In the piano-making town of Grand, Pa., Janice Pasetti (Pamela Reed) keeps house for factory owner Harris Weldon (John Randolph) and for Weldon's newlywed niece and her husband (Bonnie Hunt, Michael McKean), while raising her teenage daughter (Sara Rue). In the opener, Janice's estranged husband (Ed Marinaro) calls after having gone out for cigarettes - three years earlier.
Tom's attempt to win back his job is marred by Carol Anne's suspicion that he's having an affair with Janice (Pamela Reed), who allows herself and Edda (Sara Rue) a designated period of depression to deal with the divorce.
Lunching together, Carol Anne and Janice (Bonnie Hunt, Pamela Reed) clear things up betwen them, but find there's still a problem they both share. Meanwhile, cable-TV viewers are offered the philosphy of Norris (Joel Murray).[Repeat's description: Carol Anne and Janice each set off to solve the problems they both share.]Stavros: Ron Karabatsos.
There's one little thing that Tom (Michael McKean) never told Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt) about his past, and it's just arrived in Grand, behind the wheel of the porsche that smacked into Carol Anne.Medea: Lori Petty.
Bonding in the woods, Tom and Dylan (Michael McKean, Jackey Vinson) get tips on the ""son-father thing"" from Norris (Joel Murray), while the surgery-bound Desmond (John Neville) imparts a surprise on the same topic to Weldon (John Randolph).
With Eddie (Ed Marinaro) in town to celebrate his glory days of yore, Janice (Pamela Reed) has a knee-jerk reaction to his glory days of now; and Dylan (Jackey Vinson) leads Edda (Sara Rue) astray.
After Wayne's father is shot by a deer, Tom (Michael McKean) sets about networking at the funeral, while the widow (Jane Hoffman) falls under the official scrutiny of her son (Andrew Lauer), and Janice (Pamela Reed) seeks a smoke.
Weldon (John Randolph) wants to hold his head high at Carnegie Hall, but Desmond and Janice (John Neville, Pamela Reed) agree it should be a hairpiece lower; Japanese bikers disrupt Tom's financial future; Norris (Joel Murray) channels the spirit of a genuis.[Repeat's description - ""Weldon tries a cosmetic change for Carnegie Hall; Norris channels a genuis's spirit; Japanese bikers throw Tom's future off track.]Lech: Armin Shimerman.
In New York, Janice (Pamela Reed) hears history repeating itself, while at Carnegie Hall, George Bush and Leonard Bernstein are replaced by Dan Quayle and Plafka Dobra (Jack Mayhall, Natasha Pavlova).Sheila: Kathy Ireland.
Janice compares rashes with Edda's Romeo (P.J. Ochlin); Norris finds all you need is love to avoid a career as a dead comic; Tom is tempted by an offer from Japan - for Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt).Taki: Gedde Watanabe.Dr. Frank: Eddie Jones.Claire: Sheila Wells.
Norris (Joel Murray) succeeds in business without really trying; Wayne (Andrew Lauer) proposes to Janice (Pamela Reed); a secret admirer (Lenny VonDohlen) arranges to meet with Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt).[From TV Guide's Thursday Guidelines: ""On a better-than-average outing for Grand, Wayne proposes to a heavily medicated Janice and Tom decides NOT to sell his wife to a Japanese businessman. An amusing - but not terribly romantic - installment.""]
Weldon's plans for Plafka (Natasha Pavlova) are stabled; Janice gives Wayne a ""maybe,"" and learns the cause of her rash; Carol Anne yields to men's tears; and Tom sees his $1.1 million turn into $46,853.
Aspiring beaus are dismissed by the Pasetti women (Pamela Reed, Sara Rue); Desmond and Weldon (John Neville, John Randolph) square off in the name of love, or something like it; Carol Anne plans a tryst while Tom plots his takeover of Eastern Europe.Viveca: Britt Ekland.Jeremy: Lenny Von Dohlen.Dustin: P.J. Ochlan.
As the second season opens, Janice and Edda (Pamela Reed, Sara Rue) are living at Weldon's mansion until their tornado-ravaged trailer is fixed, which it is, but the price has gone up - to dating the repairman (Stephen Bowers). Meanwhile, Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt) mourns her missing spouse.[From TV Guide's Thursday Guidelines - ""Last April, a tornado blew through Grand, and the sitcom concluded its limited run with more unresolved storylines than most prime-time soaps. Tonight, the series begins its first full season with a bang as a ""trailerless"" Janice moves in with the Weldons.""]
A voodooist (Adilah Barnes) and an olfactory psychic (Xander Berkeley) are only two of the steps taken by Carol Anne to locate Tom who, Janice learns, is sought not only by his spouse.Dr. Frank: Eddie Jones.Wanda: Annie McEnroe.
John Goodman plays Red, a fella who won't take ""no"" for an answer after askinmg Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt) to dance. Meanwhile, Janice (Pamela Reed) is romanced by a traveling salesman; and Norris (Joel Murray) buys his way into a band.Robert: Dann Florek.El Diablo: Michael Ted Rooney.
Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt) organizes a high-school reunion, where Janice (Pamela Reed) is reunited with her senior-prom date - who disappeared that night after she ditched him for Eddie (Ed Marinaro).Yale: Curtis Armstrong.Andrea: Alberta Watson.Misty: Kathleen McClellan.
Child-parent relationships are strained between Edda and Janice (Sara Rue, Pamela Reed), and between Desmond (John Neville) and his visiting mum, whose revelations include a fiancee named Veronica.Maggie: Eric Christmas.
Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt) creates one ""really great page"" for her diary after Norris (Joel Murray) turns his bar into a cabaret, where he discovers a rising talent - and love.
The rumor mill grinds Edda (Sara Rue) first, then Janice (Pamela Reed); Weldon and Desmond take a commemorative hike; Carol Anne looks for work.Ehrhardt: Sam McMurray.
Carol Anne (Bonnie Hunt) has all the luck, because Janice (Pamela Reed) ignores Edda's lucky lima bean. Meanwhile, advertised female wrestling packs the bar, but only one grappler (Spice Williams) shows.Father Reyes: Craig Stepp.Marge: Kathy Kinney.
Carol Anne gets a death threat, but the woman (Marianne Muellerleile) hired to guard her body is more interested in Desmond's; Janice has a Weldon exec (Mark Moses) over for dinner.Dr. Frank: Eddie Jones.
At a black-tie affair honoring Janice's boyfriend (Mark Moses), Norris falls victim to Janice's mother's boyfriend (John Michael Bolger), whose gun is probably a parole violation.Viva: Carroll Baker.
Richard (Mark Moses) offers Janice a job; Viva (Carroll Baker) eases Desmond into another year; a challenge accompanies Carol Anne's new son (Shawn Phelan).
Viva's lovers (John Neville, John Michael Bolger) duel; Timmy (Shawn Phelan) goes for help for the trapped lassie; whose dream of hell may be a premonition.