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Widower and former unemployed baseball player Tony Micelli meets up with Mona, the mother of Angela Bauer at the local community college. (A scene later shown in flashback in a later show) She tells Tony about the vacant position of housekeeper at her daughter's home and says there's "no problem". Tony then uproots himself and his 11 year old Samantha from Brooklyn and takes them in his less than beautiful blue van to Angela's New England suburbs home. Angela is none to thrilled about a man applying for the job, or that her mother said okay to him without checking with her. After much bartering and discussion Tony is hired but only because she sees how good he is with her son Johanthan. A few first week difficulties result (like Tony threatening her boss with a baseball bat,thinking he's attacking Angela), but she later thanks him for his concern and the show concludes with Tony telling Samantha "Looks like we got our work cut out for us Sam."
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Angela has canceled a meeting because it's parent evening at Jonathan's school. Unfortunately, Jonathan made a mistake: The parent evening isn't until next week. An annoyed Angela goes upstairs to take a comforting bath. Meanwhile, Tony has a date with Cindy, the professor Mona has classes from, and, not knowing Angela has come home early, he decides to take a bath in Angela's tub because he only has a shower. The inevitable happens: Tony accidentally sees Angela naked.
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Angela firmly and Tony mildly lecture Sam for fighting in the park and thus causing Jonathan to trade his first punches. In stead of learning a lesson, Sam tells Jonathan all about 'cool, exciting' Brooklyn life. When she decides to run back, Jonathan insists to tag along. Tony and Angela set out to get them back. They succeed, and are invited by Mrs. Rossini for dinner. While Tony shows her around, she gets a surprisingly lively argument herself with rude waitress Teresa, who still has an eye on Tony.
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Mona's study group will be coming over and Mona behaves rather nervous. Pretty soon, it turns out she's nervous because she's dating one of them. Surprisingly enough however, it's not the sophisticated older man in her study group she's dating, it's the thirty-something Jason she's fallen for.
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Angela has landed an account with commercial, so Tony and Mona 'invite' themselves to come along. Client Larson insists Italian stallion Tony must replace the actor scheduled for the 'Machismo' shaving cream shower scene. He does great, but gets a terrible rash afterward. Larson wants Angela's agency and Tony for an even bigger account, but refuses to retract the cream, which lab tests say irritates 2 to 3 percent of users.
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With Mona and the kids away for a couple of days. Tony makes a date. And Angela has a guy coming in to see her so she arranges for a meal to be catered. When the guy doesn't show up, and when caterer does, he convinces Tony not to leave Angela alone.
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Mona warned Angela against hosting former college rival Trish Baldwin who is in town to attend their sorority reunion. The incorrigible siren sets her mind to Tony, who is all to flattered to let the foxy female flirt while he 'shows her Connecticut'. Angela gets obviously jealous of their quality-time. But as she feared and warned, when the former college-class super-stud arrives and offers Trish a pre-reunion hotel-date, Tony is dumped as her escort. Yet the sting is in the tail.
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In the supermarket, Tony chats up the pretty woman whom he sees there every week lately and while he leaves with her phone number on a pumpkin, she leaves thinking he owns a Jaguar. Meanwhile, Angela hasn't had a date in quite some time. She finds that men are intimidated by a woman with power and success. When, at her office, a man starts flirting with her, she lets him believe she's Rosie, the secretary.
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Angela's latest date, lawyer Jeffrey Michaelson, turn out to be a former baseball opponent on Tony's team. To her frustration, the men hang out with other sports buffs more then she gets a chance to match their busy agendas. Tony soon discovers Jeff is far from monogamous, even expects his help to hide his other flings for Angela.
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When Mona discovers Tony spends time and seems to need an extra income, she follows him to Brooklyn. Assumptions he either has mob debts or a new York lover are found false, he actually pays for the apartment where he was raised by his deceased father. Angela tries to convince him to cut that irrational tie to the past.
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Tony is worried when Samantha acts uncharacteristically shy and uninterested in their baseball. The ladies figure out she's growing into a bra-build. Tony gathers the courage to face a haughty, condescending 'supportive underwear' sales clerk, only to be told his choice doesn't live up to current 12 year-old girls fashion. So he lets Angela take Sam shopping at Bloomingdale's, only to see Sam outfitted like a mini-adult. AS she seems to like that stuff, he starts doubting about her long-desired birthday gift, a pitching mitten.
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Angela has something painted and left instructions of what color she wants. But Tony thinking her choice is dull, decides on a different color. And when she sees what he did, she lays down the law on who is the boss and who is the maid. That's when Tony becomes subservient. And her neighbor upon learning the friction between them decides to make Tony an offer to work for her.
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When Angela hears her firm's owner is retiring, she fears competent colleague VP Jim Petersen will maneuver to replace her as president. She tries to win the board's sympathy by staging a party when Jim has a family function, but he turns up, sports talk stirs the old boys network and unrepentant Tony's temper makes things worse.
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Mona has been evicted from her apartment for keeping a dog. Tony's family sense practically forces Angela to invite her mother to move in. Tony hires father and son Battaglia from Brooklyn to convert an old barn into a separate apartment, but mother and daughter bicker endlessly and bitterly over every concept and every detail. Tony intervenes again when they are on non-speaking terms.
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Much to Tony's surprise, Angela's husband Michael shows up. Angela sent him divorce papers but, despite the fact he's never at home, has missed Jonathan's birthday and spends most of him time doing research in the jungle, he doesn't want a divorce. Jonathan is thrilled to see his dad again while Mona strongly dislikes him. But how does Angela feel about him now that he's back?
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Now Michael has fired Tony, he finds a job, gloomy widow Randolf's a far grander household, efficiently ran by butler Leo, but Tony brings her fun, wheelchair or not. Angela, who can't stop bringing work home, and Michael, he accepted an office job to be with her, soon realize their marital formula still doesn't work. Tony visits twice, in opposite modes.
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Angela announces proud as a peacock she has been chosen as next guest-subject in regional TV star presenter Roberta 'Bobby' Barnes's show, which is renowned for scandal. Tony and Mona are eager to be in the home section. Mona moves into the house temporarily. That and Sam's nightmare lead to cascade of children crawling into beds with adults, who later sneak into the kids' rooms. By morning, Tony and Angelo unsuspected wake up besides each-other. And Jonathan innocently ushers to TBobby Barnes crew upstairs to the bedroom door.
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School coach Tony opposes his Sam attending the school dance, suspicious of boys, until he realizes the 'suitor' is utter klutz Bobby Michaelson from his soccer team. However, the kids are increasingly annoyed and embarrassed as Tony and his camera hover around every step to the dance, horrified to hear his surprise: he volunteered last minute as chaperon. Even that is topped by Tony being seen dancing and kissing with 'old' Lois Scranton, their foxy teacher.
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Tony isn't amused when his father-in-law Nick Milano comes spend quality time with granddaughter 'Sambina' and spend a fortune of her. Nick didn't dare tell he's about to be thrown in prison, so he jumps at a way out when Tony assumes he's terminally ill, even before he realizes that's an opportunity to be spoiled, waited upon hand and foot and speed-seduce Mona.
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When Tony tells Jonathan about some of his misadventures, Jonathan decides to try doing it and when Angela learns of this, she insists that she be involved with everything in relation to Jonathan which disrupts her work. When Jonathan decides to see a boy whom Tony forbade him to see, he goes behind his back to Angela who allows him to. And later the police arrive to arrest him.
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Sam wants to go on a school ski trip and asks Tony permission. Despite the fact he doesn't have the money for it (the trip costs 250 dollar), he signs the papers so Sam can go. When Angela gives him 200 dollar to pay the chimney sweeper, Tony decides to sweep the chimney himself, but he ends up making a big mess instead. He won't take the money Angela and Mona offer him and he sees no other option than to tell Sam she can't go.
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Tony and his Connecticut sports buddy Jeff accept to be drinking test subjects for a safe driving course demonstration. The kids visit Brooklyn. Angela is surprised Mona listened for once to her traditional pea against a surprise birthday party, actually disappointed, so she gets drunk with rich neighbors, who envy her hunky Tony. When he arrives as drunk, talk and food fight end up with him carrying her to bed and her kissing him.
