A Forgotten TBS Sitcom Gave Jennifer Lawrence Her First Big Break

Well before she was "The Hunger Games" heroine Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence was Lauren Pearson.

"Who?," you may wonder. Before breaking through on the big screen, Lawrence — now an A-list movie star — had her first major role on "The Bill Engvall Show," a TBS sitcom that ran for three seasons. The series was created by its namesake, Bill Engvall, who plays Bill Pearson, a family counselor who ironically struggles to understand his own family. Lawrence played Bill's oldest child, Lauren.

The sitcom's cast also included Nancy Travis as Bill's wife, Susan Pearson; Graham Patrick Martin as oldest son, Trent Pearson; and Skyler Gisondo as youngest child, Bryan Pearson. Besides the core Pearson family dynamic, the most notable series regular was Tim Meadows as Paul Dufrayne, a close friend of Bill's.

Originally premiering on TBS in July of 2007, "The Bill Engvall Show" aired its final episode in September 2009; the network canceled it later that month. Even with its short run, the series serves as an early showcase of Lawrence's onscreen charm, giving audiences a glimpse of the dynamic actress she would become.

"The Bill Engvall Show" was not a critical darling, with its first season having a 20% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and an IMDb user rating of 5.7/10 from more than 2,000 users. Reviews characterized the show as a run-of-the-mill series centered on yet another archetypical sitcom family. As for Jennifer Lawrence's character, Lauren, her stories reflect the predictable coming-of-age tropes for any teenage girl, such as crushes, school issues, and other tribulations of being the oldest sibling.

In September 2009, TBS canceled "The Bill Engvall Show" due to low ratings. That same year, Lawrence filmed the indie film, "Winter's Bone," which helped launch her cinematic career. For his part, Engvall has had nothing but positive things to say about his former on-screen daughter. "I'm so proud of Jenny," he told In Touch. "I knew from the moment we hired her that we wouldn't have her very long. I hate this phrase, but there's no way to describe it: She had 'it.'"

In 2012, Lawrence told Stylist that signing on for "The Bill Engvall Show" as "one of the best decisions" she's made in her career. "I don't think at 16 I really had the mindset of, 'If I do that, then I'll be able to do this,' I just think it happened that way; but, yes, that show meant I could afford to turn down the crap movies and do what I loved."

"The Bill Engvall Show" is available to stream on Tubi.