Jack and Carly are newlyweds anxious to prove to themselves and to the world that they can make their marriage work. She's running a fledgling catering business and has been married twice before--to Dante, a blue-collar would-be musician…
Carly is planning a 16th birthday party for Nicole, the first birthday for the new family. At school, Jack's ex-wife Stephanie, star of the action-adventure show ""Thena,"" shows up and creates a scene. She's in town for a while and…
Carly meets a New York Times reporter who is doing a story about women balancing career and family, and she is interested in profiling her. But when Carly invites her over for dinner, the reporter gets an eyeful of the more chaotic side…
While looking at some old photos, Carly is inspired to set up a shoot for a family Christmas picture, even though it's only October. Jack's ""traditional"" Santa Claus sweater is at his old dry cleaner Tony's place, which Carly wants him…
The pressures of work are keeping Carly and Jack apart more and more. He surprises her with a picnic at her office but she can't even take fifteen minutes to enjoy it. Jack decides not to go schmooze at the faculty Halloween party and…
Jack and Carly's neighbor old Mr. Sandzimier dies in the apartment next door and the couple have their eye on moving in there, a prospect which excites their kids, too. They meet Sandzimier's distruaght son Donald, and trying to be…
Carly and Jack are alone in the apartment, except for the odd roach or two. They start to feel amorous and head for bed, but discover they are out of birth control. Jack is ready to run out to the drug store during a thunderstorm, but…
Carly, Jack and the kids are going to her parents' beach house for Thanksgiving in a rented moving truck, since they neglected to make a reservation for a rental car. When they get there they find Carly's mother Kate along with her father…
Jack is concerned about Will's poor study habits and thinks Carly is too easy on him and doesn't push him to reach his potential. Although she resists the idea, she finally agrees and tells Will that if he doesn't make a ""B"" on Jack's…
Stephanie arrives to stay with Sarah while Carly and Jack go to the theatre. Carly overhears Nicole tell her girlfriend about her secret plans to go out with a boy that night. Carly asks why she didn't tell them about this. Nicole answers…
It's Christmastime, and Carly is depressed because all the kids are leaving to spend the holidays with their other parents. Jack just wants to get everyone ready and out of the apartment building. His reason: on his way in his car…
Dante arrives at the apartment with Heather and announces that they are getting married. Will is delighted and is asked to be his father's best man. Carly is happy, too. She finally feels like she won't be responsible for Dante anymore…
Jack is dubious, but he lets Nicole guest star on her mother's show as Thora, daughter of Thena, and he's assured it's only a one-time thing since her character is decapitated. After the broadcast, Stephanie's agent calls with an offer…
Stephanie shows up, unannounced as usual, and asks for the return of a painting that Jack has from their married days. While he and Carly are searching for it in the storeroom, they find something Jack had forgotten about--a receipt for a…
Jack and Carly lie in bed, fondly recalling how they first met, though they disagree on many details. The story flashes back to a teacher-parent conference about Will. Both of them are smitten with each other from the beginning, but Carly…
After a recap of the Thanksgiving episode, the scene is three months later. Carly's father Ben and his second wife Beverly are visiting, about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They plan to renew their vows and be remarried by…
Parents and offspring alike are praying for a ""snow day"" which would close school and allow them to do want they really want--climb into bed together and watch ""Leeza!"" As the show is going off, Sarah notes that ""Leeza"" is looking…
Dante is feeling like Will is avoiding him and favoring Jack over him as a parent. After Will cancels a few get-togethers with his father, the issue comes to a head when Dante comes over and finds Jack teaching Will how to shave. Carly…
Jack and Carly's friend Joel is depressed about his breakup with his wife Amanda and wants to talk about it with the couple, though at first Jack thinks it's an April Fool's joke. In private Jack and Carly agree that Amanda was to blame…
Carly is planning Sarah's 12th birthday party, and they both want to make sure the girl's oft-absent father Sheldon attends. After he's been pinned down on a date and invitations are mailed, Sheldon asks if the date can be changed to…
Jack is a little uncomfortable when he finds out that the bed he's sleeping in was previously used by Carly's ex-husbands also, so they go out shopping for a new one. While doing this, they run into Brooke and David, old friends of…
Nicole's boyfriend Sean asks her to go on a canoeing vacation with him and his family. Nicole knows it will be a hard sell to make to her father and she pleads with Carly to convince Jack to say yes. At school Nicole tells her friend…
Jack and Carly are planning a weekend getaway at a mountain cabin but can only find Stephanie and Sheldon to take care of the kids. They can't relax at the cabin and cut the weekend short. Also, Lucy Lawless on hot on the trail of fellow…
Jack and Carly have planned a romantic vacation in Mexico for just the two of them. The ex-spouses will be looking after the kids while they're gone, but Carly has second thoughts about leaving them out of their plans. As they rush to get…
The family all pitch in to help Jack make and bottle his special barbecue sauce for a food fair. The inexperienced bottlers wake up that night to the sound of barbecue sauce explosions coming from the kitchen. Sheldon offers financial aid…
Jack and Carly are getting tired of exes Stephanie and Sheldon hanging around the apartment so much, so Jack manipulates Stephanie into taking out Sheldon. While out on an errand, Will sees the two in a restaurant sharing a kiss. This…
At the supermarket Jack and Dante tease Will about his attraction to the 20-year-old checkout clerk Tina, but both men encourage him to ask her out. Meanwhile at home Nicole is asking Carly if it would be all right for her to go out with…
Carly has a big job catering a party for the mayor and she's so busy that she doesn't notice Sarah is acting preoccupied herself before leaving for school. When Sarah arrives home, she is still acting a bit odd. Jack asks what's wrong and…
Jack is having a blast coaching Our Lady of Innocence girls' basketball and Sarah is his star player. Sheldon is worried that his daughter thinks more of Jack than of himself, and he's also concerned about her playing for a church team.…
Jack is worried because his marraige to Carly is entering the ""red zone,"" the fourteen-month mark around which her other two marriages began to fall apart. At this inopportune time Gail, a woman who Jack once had a short, scary…
A booby trap set by Jack and Dante catches newspaper-stealing neighbor Mrs. Ross redhanded (or blue-faced, actually) and she promptly sues Jack. Meanwhile, Sheldon has cancelled plans with Sarah one too many times, and she's ready to do…
Will has a new girlfriend, Jennifer, and he's nervous about her well-to-do parents meeting his own, especially his father Dante. The Hadleys come over for dinner at Jack and Carly's one night and all goes well until they depart. That's…
Jack and Carly have been married a year, but anniversary plans aren't quite working out the way they want them to. They're having a hard time being alone between kids and ex-spouses. Will hasn't bought them a present, and at the…
Stephanie is a wreck--she's being written out of her TV series ""Thena"" and is to be replaced by a younger warrior goddess, Zora. To make it worse, her character will be killed off on a special live broadcast. Carly wants to offer…
An angry Jack is on the train from Philadelphia with Nicole. The story is told in flashbacks. Carly plans for the family to help out at a homeless shelter, but Nicole wants to go to a party. Nicole convinces Carly to let her go if she'll…
Sheldon puts Jack and Carly in an uncomfortable position when he asks them to provide an alibi for him to keep Stephanie from knowing he was with his wife Marianne, who he's in the process of divorcing! It's a poor alibi, and the three of…
Carly's free-spirited, globe-trotting New-Agey friend Rachel Travers is in town. The kids are excited and Jack looks forward to meeting her, but Carly is afraid she might be a mite too free-spirited for Jack. However, Jack insists that…