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After a three weeks Florida holiday, Tony and Sam get a warm welcome. When Angela gets a call to visit and probably bring home Jonathan from summer camp, the Micellis and Mona tag along. Camp psychologist Bob Wormser confirms it's home sickness, which Tony claims wouldn't occur in the YMCA camp he enjoyed. Exchanging memories with Angela teaches then they were in the same camp in the same year. They may even have sneakily kissed each-other at a specific rock, and check if teenage 'Antony' carved their names in it.
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On their way back from 'kissing rock', Tony and Angela 'Ingrid' strand in a shabby motel, in a single room. Boy-girl differences turn a happy shared memory in a matter of strife, but after the leaky ceiling ruins Angela's bed and Tony hurts his head trying to sleep on a chair, they settle. Back in Jonathan's camp, Mona and Sam draw him into the mischievous spirit, at Wormser's expense.
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Tony already feels Samantha spends too little time with him and Jonathan since she entered junior high-school. So when he overhears Sam's lies to her birthday party to the silver spoon 'popular girls' that he's the advertising boss and Angela her ma, he orders her to come clean about his humble job. But hearing she's just about to be accepted as 'cheerleader material' by the rich brats, he decides to play along. So do Mona, and even Angela although that spooks her date Andrew. Yet a birthday present changes things.
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Mona is tickled pink when she receives an $80,O00 legate from late millionaire Charles Brooke. But her plan to spend the money go out of the window after Tony shows her a newspaper picture. Angela is shattered when Tony recognizes the man on an old family photograph as former friendly neighbor Charlie Broomeier. Mona conforms she had an adulterous affair with him.
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Tony hopes to get sauna mate Wally to step out of his gloom over being divorced by his single love by arranging a date with Angela. The first date makes him transfer his monogamous fixation to Angela, but Mona's attention changes everything.
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Michael Bower, Angela's ex, turns up to invite their eager son Jonathan to be his best man at his California second wedding with young personal assistant, foxy Heather. Tony and Mona convince Angela the whole family should come along. They all have a blast at the free beach holiday. Tony even convinces Angela to accept attending the actual wedding. But the sting is in the tale's tale, when Michael announces he and his wife want custody of Jonathan.
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As Michael's wedding approaches, Angela is heartbroken in case Michael gets half year custody of Jonathan, Tony encourages her to fight and Mona decides to play dirty. Alas tarantulas scare Heather no more then Jonathan, who enjoy throwing a stag party, which Tony manages to 'interprete' acceptably even by Angela's spoilsport standards. Angela no longer feels confident she can deny the boy his adored dad, but nature has a dirty surprise in store.
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When Mona makes a calendar filled with hunky men among whom is Tony, Angela finds the whole thing disgusting. And when Tony starts getting propositions from his admirers, Angela thinks Tony should be ashamed of himself. That is until Angela meets one of the hunks who asks her out.
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After a messy attempt to help Tony cook, Angelo accepts to join him, with the kids, accepting Mrs. Rossini's Thanksgiving invitation. She's put to women's work while foxy Gina is all over Tony, even ends up kissing him in the kitchen, which makes Angela jealous. Mona had an earlier parade appointment.
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Jonathan amazes the family with his perfect memory - except for doing his homework. But it also means Sam finds out Tony kept from her that his father-in-law Nick Milano is in jail for multiple property crimes, so she childishly turns on both. Tony has a row with Nick, who is so popular amongst the cons that they testify at his parole hearing he's a good influence. Tony's family input should do the trick, yet parole is denied. Nick however escapes, hoping to reconcile with his granddaughter. Tony diplomatically helps both out, however childish or unwilling they are, unlike cool Jonathan and Mona.
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Mona has finally graduated from college. Tony throws a glee party for her and skilfully switches the camera to flirtatious Carla. Mona's professor Jake Emerson enlists her for a set-up test to prove shoe manufacturer Sid Hadley is among the many employers who discriminate against seniors. She tells the family only she's applying, so Tony convinces Angela she should pull strings with ex-client Hadley to get her hired. It works, alas, so now Mona is stuck with a job she didn't want and a failed test.
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Tony shows off his dangerously rudimentary Italian while accepting to act as host and chaperon for old-fashioned homeland uncle Aldo Micelli's daughter Ana, who comes to meet her arranged US fiancé Carlo Garabaldi, in essence a business deal. The Bower feminist influence makes Ana reconsider, so Aldo and Carlo's arrival spells a hot confrontation.
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Samantha has been accepted for the school's cheer-leading team, but the many uniforms are too expensive for Tony to buy her, so she seeks a weekend job. Angela, whose personal assistant is absent, takes her on. All goes well, until a hot boy offers to date Sam on Saturday, so she decides too mess up in order to be fired.
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Hearing Angela is proud to be asked to teach a college course for adults 'introduction to advertising', Tony sneakily enrolls. He's confident his daring soap commercial must win and scores even with his cocky British class rival, but is graded cruelly a mere F. When a real manufacturer comes grade the students' work, an final showdown is in the making.
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Samantha takes up ballet lessons and is told by her teacher that she could be dancing professionally if she spends all of her time in practicing. Tony pushes her to follow that dream, but this means giving up her social life. Meanwhile, Samantha's talent reminds Angela of her cello lessons which she took as a kid.
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Because Mona refuses to delay her date when both Tony and Angela attend a PTA meeting, only Sam remains available as novice babysitter for Jonathan. He is model-behaved as always, but while they toy around Mona's diamond earrings one lands in the drain. So when Sam's coolest classmate, 'womanizer' Chad McCann, calls by, his offer to help with the plumbing emergency provides the perfect excuse to ignore Tony's formal order to receive nobody. Alas, after finding the diamond, Chad gets stuck, and more classmate follow. Meanwhile, Chad's dad bragged to Tony about his boy being a chick-magnet.
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When Tony offers to step in for Jonathan's ever-absent dad at a father-son-school golf event, the boy's classmate Steven warns him housekeepers can always leave for another job, but marriage could change that. As it's Valentine's day, Jonathan sends Tony and Angela each an invitation to Hneri's fancy restaurant from an anonymous admirer. They go, bribe the owner to tell them the mystery host is 'Mr. Bower' and decide to enjoy revenge by running up an excessive bill, ignoring Jonathen left her credit-card.
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Tony hosts his Brooklyn Saturday poker bunch for once at Angela's, at her invitation. Panic strikes when they realize her posh college friend Emily is expected the same day. Working class Joey stayed to help clean up, just too late to avoid Emily. But to Tony's and Angela's surprise, their extremely different friends experience and give in to the animal magnetism of attracted opposites.
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Tony leaves for his bowling evening disappointed as the team's best player had to cancel. Angela gets a pre-victory-cheerful send-off to the fancy Maddie awards ceremony, generally expected to win the greatest prize in advertising. But when they arrive, Tony carries a cup, she was just nominated. Jonathan practices for a perfect spelling bee performance, tirelessly. It takes all Tony's charm and persuasion to cool the family and convince Angela she must show class by attending the after-party gracefully. She agrees, but surprises him as unpleasantly as her winning rival appeals to him and surprises her.
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Because the PTA president up for reelection is no good, Angelo has signed up Tony without consulting him, but he's flattered enough to accept. Together they mount a 'professional' campaign. It goes well, until the debate, where the incumbent attacks their cohabitation and Tony's explications keep making it worse. They now fight for their reputation, while even the kids are abused. On election day, surprises follow, some actually planned.
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Angela's advertising agency hopes to sign its first-ever $10,000,000 account with Frenchman Pescher's perfume company. He however has a royal Jordanian meeting, so he sends his daughter Genevieve. She now gets the luxury treatment, which includes an escort for her French embassy party. After seeing Mona's charity's shirtless men calender, she insists it must be Tony. His objections disappears soon as he sees the French fox. Angela however gets a nagging conscience, especially when the arranged couple stays out late, so she tracks them down to Brooklyn.
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Nobody can stand bossy, haughty neighbor Diane Wilmington, yet Angela hasn't the heart to deny her moving in for a while hearing her housekeeper flew to Brazil with Mr. neighbor Wilmington. Selfish Diane soon drives the children to Mona's. After advice from Angela to become more independent, Diane tries 'helping herself' to unamused Tony after catching him doing laundry shirtless, yet pretends she was seduced.
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Mona feels guilty when her personnel counseling convinces artistically bored shoe designer Norman Bevins to quit his job and pursue his dream, Hollywood. When his naive wife comes blame Mona, she decides to mount a rescue expedition. Meanwhile Tony minds their baby, which also rekindles Angela's maternal instincts, although no match for Tony's parental genius.
