven episodes. A second season began as a mid-season replacement for The New Adventures of Old Christine on September 24, 2007, but production halted after nine episodes on November 6, 2007, due to a writers' strike.

After the strike ended, CBS announced the show would return on April 14, 2008, with six further episodes. Seasons three and four both launched in March 2009 and March 2010 as mid-season entries. On May 18, 2010, CBS renewed the series for a fifth season, which started in September—the only season with a full 24-episode order. The first 15 episodes aired on Monday nights at 8:30 pm Eastern following How I Met Your Mother.

On February 24, 2011, the series moved to Thursdays at 8:30 pm Eastern following The Big Bang Theory, after the cancellation of $#*! My Dad Says. On January 31, 2011, CBS ordered two additional episodes, bringing the episode order to 26; two of these were held back and aired as part of the sixth season. On May 17, 2011, the series was renewed for a sixth season to begin in fall 2011. One day later, CBS announced it would move to Saturday nights at 8:00 pm Eastern as part of the Comedytime Saturday block, the first original CBS program on that night in six years. On October 7, 2011, the series moved back to its Thursday 8:30 pm timeslot following The Big Bang Theory, replacing How to Be a Gentleman. The episode order was cut from 18 to 13 (plus two unaired episodes from season five) on November 14, 2011.

Cast and characters

Patrick Warburton portrays Jeff Bingham, a financial manager and husband of Audrey since August 12, 1995. He has a deadpan, cold, and sardonic personality, particularly when dealing with Russell and Adam, but is not sadistic or unkind. He loves sports (New York Giants, New York Mets, New York Rangers, New York Knicks), shuns sensitivity, and often views his marriage as a competition. He frequently complains about Audrey's work stories, forgets plans, embarrasses her publicly, is frugal, and reminisces about his college days at Syracuse University.

Megyn Price plays Audrey Bingham (née Curtis), originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, an editor at Indoor Living magazine who later resigns, briefly works as a hostess, and eventually becomes a project manager at a gaming design company. She is assertive, likes spontaneous actions such as buying furniture online or making Jeff's shirts into a quilt, and tolerates her husband's insensitivity because she knows he is not malicious. Both can be condescending and manipulative toward each other to gain the upper hand, but they often recognize when they are wrong and apologize.

Audrey does not make fun of her friends as much as they make fun of each other, but she frequently saves her most biting criticisms for Russell. She insists she is a 'people person,' though her attempts usually result in embarrassment, and she likes to think of herself as kind, cultured, and smarter than her friends.

Syndication

Starting in June 2011, local stations, The CW Plus, and WGN America secured the show for syndication, with its first airing on September 10, 2012. TBS began weekday broadcasts on January 2, 2013. Rewind TV picked it up on January 1, 2026, airing weeknights at midnight ET and Sundays from 4 to 6 pm ET. Netflix hosted all seven seasons until their removal in September 2018. The Roku Channel offers the complete series for free, and as of October 2024, Amazon Prime Video also streams all seasons by subscription. In Canada, CMT carries the show.

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment controls Region 1 DVD rights. Season five hit shelves on February 7, 2012, as a made-on-demand title through Sony and Amazon.com. Season six followed with a similar MOD release on October 2, 2012. Internationally, Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS Home Entertainment started DVD releases in 2011; the UK got Season One on April 4, 2011. Region 4 received the full series in individual season sets. The whole series is available for digital purchase and download on Amazon.com and the iTunes Store. The season five DVD includes the episodes "Scavenger Hunt" and "Cheating," which were produced for that season but aired during season six. Consequently, the season six DVD contains the 13 episodes produced for that period, not the 15 that CBS broadcast.