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When Tony gets a visit from his old pro baseball rival Josh Bradley and learns they each coach a kids team, their competitive side kicks in. They agree to recruit amateur teams to see who trains best. Angela wines till Tony enlists her, then proves a hopeless screwup at pinching. Josh however seduces her to fill the agreed three women quota on each team, but doesn't field her until Tony invokes the agreement everyone must play, yet he discretely takes pity on her, despite surgeon Doyle Ferguson having been called away on emergency duty so even one male is a last minute recruit.
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To celebrate Tony and Sam moved in with the Bowers two years ago, Angela insists to 'treat' everyone to her cooking, which scares them all. So she ends up having dinner for two with Tony, which goes fairly well, until he gets terrible pains, diagnoses in hospital as appendicitis, not her fault. The anesthetics 'inspire' him to slip out he loves her, which they both manage to muffle away just as in her family harmony speech.
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Angela travels to San Francisco to shoot an advertising commercial. Joyce Columbus is the actress who is determined on playing the lead in it. In the office, Joyce meets Lauren, a struggling photographer who has been waiting for weeks for a meeting with boss Frank Vionelli. During Joyce's final meeting, Lauren barges into the office to complain about having to wait and is unexpectedly given the lead role, much to Joyce's anger.
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Noticing she is overworked, Tony arranges a vacation in Mexico for Angela. Initially, she has trouble not thinking of work, but soon adjusts. Tony constantly receives messages of Angela's assistant, questioning her about irrelevant things. He finally decides not to give Angela his latest message and she thereby loses an important account. Back at work, Angela finds out she has been fired.
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Tony confesses and quickly redeems his accidental part in Angela's dream job less, which Mona tries to present as a health bonus. Still everybody stresses if or at least when Angela will get another good job, yet the pool order is symbolically not canceled. As that seems a tall order given the economic cycle, she settles for head copy write, a big step back. Then a bolder idea takes shape: what if she starts her own agency? Tony would help install offices, Mona hopes to become the receptionist.
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When her best friend, Marci, applies for a highly expensive private school called Montague, Samantha wants to apply as well. Angela is very enthusiastic, because she went to the same school. Tony, however, isn't keen on Samantha going there and is reluctant to let her go. Angela comes to the conclusion that Tony doesn't want his daughter to enroll a school filled with snobby people, but it turns out that Tony doesn't want Samantha to go to a school that far away. Eventually, Samantha is admitted to the school, but decides not to go because Marci was rejected.
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Tony and especially Mona stretch Angela's theory you must spend money to make it in business, while she wines client Ping in San Francisco, by celebrating the account in advance. They also fall for a limo company's sales pitch to lease for $1,000 a month. Angela failed and wants to economize. Tony and even Mona try to make the limo earn its keep. That works poorly, until Ping unsuspectingly rents it, driven by Mona.
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Sam has a date with a guy whom every girl wants. The next day she's acting very strangely. Tony discovers that she has a hickey. When she says it's not a big deal and that she has another date with the guy, Tony grounds her. Angela and Mona tell him that he should talk to her. He does but she refuses to see Tony's side. She then sneaks out for her date.
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Tony and Angela are both asked as paranymphs at a wedding of common friends. The romantic atmosphere and table conversation with other wedding guests stir dreams of marrying themselves and make them take stock of mutual feelings as Tony's curious housekeeper position is challenged and defended.
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Jonathan brings home more straight AAs, yet a teacher writes in a letter an extracurricular activity should broaden his perspective. Tony convinces Angela that the only way to avoid a nerd label is joining a sports team, accepted only if he coaches personally, and the boy picks gymnastics. The training goes great, while Angela drives secretary Mona nuts with workaholic zeal for her new agency. Jonathan takes a painfully excessive risk, yet Angela blames Tony for his shoulder dislocation until Mona explains the parental example pressure syndrome.
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Geoffrey Wells gets Angela to agree to a weekend in Maine, so Tony digs up his dusty black book and finds an eager date, Tanya Stromball. When bad map reading made the Maine voyagers return, Tony feels crammed and says he'll take her to their native Brooklyn, but stops in a fancy inn. Coincidentally, Anela and Geoffrey end up there too, next door, well, balcony.
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Tony gets a visit from Callahan, a horrible chap he constantly fought with in Brooklyn. To his amazement, the fiend is now a priest, but as soon as they start teasing again things get out of hand, even literally: hard-handed. Tony gets commandeered by the bishop to help out in a home as father Callahan left parish service, feeling he obviously remained a sinful scoundrel. Tony tries to mend that feeling as well as the dinner.
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Tony nor Angela would admit it, but they're competitive enough about mini-golf to sneakily practice in secret after she won their first try and agreed to a rematch. Tony is puzzled when Sam squanders her chances on the basketball school team to spare a hunky kid, but Angela's sob-story changes her mind. Now Sam fears she lost the boy.
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Tony prepared a wonderful Christmas goose dinner, but Angela accepts to join Geoofrey's family's catered dinner. Geoffrey also scares Tony from giving Angela his hand-made gift by buying her diamond earrings. Tony lies to have none of his own baseball cards left to avoid it being snapped up by Dr. Doyle Ferguson. Angela feels restoring that part of his past is the right gift for Tony. The scumbag dealer she buys it from actually bids on Tony's, tempting to pay his own 'worthy' gift for her.
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The kids's school closes and Angelo's train doesn't ride due to excessive snow. Whle everyone cuddles up by the fire, Tony tells how he decides to seek a janitorial position so he could afford moving from cramped Brooklyn to Connecticut. Mona picks up how they met and she convinced him and later Angela that Tony as housekeeper, replacing 'Nazi nanny' Hiller, and as father-figure for Jonathan, would be ideal for both families and suit her own hunk-sighting lust.
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Jonathan tries to date even nerdier Jenny Wittener, encouraged by his (grand)ma and brilliantly coached by Tony. The boy does everything right, but the brat falls in love with Tony instead. Hurt, Jonathan jealously decides to hate Tony 'to death', even sleeps in a tent outside unwilling to share the same home.
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As part of a birthday surprise party for Tony, Sam sits for a portrait by Greek artist Christo. Tony gets wind of it and starts reminiscing how his late wife Marie was involved in portraits painting. Tony fears she might have cheated on him with an artist, starts digging in her life while he was a traveling pro baseball player and realizes he didn't know about half of what the home front did.
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The only time a year Angela joins the Micellis and Mona watching baseball on TV, she surprises Tony by preferring fan junk-food. To get some, she borrows boyfriend Geoffrey's beloved brand new Porsche, which was parked at her place for safety. Mona's car blocked the driveway and putting it back in the garage gets delayed, fatally as the tree the neighbors were having removed thus crashes onto it. Geoffrey's desperate fury leads to a breakup with Angela, which both regret. Tony helps Geoffrey patch up despite Angela's mean scorned routine.
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The whole family is proud when a son boy-friend Chad write in Sam's honor gets played on the radio. And again when blind singer-pianist Ray Charles accepts to perform a version in a power commercial for the Bower Agency. But Chad is seduced to a meaningless kiss by a school rival and dumped by Sam, who turns viciously against Angela with the absurd demand to cancel the national campaign.
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When president Tony and Angela host the parents association, the fund raising plans focuses on sports, including boxing. Tony reluctantly yields to the consensus that a sports star would be best, and Brooklyn buddy reveals Tony has a boxing past. Only Angela learns he was traumatized by a staring opponent at age sixteen, and lets her train him in staring. As Mad Man Micelli he mounts the ring against giant Wilbur.
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Geoffrey announced a decision 'to change our lives', so the Bower-Micelli household expects him to propose to Angela. She's bitterly disappointed when he just offers a time share condominium contract and avoids his company with a (convenient?) bad cold. Once Geoffrey catches on, he actually proposes. Tony sort of mediates, but mainly for the home front opposition. His strongest argument is that his late wife never doubted a second, while Angela agonizes over a pro-contra list.
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Tony mistrusts his incorrigible uncle Nick Milano, just released from prison, but Angela naively gives him a generous welcome. In no time, Tony's mistrust is proved right in both keeping a menial supermarket job Tony painstakingly arranged by dating the boss's unattractive sister and publishing Nick's diet manuscript', which proves stolen from a death row jail bait.
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Tony's much younger date, Casey Fryman, turns out to be an executive in Armando Ghia's hot fashion firm. That's enough to give Angela a shot at his latest campaign, but she's out of touch with the young target group. Tpony builds up her confidence, but learns her new 'trendy' outfit didn't help at all.
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Samantha gets Tony's permission to go out late to a concert tanks to Mona, who is less amused to find Angela eager to prove she can be 'just as spontaneous' in ways she immediately lists. Tony still encourages her, despite finding it's too late for much. She ends up dating her high-school days biker 'class hero', Jake Maguire, although he never graduated or gt an adult job. She's happy in the end that gallant Tony discretely followed her to the dodgy bar date.
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Shivering at the dentist, Tony meets ladylike, lonely English widow Fiona Finch. He proposes Angela, whose secretary left, to hire her. In no time Mona, who keeps slacking, gets jealous, leading to both resigning. Now Tony fills in and tries to mediate between mother and boss, which makes business sense now it becomes clear how well only Mona handles male clients.
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Mona cheerfully visits the hotel her brother Cornelius Robinson invested all their savings in, only to find it's a miserably-run dump. Still, she's charmed enough by happier hotel-memories and the hunky naive bell-hop-waiter to give it a go, making the most of experience and people-skills.
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Mona happily moves out to new job with her brother. So she convinces 'healthy young stud' Tony to turn her garage apartment into a 'bachelor patch'. His Brooklyn youth mates like Fingers take that as a standing party invitation. Angela and especially Jonathan feel lonely without Tony in the main house. Actually, Tony soon misses them too, but a surprise intruder really decides the plot.
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Tony and his girls attend the Brooklyn fair. Tony lets Mrs. Rossine put him up on bachelor auction and gets snapped up by foxy lawyer Frankie, an old acquaintance who this tile wants to go all the way to the altar. Angela won't admit that makes her anxiously jealous until a therapist makes that clear. meanwhile Samantha rages about being stood up by latest boyfriend Elvis, without verifying the innocent facts.
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Samantha lies to her father in order to go out with a college guy. While she realizes that this guy - Mason - is a major geek, Tony finds out the truth on Sam's whereabouts and makes a scene. He later tries to apologize by bringing Mason back home.
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Tony and Angela host a blind date for his friend, sports physician Lyle Everett, and her even shyer cousin, teacher Christy Bower Everett. Mona and the kids are disappointed it's no home romance. The blind date bores everyone nearly to death, so it's a complete surprise when the couple calls by the next morning- engaged to marry ASAP. Tony successfully reminds Angela they shouldn't take each-other for granted. Alas Angela convinces Chrissy to expect even more from Lyle, which ends up making her cancel the wedding at the Bower residence.
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Angela proudly accepts when straights AAs Jonathen is offered to skip a year. Tony warns her against intervening when his now all older classmates bully the boy and advices making a friend. When Jonathan does, half-wit Walter soon proves an effective protector but a bad behavioral influence, as Tony's old principal points out.
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Samatha complains she has no date for the party of the year, so Tony is delighted to find his new supermarket fresh produce clerk, Jesse Nash, is an idealist to his heart and brings him over. She doesn't get on with the far less shallow bright boy. The silver-spoon date she meanwhile snapped up, Bill Weston, is however greatly impressed by Jesse's environmentalist plea against the country club and cancels.
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PTA chairman Tony raises a telethon record sum by spending 48 'camping' on a bill board for a campaign to stimulate reading. He refuses on the spot when the national chairman offers him a Washington, D.C. job. Angela feels he should give the opportunity serious consideration. Once on the billboard to reason with him, she realizes to suffer from acrophobia.
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Tony allows Sam to spend a holiday with her grandpa Nick in Florida, but is informed by his girlfriend Same had to take the flight back as he died meanwhile. Initially Sam acts flippantly unconcerned about Nick, just regretting to have missed out on a beach blast. Later Tony finds her moody and works out, when the last will names her sole heir and recommends a memorial dinner, a deeper fear.
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Tony remains a perfect gentleman after clumsy Angela caused him to break a foot during a golf game. He insists to keep doing the household and resents the idea of help, until Angela accidentally makes him fall and break the other foot. She now insists to take time off to help the wheelchair-victim, but he won't lower any standard, which to her feels as nitpicking. She leaves the 'ingrate' to agency nurse Doreen, who proves a wining novice he can neither bring himself to fire nor does any right.
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When Angela hears Mrs. Rossini's marital breakup risks also compromising her fish shop, she volunteers Tony's services. He excels as salesman in no time, but the Bower-Sam home front can't do without him long and Mrs. Rossini seems to make to effort at recuperating. Tony comes up with an ideal permanent candidate, but he's rejected on account of an accidental blood link with her husband's floozy. Tony has to leave her on bad terms, still feeling terribly guilty, but needn't.
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Tony trusts Jesse to drive his truck while delivering meals to seniors, but unlicensed Sam seduces him into letting her drive far less responsibly. The kids keep quiet about their switch after being hit by adolescent speed-devil Freddie Smith, whom Tony and Angel recognize and hate enough to start a court case. With Jesse in the stand, Sam confesses, causing further mayhem in judge Franklin Kresheck's normally quiet court.
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Angela's latest possible client Max becomes a close friend of the family, and Mona even considers giving up her bachelorette lifestyle to be with him. Then, one day, he breaks off contact, and leaves Tony to deliver Angela and Mona the bad news.
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Bored with his housekeeping job, Tony successfully applies as manager in the kids' favorite, Beatles-theme mall diner. More for the cool crowd then for income, Samantha applies as waitress, and gets in because she alone pretends to accept Tony's demanding terms. Both do great, until Tony chases a star jock and thus the in-crowd, followed by the teenage sheep. The owner offers Sam promotion, provided she fires dad.
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While Sam 'babysits' little Melissa, which actually means paying Jonathen pittance to do all the work, Tony dates her widowed mother Kelly Johnson, yet has a funny feeling about her. That proves justified when Angela works out Mellisa isn't fatherless. Tony guesses right she's a divorcée on the run and insists she must obey court custody orders.
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Tony's careful efforts to prepare the Bowers for a visit from his Sicialn uncle Aldo's family prove insufficient to avoid unpleasantness. Grumpu, bullish aunt Rosa not only scolds Tony for remaining single, when Angela makes clear matching them is no option she has Aldo 'announce' her engagement to the youngest visitor, Tony's adoring cousin Maurizo.
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Tony is upset when he finds out that Samantha has gone steady with Jesse. Samantha, meanwhile, feels even worse for not having her father's approval. |
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Tony's Brooklyn high school is in danger of being closed for lack of funds. To help save it, Tony and four mates revive their doo-wop-band, Tony and the Dreamtones. The reason for their early split persists: constant cocky bickering undermines musical close harmony. Tony is ready to sacrifice his second chance at stage-fame for anyhow untalented Angela's dream of such experience.
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After Tony hears Sam doubts whether to go to college, he and Angela spare no effort to make her go. That includes a campus visit, with Mona who recalls the social side of college life. Tony gets so excited that he decides to enroll himself, that is if he can pass the entrance exam. Angela's help works all but encouraging, and a computer glitch tests his nerves near explosion.
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Tony's little league player Mason stays in his room to study quietly for exams and escape team bullying. Tony patiently pats up with Mason's countless allergies and fears. When Jesse cancels a date to help out at the animal shelter, Tony convinces Sam to take Mason along instead. To everyone's surprise, she ends up kissing the bright nerd. Tony and Angela counsel her about telling Jesse, who reacts in two stages.
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After a fellow housekeeper accidentally discovers Angela pays Tony a lot more, albeit he's really best, she gets all colleagues to strike demanding a raise to his level. Tony wouldn't strike, being happy, until Angela convinces him to practice 'solidarity'. When Angela realizes that means no Tony to treat a major Japanese client to the home dinner she promised, he stick to her original logic. The strike develops its own dynamic.
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Tony expected to talk Sam out of more extravagant clothes expenses by claiming she can't spend more the she earns. But when she gets a shot at applying for an advertisement campaign Angela produces, she enjoys it and earns more then Tony, who despairs how to make college still seem attractive. However the competitive reality of the fashion world catches up.
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Mona rejects a marriage proposal of Max Muldoon; then changes her mind when Max's 24-year-old ex-wife Suzanne shows up, asking him to get back with her. Angela - unaware of Mona's motives - meanwhile wonders why her mother is suddenly so eager to marry.
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As soon as Angela hears that Samantha will go to prom with Jesse, she relives a childhood trauma, and does her best to make prom as perfect as possible for Samantha. Sam, however, is fed up with all the preparations, and calls the prom off.
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Tony is grumpy when the others fail to keep his surprise birthday preparations for Angela secret. But she's soon overheard in her sleep uttering a secret even to herself: she has lusting dreams about Tony. Although she does a lousy job covering up, she only realizes everybody knows just before her party and sneaks out, ashamed, to toast alone. Tony finds and reassures her it's all natural and innocent.
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Tony runs into an old girlfriend who has married another man named Tony, who turns out to have lived in Micelli's shadow ever since. To help and boost his ego, Tony (Micelli) organizes a pool match which he intends to lose, but there is one problem: he can't stand the other Tony.
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Tony finally saved up for a solid car for Sam and lovingly equips it with more then ample safety features. She dares not tell him the 'ancient tank' is more of an embarrassment then a dream come true. When it gets stolen, she's 'secretly' delighted but pretends to miss it. When it's returned, Tony finds out the truth as is was parked out of campus sight. Yet he draws a more pragmatic conclusion the the girls expected.
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Tony gets a breakfast treat on his first college day, but is too eager for learning too risking being late. Professor Darnell's course public speaking proves quite a challenge, as Tony's Brooklyn accent, vocabulary and grammar constitute the perfect example how never to speak. Despite the merciless humiliation and doubts if posh speech won't harm his relationships or even undermine his personality, Tony toughs it out. His progress and zeal in class impress Darnell enough to be invited to a speeches night on Churchill.
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Mona pushes reluctant Tony to accept a party invitation from a fraternity. Even Angela admits she missed out on much of the social life as a student and accompanies Tony. It all seems rather dull, until Angela gets drunk on the heavily spiked punch. Her misbehavior even gets Tony arrested by campus police with her and spells consequences for the whole frat.
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Tony is surprisingly deeply upset about the loss of trinket keepsakes of his grandfather, who practically raised him when orphaned. Tony still feels guilty for his rascally rebelling then preventing the old man to turn up for his life-long aspired naturalization. Mona suggests and Angela tries a radical solution: a posthumous ceremony with Tony as proxy, if they can convince young judge Matthew Hamilton to be so 'creative'.
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The home front feels Agela works too hard and should delegate more. Mona is delighted when some workload is transferred by the recruiting of jack, a talented and charming creative director. Tony however jealously and suspiciously changes his attitude as Jack tends to spend nearly all day with Angela and becomes a regular home guest, even until late at night. When they book in a hotel together, Tony decides to go put an end to their presumed affair, but could have saved himself the trouble.
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Jesse Nash is warmly welcomed back by Tony after an ecologist boat trip. However he met a fellow idealist girl and politely dumps selfish Sam, who acts aloof. When Mona gets stoop up too, a week of men-bashing follows. Finally, the 'celicaby converts' go out a for a girls-only-night together, and regain perspective.
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Toby wisely forbids Sam to drive to Bonnie's parents's cabin for a weekend in Vermont with an immature sister as chaperon. They go anyway, leaving him worried sick especially as the weather report is stormy. Meanwhile Bonnie gets tired of guilty Sam's recollections of over-protective Tony and bites back that's better then her absent, uninterested dad, which ends up making Sam reconsider.
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Tony is chosen as divine vessel by St. Peter, who won't let Mona Robinson's late sister-in-law Laura into heaven until the rift she caused between her husband Archie and Mona 20years ago is undone. Tony presses the Bowen to accept an invitation to enjoy a snowy Christmas holiday in his Maine home, ignoring it was magically fixed by heaven. So is a letter which Tony is to find there and convince the rowing siblings to accept as olive branch.
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Tony is very proud to hear his prodigy former protégé Mason will be teaching one of his college courses. He and Angela give pointers how to overcome his timidity, which lead to fainting in the first lesson. Alas, being the gratefully doting teacher's pet becomes so embarrassing, Tony ends up taking the girls' advice to hand in a terrible paper. The dean volunteers to mark the stack it's in, so tony begs to get it back, in vain, boding truth time for professor Mason.
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During a visit from old Brooklyn friends, Tony decides to Mrs. Rossini's cocky adolescent cousin Al under his wing. only is proud when the knave starts making something of his life in a beautician schooling. Still, Tony turns defensive once Samantha responds to this bad boy's irresistible charm, which Tony knows all too well having grown up pretty much the same way.
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Jonathan is running for student council treasurer. Tony cleverly advises to lure some popular boys and hosts a brownies evening with Sam as 'accidental' star attraction. However, Mona's 'loose' reputation proves a problem, which exhausts Jonathan's patience with his utterly abnormal grandma.
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Tony has enough of Sam's squander bug wardrobe acquisitions. Jonathan actually demands payment on her $223 credit line, like Mona's. Tony's and Angela's bragging how they raised money as youths is exploited to make the dare each-other selling the T-shirts Tony designs and Sam hand-produces at the local flee-market.
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Tony attends a St. Louis Cardinals reunion weekend, to play in a benefit old-timers match and catch up with former teammates. Angela came along to cheer him. When vamp super-fan Betty starts seducing the boys as she used to, Tony pretends to be recently married to Angela, who grudgingly plays along. The mates lure him to the bar, where Betty gets him to hug and dance. Angela reacts very jealously when she sees Betty steal an 'adulterous' kiss.
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As enthusiastic as Tony is about his quality-time ski-weekend with Sam and Angela about staying behind with Jonathan, as unwilling their kids really are to be shielded as children. Sam blows a shot at handsome skier Zach while Tony takes a kids skying course with little kids including abusive Amber, then turns possessively jealous when Tony still scores with foxy instructor Lisa. back home, Jonathan hopes to escape thanks to Anegla's cold, which also decks Mona, but decides against it to take care of ma and handle the heating repairman better then they ever could.
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Mona feels both offended as dating-role model and a failure as mother finding out Angela took an escort to an awards event. After hearing the frustrating story of her disastrous prom date from both ladies, Tony reluctantly accepts to ask her on a 'real' date, as opposed to several 'accidental' ones.
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Tony and Mona are dead-eager rivaling to be invited along as Angela's partner to an exclusive New york party where Frank Sinatra will sing. Angela bails out to try rescuing an account, so Mona steals her dress and the tickets. Only on-site Tony discovers the tickets aren't transferable. Angela returns early, just in time to join them, but adds to the confusion, so all three end up thrown out. Tony however is thus just in time to meet his idol and render him appreciated service.
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When Tony finds out Samantha let airhead friends take her illegally drinking beer at a frat party, he gives her a sound lecture, for once firmly seconded by Angela, he refuses to cover up the brat's drunken state. However they commit the error of feeling guilty just for having innocent drinks at home, and Tony's sports fan-buddies are not much help in 'setting the good example'.
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Tony and Angela try hard to be welcoming to their smug new neighbors, Mark and Pam, but soon get into a bitter garden row. Jonathan however sees a perfect mate at least in their daughter Heather, so being told the neighbors are off-limit is not acceptable. The smitten kids decide to lead their oldies by example.
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For a school paper assignment, Tony lets Sam stay over at Trish Carlin's models boarding school. Trish's son Rick is sweetly innocent, but Sam's Brooklyn friend Caroline, who got in as favor, keeps attracting boys and trouble, while abusing ever-helpful country-girl Martha, who nevertheless makes the difference when Trish finally has enough of the sass.
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Tony convinces Angela to hire for her roof repair his former coach Ralph. Mona can't resist seducing him just because he didn't flirt with her. Then dumps Ralph for the next conquest as soon as he's smitten, another suitor left heartbroken. Tony taking offense as fellow male and friend at last gets Mona to promise she'll mend her man-eater ways.
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Tony has organized a PTA project offering each kid a week job experience with one of the parents. Sam and Bonnie are left out, so they 'get stuck with' Tony's domestic experience and Angela's advertising agency. Lazy Sam chooses what seems the least work, only to change her mind after hearing easy-going Bonnie enjoyed giving it a real go. The scenario is repeated after the mates switch jobs, but by now the mentors get on to them.
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Tony has started playing golf but has to rise early to get access to the public links, so Angela surprises him with a country club membership she won in a raffle. Thus Tony sets out to network while playing, but is looked down upon by posh members. Only tycoon Lowell Michaels, risen from poverty himself, befriends Tony. When the ladies here about such a potential client, just what Angela's agency needs to recover, Mona emotionally blackmails Tony to abuse his new friend's confidence to arrange a business appointment.
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The Bower home's surprise how excited Angelo gets at the mention of an announced visitor, former study mate flirt Brian Thomas, is topped spectacularly when he tells why he came. They actually had a drunk Vegas marriage he supposedly annulled in Tijuana after they came to their senses, but the Mexican procedure was invalid. Now he's engaged with Rhonda and comes to fix their divorce, but quickly falls back in love with Angela.
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Unlike model-student Tony, Sam studies no more then necessary, and preferably with attractive male colleagues, like Scott. Tony is shocked when she admits having passed on to him the questions for an exam. He handed her an unsolicited equivalent for her next exam, which she was least confident about. It's found, so neither teacher Timmons nor Tony is likely to believe she didn't actually use it.
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Tony plans to treat himself, for his upcoming birthday, to a shiny successor for his utterly run-down van, but decides against the expense. Angela offers to make it a birthday gift, which is turned down as too extravagant, then to share the costs since it's useful for the whole household. Even then, Tony can't quite bring himself to chuck his first-ever vehicle and convinces Sam of its unique souvenir value, but already advertised to sell it.
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A client offers Angela a weekend trip to Jamaica, with the whole household. Tony's careless sense of relaxation contrasting with ever-serious Angela leads to a bitter contest and separation 'to have fun' in which she goes overboard, ultimately being rescued from drowning during a nightly skinny-dip. After a talent-contest, they reconcile and consider the possibility of a future marriage.
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Tony welcomes a visit from Sam's Brooklyn-neighborhood-buddy Charlie Briscoe. When he learns she has left school and home, he calls her mother, but when rudely told 'keep her!' he refuses. Sam scolds that disloyal hypocrisy, which even Trish rebukes as he's her dream-parent. After a dog-food photo-shoot at the bower-home, agent Trish Carlin comes up with an alternative, yet Charlie seems uninterested.
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Emotional blackmails suckers Tony into house-sitting for Mrs. Rossini and her cat Fiorello during a heatwave in Brooklyn during her mini-cruise. Tony enjoys catching up with his noisy blue-collar mates, especially Dennis and his ever-pregnant wife. Angela pays Tony a surprise visit and has a nightmare about leading such a housewife life without prospects.
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While Tony and Angela bicker who 'gave Same the love for literature', the only things that gets her and airheads like Bonnie to read non-obligatory books is hunky book club lecturing teaching assistant Ethan. Tony gets wind of Sam's latest flame being 'much older' and tricks him to review a 'first edition at home. Neither Micelli expected Ethan to bring his wife.
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Tony cancels a date with Joan, a woman whom he meets at a bar. She later reappears as his professor in class, and Tony grows convinced that she now has a vendetta against him. |
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After a soirée Tony help host masterly, Richard Braden invites Angela's firm to merge with his much large one. Only Mona is against, but her bluff 'or I quit' is called. The row grows so bitter even Tony advises to give up collaborating. Once working for Braden, Angela starts doubting the wisdom of handing over control. Mona fails to get another job but increases the pressure by becoming Braden's coffee lady and stir outside the cups.
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Tony's neighbor-boy Al started an instrumental rock-band with his Brooklyn friends Billy, Greer and Dale. Sam joins as singer and manager. Tony tags tags along, convinced they may need adult protection, only to witness his brat being the worst shark in Eddie's bar.
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Between his study, domestic and paternal duties, overworked Tony is risking a burn-out. Tired of smoothing the endless bickering at home, he joins Dr. Berl's family therapy, against Brooklyn tradition. However the conclusion is Jonathan and Sam's bickering is normal 'sibling' friction, only Tony needs more sessions. He ends up in a group for 'super-moms'.
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Attending a gym, Angela meets less prudish girls, who openly get her talking and thinking about hunky men, like Ernie who works out there, or Tony. Now at home to, she ponders and recalls the fat high-school experience root cause of her romantic shyness. Should she start dating Tony, or still declare him fair game for others?
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Tony dreaded Dr. Purcell's aptitude test, but his results offer a wide choice. He wants to major in business and start start his own firm. For easy marks, he takes Sam's suggestion, primary class observation. However the mean old teacher Bunch forces him to take over, even straightaway. Despite a disastrous, unprepared first class, Tony soldiers on and gets the taste of teaching.
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Jonathan hoped, after failing any athletic selection, to cats off his total nerd image by joining the school orchestra. Alas, the accordion he picked is even less popular then nerds. Tony however convinces him perseverance can pay off by invoking the happy example of his Brooklyn friend Bobby Governale, who accepts to tutor Jonathan. The two become inseparable, and end up pushing even Tony away for allegedly 'discrimating accordion players like everybody else'.
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The kids shout a Vegas holiday for overworked Angela, who takes Tony and Mona along. Mona scores as temptress but loses big time against dangerous casino shark Jason. Will help rescue her or drag the others down with her? |
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Tony's proud paternal delight over Sam being admitted to her high-school's acceleration program soon gives way to gloom once he realizes that probably means she'll leave home for college a year early too. Sam's own enthusiasm weakens as she realizes how dad feels and that she'll have to leave her friends.
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Tony's joy over success at the tennis court pales when his opponent, neighbor Ed Hartwell, dies just after a defeat, so Tony feels guilty, despite reassurances from father Marconi. When Ed's twin brother Fred turns up to settle the inheritance, Tony and Angela bend over backwards to 'make up', which seems to suit Fred all too well.
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After the Bowers acquire a nearby house as investment, Tony fixes it up and makes sure it gets rented to foxy Michelle, even at mate's rates. She proves a rather bothersome client, but Tony's support only wavers when she shows interest in other men.
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Everyone adores Sam's boy-friend Eric and encourages him to bring over his lonely, dependent grandfather, Walter. The old man's arrival however stirs rude hostility from Mona, who actually stood him up at the altar. Weird loyalty logic yields matching moves.
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Sam thinks her winter break to Fort Lauderdale can't get worse when Tony decides to chaperon, until she gets into a fight with Bonnie over inviting some boys over. Meanwhile, Jonathan gets stood up on a date. |
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Angela tries to contract a famous baseball player, but Tony feels that he is more in love with making money than with the game itself, and much to Angela's anger, tries to scare him away. |
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Sam triumphs having tracked down for a college project Tony's maternal grandpa Antonio Romano, who arrives from Palermo fro a short visit. Tony comes to terms with the lovable scrooge. But then e photograph proves Sam 'found' the wrong Tony senior.
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When circumstances bring Tony to accompany Angela on a date as substitute, they meet an enviably less restrained couple, Brad and Jane, who are picking a wedding date and can barely believe such a handsome pair didn't graduate from cohabitation to physical love in years. However a dance-floor partner switch reveals a shocking relational drawback to such impulsive natures.
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After Mona's adjacent apartment burns down through her own fault, she acts meanly ingrate, over-stretching even Angela's patience after turning down an offered bungalow of her own as a 'ploy to dump ma', leading to an unprecedented break. She milks a mild respiratory affectation grossly, yet Tony remains alert enough to have her hospitalized for a potentially serious complaint. There she acts atypically, even neglecting hot Dr. Anderson. The reason has to do with the late Robert Robinson.
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Tony takes Sam along on a tour of suitable 'nearby' colleges, but none will do for the brat, who set her mind on Tate, all the way in California. When a Tate recruiter drops by, it's clear her extracurricular void is a no-go. He does however recommend a logical, academically valid alternative, only it's Tony's college, just what she dreads in terms of social life.
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Tony is proud as a peacock when Al Rossini, who just graduated from beautician school, follows his advice by starting his own parlor. Tony comes help out, but finds it's not easy to coach the rudely outspoken knave to flatter rather then chase clients.
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Tony and Angela must delay their night at the movies when aspiring script writer Hank Sloan drops by, the official who wisely mistrust the family's data as filled is by mythomaniac Mona. As she responds to every question with a memory, we get lost of flashbacks, mainly to accidental 'romance'.
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Tony and a few classmates rent a hotel room to study for a class final. Most leave at the end of the night, but Tony and Kathleen remain. They try to study more, but end up in bed together. Angela finds out and is upset. |
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Angela's latest date, slick Christopher, instantly wins and impresses everybody, especially females and service staff. He drives Tony crazy. Finally Tony he takes his own date, Kathleen, to a restaurant just to spy on Christopher's date with Angela, but that goes wrong.
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Tony is appalled to hear Sam plans to prolong her summer receptionist job on a holiday horse ranch and thus 'delays' college. So he and the Bowers fly to New Mexico, where they meet the charming real reason: hunky 'cowboy' Matt, a local student and her secret fiancé. Tony nor Angela can remain calm while arguing, but Mona's sneaky remarks may do the trick to reach a compromise.
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Tony discovers Angela faked a date with Peter, but in fact is single again, and convinces Mona to take her clubbing. Before anyone realizes, Angela is neglecting business and partying like Mona, who now becomes responsible. Such an unnatural situation can't last, Tony realizes.
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Tony meets Kathleen's father. The father wants to know if he is going to marry Kathleen. Tony realizes he has to talk to Kathleen because he still cares for Angela and probably always will. Tony and Kathleen break up. |
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Tony is so popular with Sam's dorm-mates, for both practical and social reasons, that he sees her more there then he used to at home. Jealous of the attention, the tells him to butt out. He does gracefully, but when everyone realizes how hard that's on him, the home gang gathers, supposedly interested in the boxing match he watches on TV.
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When Mrs. Rossini's dear neighbor Mrs. Napoli is hospitalized, Tony takes care a while of her beloved grandson Billy. He does great and accepts when she asks him to be available for the boy just before her surgery. Afterwards, he has cleared it with the Bower household, but the suspicious hag doesn't even remember asking him.
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Tony is confident, given his excellent parenting record, his new Brooklyn-bred ward Billy Napoli has settled in. However when the angelic rascal starts at school, things go badly wrong. What seemed a case of snobbish newbie-bullying turns out to be all-round aggression from Billy. Tony and Angela, whose boyfriend loses his patience having to take a backseat to her 'mothering', take a parenting course with senior softies Herb and Willa, who recommend a fully 'positive' approach. Billy however thrives only under selfish Mona's childishly simple terms.
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Tony agrees that Sam should move out of his noisy dorm. As she won't return home, he grudgingly accepts her moving into an absent professor's house with students couple Benjamin and Beth. Even more shocked than Tony is Sam's fiancé Matt when they find out Beth flippantly dumped Benjamin, who is now attracted by Sam.
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Taking Billy to chief Baxter's fire department's open day, Tony fulfills a boy's dream, but also revives his own to slide down with those heroes. Tony joins as voluntary fireman, but his unquenchable enthusiasm doesn't go down well with the rather lazy veterans, even the home front soon tires of his stories.
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At a prestigious club's last night after 65 years, Tony and Angela wanted to be asked by the other but end up double dating with third parties. They meet an elderly couple, which met there 46 years ago and reminisces how they met and got married during the world war as a result of Navy sailor Nick's naughty, horny date move lies.
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Tony is delighted to take Billy and the Bowers along to his Sicilian root town when summoned for the reading of an uncle's will. Tony is pleasantly surprised to learn he got the estate's lion share, the vineyard. To their astonishment, he thus inherits the locals' hate because the late owner was considered a tyrannical scrooge. Tony makes a brave stand for family honor and justice.
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Just when social worker Leonard Marshall comes check on Tony's guardianship of Billy, the rascally angel seems missing. So Tony and Angela try to stall, but they end up telling how each of them tried to mind the kid, yet couldn't. When Mona, who was supposed to take over, arrives without Billy, it turns out he's with Jonathan, which they again fail to hide.
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Tony and Sam independently entered a sports commenting contest for their college's TV broadcasts. Apart from their different styles, they worry whether to compete ruthlessly but fairly or give way. Tony does great in every sense and audition phase, despite the manager's shameless overrating of Sam's 'female charms', especially thanks to improvisation.
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Tony takes Angela along to a hateful man's funeral. On his way out, the kids are rebuked for fighting and lacking in mutual helpfulness. Good boy Jonathan, whom Tony advised firmness in heart matters, is lead astray by Goth girlfriend Patricia, who convinces him to go for a drive in Tony's pick-up, which gets lightly scarred. Billy and Sam now consider whether and how to help Jonathan cover up. They fail, so Mona takes the blame.
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Because of a simple cold, Sam moves back home, enjoying excessive pampering from Tony and Angela. After days, only Jonathan realizes she is shamelessly milking sympathy and shirking college work. Sneaking out with airhead high-school buddy Bonnie and getting caught after a school party, she proves Jonathan's point.
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Tony is ready to start his teaching apprenticeship, but can't combine that full-time job with his college study and the household, so he auditions candidates to fill his domestic post meanwhile. Nobody passes muster, not even with royal references, until Angela volunteers. She soon finds spending her rare free days on endless household chores, none of which ever compares favorably to Tony's way, is far from rewarding. And then there's minding Billy, quite a handful.
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Fearing Billy may turns into a couch potato like Mona, Tony urges him to pick a sport, but to his disappointment it's no team ball game but swimming, the only discipline Angela every excelled in. Tony's real trouble, which he told nobody yet, is that he never learned to swim, suffering from aquaphobia after being crushed by a fat woman as a kid. Still, Billy takes to it and needs a partner for the dad-don relay. Tony's private lesson with Angela starts promisingly, until another she-mammoth splashes in.
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Tony and Angela's taxes are checked ruthlessly after her accountant is arrested for fraud. The inspector feels, as separate tax returns are advantageous, they may hide being married, and concludes so on a technicality based on Carolinian hotel bill data. The unhappy 'couple' decides to get an annulment or divorce in Dixieland, but finds deciding on a legal ground difficult.
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Tony is enthusiastic about his first assignment as science teacher in a boys school. When he needs to slip out for a while unexpectedly because Mona abused the plumber until he left, he can only ask Mona to watch the class so long. To his horror, she used that time to give his pupils the school's first-ever sex education class. The school board however is delighted with the initiative and charges Tny with such classes for all kids, without telling him that even includes the sister school's girls.
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Tony and Angela find out last-minute their neighbors, the Harpers, are planning an early birthday-party for Joey on Billy's real birthday. Talking doesn't help, even escalates in bragging about a party to lure all kids. Angela spares no expense, Tony no efforts to identify and book all imaginable entertainment. On the party day, things get further out of hand repeatedly.
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Tony gets the Bowers to put up Mrs. Carmella Rossini during work on her Brooklyn apartment. Everyone has grumbling doubts about her domineering attitude, but her cooking is up to Tony's standard. The real trouble starts when Tony catches Mona's latest, uncharacteristically regular date, surgeon Clifford, kissing Carmella in the kitchen. The rivals fight for Clifford, supported by Tony viz. Angela.
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Bumping into generally feared Brooklyn mobster Gus Stone, Tony dares not refuse retuning an old favor by hiring his spoiled-rotten daughter Claudia as assistant-housekeeper. Only her attitude is worse then her housekeeping, until Tony looses his patience and tells her his far from flattering mind. The results are surprising for Tony, the Bowers and the Stone family after Claudia jumps Tony's bones in a supermarket.
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Sam, already in a killer mood after a romantic breakup, foolishly undertook her first local 'rock concert' organization, but can't contract any artist. Angela can't help, but Tony appeals to his youth mate Steve Mueller; now a professional agent working with some big names. Sam's ingratitude peeks when Steve fails to deliver, yet Tony comes up with a last minute alternative.
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Tony accepts, indignant about old baseball veteran Chappy's financial predicament, to campaign on behalf of the Silver Society for funding of medical care for senior citizens. That means addressing the US Senate, and Angela decides to bring the whole family along. It's a long and perilous, for Tony utterly sleepless train journey to DC. As a result, he's so stressed that he makes a fool of himself in the Senate and makes public, for good measure, that sharing a bed on the train with Angela was 'innocent', which gives entirely the opposite impression.
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After his deluded performance in the US Senate, Tony expected to be ridiculed nation-wide. In fact, a senator assigns foxy assistant Christine Morrison to recruit Tony for his own campaign for senior citizens medical aid funding. Angela acts jealous of the trapping of DC and her 'rival'. In time, Tony learns that all the fun comes at a price when he's asked to betray the cause as part of the senator's dealing.
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Tony bought Angela lamb skin car seat covers for his 7th domestic service anniversary. She now hesitates whether to give him the luxury wrist-watch she had inscribed "It's time to say I love you". They attend the carnival together, where Tony gets scared after a fortune-teller's prediction he may either hook up with his true love before midnight or loose her forever.
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After their love night in the carnival, Tony and Angela are relieved they can be sincere to each-other. Yet they aren't ready to tell the others, so Tony hides his romantic treats for Angela and she thinks up surprising cover up-lies. Yet bad luck follows them even when they check into a hotel, culminating when making out at the lake ends in it.
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Now the family knows they're a couple, romantic Tony catches up with years of not courting Angela. She starts feeling stifled, while Sam enjoys her new emotional 'freedom' from smothering love. Tireless lover Tony heaps up treats and keeps popping up everywhere, any time, even during business meetings.
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After a car crash Sam and Pierce come closer. When Tony finds this out after weeks, he - against the other's expectation - takes a fancy to Pierce and confides his money to the stockbroker. But like always he overdoes here, too, and he spends more time with Pierce than Sam does.
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Tony and Mona bicker while offering their versions of how Tony ended up causing Angela's major client, soap king Reid Hamilton, to be hospitalized. It started when Angela left on business trip and warned Mona to keep off Reid. Tony mistrusted her, discovered she dated Hamilton and tried to keep the apart, with ever less fortunate results.
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Now people know he's with Angela, Tony gets frustrated being financially unable to treat her in style like country club members, being merely her guest himself. So Tony can't resist bidding at a painting for her he can't afford. To pay for it, he takes a job as shirtless waiter. Alas, Sam's dorm gang takes her there.
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Attending the funeral of a fun-loving mate his age convinces Tony it's time to seize the day while he can. His new sense of adventure culminates in a spontaneous first-ever ski-trip to Vermont. The Bowers join him. Mona convinces Tony the real change he needs is 'the big one', marriage. Alas, staging a romantic proposal in Angela's already pitiful condition proves a lost cause. When it finally seems to work, she gets wind of his unsatisfactory motives.
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Having been turned down for 'propsoing for the wrong reasons', Tony grudgingly accepts to give Angela time and space and soon overdoes that too. After a while it dawns that Angela is at least as insecure about marriage as Tony, having seen her first fail into a divorce. By the time she admits that, the shoe is on the other foot, with grieved Tony acting hard to get like a reluctant damsel.
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Tony is mortally nervous, being scrutinized at a surprise visit from delighted Angela's English maternal grandmother 'Nana' Robinson. As Mona suspected and suggested, while unable to utter half a sentence to her domineering mother, the snob disapproves of Tony, however much she liked him before being told, as future son in law. However she goes about it most deviously, using a precious heirloom gift to stir pre-nuptial fever among the would be-spouses, with a lawyer at the ready.
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Tony recalls how he used his baseball stadium connections to help Jonathan to a job as ball boy, when Angela refused to practice 'nepotism'. There were various surprising consequences. This makes him hesitant to help Sam get a job in the campus travel agency. When he finally tries, it backfires.
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Lawyer Jack Sanborn arrives unannounced, recognizes the house as his parental home and bids a fortune. After some hesitation a family council decides it's a great opportunity. Tony soon finds a dream house, complete with its own lake and scares off the first rival home-hunters. A bitter bidding battle against the Havlock family is won. Yet when Sanborn arrives to pay and announces his plan to completely remodel the house, memories make Tony reconsider.
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During an economic slump, advertising budgets are cut drastically, so Angela's firm is in trouble. Brooklyn poverty veteran Tony is put in charge of domestic economizing. He pulls it off brilliantly, even a cheap yet classy home dinner to major client Reed Hamilton, but the account remains frozen. Tony is shocked to find Angela still practices comfort shopping.
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Tony's Brooklyn friend Al needs a new apartment, but finds bachelor tenants aren't wanted. Sam volunteers to play Al's wife, but Tony, who was asked for credentials, finds out and thus spills the beans to landlord Chomsky. Thus still homeless Al stays on the Bower couch, but proves a stentorian nightmare-screamer.
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Tony was looking forward to his weekly poker night with Al and their Brooklyn gang, but grudgingly acknowledges an old promise to accompany Angela to the ballet if it ever passed in town. The boys even make fun of Tony apparently being whipped. So he jumps at the chance to stay home when she overestimates a minor head bruise Tony suffers. Al drops by and invites the rest. When Angela returns with unwilling stand-in Mona, she wrongly scolds the 'trickery'. The aggravation leads to a battle of stubbornness, with Tony storming out and spending the night at Sam's, thus finding out about her latest boyfriend, Hank Thomopolous.
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When a old teammate of Tony's who's now a star player hires Angela to handle his P.R. he comes for a visit and they talk about the moment when Tony's playing baseball ended, when the third base coach signaled him to steal and he got injured. Later while the cleaning he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he wasn't injured. Later when he mistakenly mixes bleach and ammonia, he passes out from the fumes. When he wakes up he meets the coach who shows him that how his life could have been if he wasn't injured. And he is now a big star and has a stunning girlfriend but he's also been married several times and Sam hates him cause he was never there for her. And that Angela doesn't like him.
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While Tony handles dinner for business guests and the whole household his wedding invitations, he gets a swollen lip. Dr. Wormser orders lab tests to determine the cause. Angela fears it's wedding stress, combined with his unfortunate phrasing cause to doubt her groom's marital commitment. So Tony desperately tries to prove it's just an allergy, but despite help from the kids that looks ever more desperate.
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Hank and Sam want to get married soon, but Sam keeps postponing telling Tony. Suddenly Hank's parents turn up, who knew about the marriage plan, but are shocked when Tony tells them Hank has abandoned his med studies. Now the parental couples become allies opposing a wedding while each blaming the other spouse to be for ruining their darling's future.
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Tired of the parent pairs' bickering, Hank and Samantha elope. Tony sets chase, but car trouble would have prevented them catching up. However in front of the minister, Sama couldn't go trough with a wedding without Tony. When his party arrives, Angela convinces him to give his blessing and hopefully retain some influence.
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While they wait for a married students dorm room, honeymooners Hank and Sam reluctantly move in with Tony. After a bad start, with the men working on each other's intolerant nerves all night, Tony learns to like his son in law, even his comical puppetry, which comes to include a Tony-like houseman. Hank likes Tony's domestic treats no less, so they become buddies. Sam starts feeling left out, especially when Hank accepts Tony's objections to homes th couple might move to.
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Perfectionist Tony and socialite Angela bicker constantly and bitterly as their wedding approaches, whether they play double tennis or test a restaurant. Hank can't get any urgent study done with temptress Sam around, so Mona takes her along on a luxury weekend with Angela, to give he happy couple to be a breathing period. Angela is attracted to gentleman guest Tom Saratelli, who looks like Tony but has an inverse, passive character.
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When a window in the master bedroom needs repairs, Hank's dad Joe is hired, although he's reluctant to work for family. Tony however, bragging his construction experience, keeps coming up with ideas for a far more ambitious remodeling and exactly how to do it. After driving Joe's crew insane, Tony fires him and promises to do it all himself with klutzes Hank, Al and Jonathan, a recipe for disaster.
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Tony graduates as teacher, like Hank as his college's first puppeteer. Tony however finds he started applying for a job dangerously late, and starts panicking. After an nightmare job as school program driving instructor, coach and associate professor in an Iowa junior college seems a dream, alas too far to commute. Angela convinces him he owes it to himself to check it out, so the whole family flies there. It's even better then he could imagine.
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Tony has accepted the Iowa coach and teacher job. The apartment is great and comes with a janitor and secretary, albeit it also immense pressure to keep the baseball team winning. However commuting proves hell, worsened by Angela failing to clear her schedule when Tony is free, topped off by influenza. Both spouses plan a surprise visit, but they thus pass by each-other at the airport.
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Coach Tony feels he has it all when for the duration of his contract, a year, Angela takes a sabbatical from her firm to live with him as Iowa housewife. Angela tries to hide how uncomfortable such role-reversal is, but Mona soon recognizes the truth. Her subdued reaction when he's offered a three year contract sets Tony thinking. Considering their priorities incompatible, they agree to live separately, but neither is happy that way either.
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