We haven't had a chance to talk about my extramarital relationship.

Well, this is it -- the last time you will have to look at this stupid picture of people wearing beige [except Zoe, why is she in purple?]

Once & Again – Letting Go
Judy is still dating married sculptor Sam. And, though she was inconsolable when dear old dad died, she now causally says things like “With Dad being dead and all…” Rick catches Sam and Judy buying condoms, so the jig is up. Grace is weird to Jared, and he’s kind of like, “whatever, see you later.” Then there is a prolonged slow-motion shot of her watching him walk away. Good lord I hate this show. The whole ep is about how Judy and Sam have a really strong connection, but when it comes down to it Sam is unwilling to divorce his wife. Finally, Judy tells Sam that even though she loves him, they're not free to be together.


Once & Again – A Door About To Open
This ep uses the “flashback” feature familiar to viewers of such shows as Alias, where we open with a soft-focus view of Rick and and the Sammler kids arriving at Lily’s house for dinner, then go back 20 hours earlier and see how all this came to pass. Only finding out how these people came to be at the same house is quite different than, say, finding out how Sydney ended up hanging upside down, half-naked, with a bullet in her shoulder and a Rambaldi artifact in her teeth. But I digress.

Lily, still in the throes of grieving for her father, decides to stop putting things off plans a dinner so the kids can meet. Eli is noncommittal, Jessie is wary, Zoe is intrigued, and Grace is casual. Grace learns that Eli’s new girl Cassidy is cheating on him, and tries to tell him. Two of Cassidy’s twig-skinny friends gang up on Grace in the girls’ locker room, and even though she could easily break them in half she lets herself be bullied. Eli is pissed at Grace, but then sees Cassidy kissing some random douchebag. Meanwhile, Lily discovers that her friends have all abandoned her for Karen since Lily is boring and lame and talks about Rick nonstop.

One of the very few things that I do like about this show is Jake’s girlfriend Tiffany. Yes, Jake started seeing her when he was still married to Lily. But he’s still seeing her. She’s cute and loves Jake’s kids and tries so hard to be a good person, and I just love her. Additionally, I love the fact that in this ep, Karen goes to Judy’s bookstore and the two bond. The two people I like the best on this show, together at last.

Rick is increasingly put upon by Miles and is forced to cancel the dinner. Naturally Lily guilt trips him, and the ep ends with the two lovers bringing their kids together. But what will happen next?!? As far as cliffhangers go, this one is B-O-R-I-N-G.

For those who care, this is what happens over the next two seasons:

Season 2
Rick's firm is handpicked for a new high-profile project, but is bogged down by legal troubles and Karen is the lawyer representing the project's opposition. Lily, working at a dot-com, struggles with a flirtatious co-worker. Eli would rather start a band than go to college; Jessie may be anorexic; Grace becomes friends with a troubled girl; and Zoe worries about Rick and his kids moving into her house. In the season finale, Rick and Lily get married.

Season 3
Rick, Lily, and the kids attempt to live under one roof. Jake gets Tiffany pregnant and realizes his feelings for her; Judy and Sam rekindle their relationship; Karen struggles with depression; Eli turns to drugs; Jessie explores a lesbian relationship; and Grace starts a relationship with a teacher to the detriment of his career.

You know Blake, he went to Northwestern.

Once and Again – Cat-In-Hat
Random but related: I was looking through a catalog at work yesterday and saw a one-sheet for the DVD release of Across the Universe. There was a large picture of Evan Rachel Wood, and damn if she didn’t look almost exactly the same. Anyway, it’s become clear that I prefer the episodes that revolve around the Sammler family so hopefully I’m in for a treat. We open with Karen and Leo in bed, while B&W Karen talks about how she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing. Rick calls and she lies about being at work. Leo wakes up and tells her she’s cute, and Karen says, “That’s not really an adjective that I get a lot.” Leo is good for her.

And woah, Adam Brody! In much the same role as ever, but this time he’s a jock and music geek. And … WTF?!? Rilo Kiley?!? Eli and Adam Brody run into Blake and Jenny in a guitar store and keep making references to Northwestern. I’ll have to look that up. Considering that she got her start in Troop Beverly Hills, Jenny Lewis is a terrible actress. Ha.

Leo shows up at the Sammler house unannounced and Karen’s dirty little secret is out. Rick and Lily also happen to stop by, so everyone knows. Eli wants to go see “Blake’s band” – they have yet to name the band, which is weird – but the show is at a bar so Karen says no. Eli goes behind her back to Rick, leaving out key details, and Rick gives him permission. Unfortunately, Leo takes Karen to the same show, where she is thrilled to be carded. Naturally, Eli runs into Karen and, because he’s a dick, tells her she’s too old to be there. Finally, at this point, Jenny says, “We’re Rilo Kiley” as they leave the stage. Too bizarre.

Jessie is going for her black belt in Tai Kwon Do, and is set to spar against a cute boy who is flirting with her. When she beats him, he starts treating her like crap. Jessie decides not to take the black belt test, but then she realizes she’s being stupid, takes the test, and gets her black belt.

Once and Again – My Brilliant Career
Lily is easier to take when she’s not acting like a princess, but not by much. In this ep we see her floundering in her new job as personal assistant to Christie, the young, high-maintenance editor of a hip magazine. Christie doesn’t trust Lily with any real work, which annoys Lily. Christie is irritated by Lily’s incompetence yet jealous of her for having a life.

Also in this ep, we discover that Jake and Tiffany are still together. And Grace accidentally discovers that Jake started dating Tiffany while he was still married to Lily. It’s pretty awful, and Jake is forced to put on a happy face for Zoe, who has no idea what is going on.

I'm supposed to count on you now, suddenly?

Blogger is being super difficult so you don't get a picture today. And let me tell you, though I am determined to stick this out through the end of the season, I am so ready to be done with this show and get back to blogging about something more relevant. Yay for TV coming back to us!

Unfinished Business
Lily’s dad Phil is in town for some reason. Lily has a job interview for an assistant editor position at a hip young magazine. Christie, the editor she interviews with, is kind of intense. Phil takes Grace to her school play rehearsal and they get into a car accident on the way home. A few days later Phil and Lily get into a huge argument when he tries [again] to butt into her relationship with Jake. Although Phil is insensitive to Lily’s feelings, he is kind of entitled to an opinion because he owns 40% of the restaurant. They both go to bed angry and – of course – when Lily comes downstairs later to apologize she finds her dad unconscious, sprawled on the kitchen floor.

It turns out Phil has had a stroke, and the doctor is not particularly reassuring. Lily is remarkably calm and holds the family together admirably (much like she did in the ep where Rick nearly cut his finger off), so apparently she’s good in a crisis though you wouldn’t guess it. Lily gets a call telling her she got the job – and learns that she misunderstood the ad; the job is for assistant to the editor. She arrives at the hospital to find Jake and Judy looking absolutely wrecked. Phil has had another stroke, and there is no hope.

The family has to decide whether or not to take Phil off life support. The kids debate and argue, only to find that their mother has made the decision on her own. This ep was really quite sad, but then at the end they had to go and ruin it by having a little B&W interview with Phil about “the important things in life” that ends with him laughing and throwing his hands gleefully in the air … in über slow motion. It’s really, really bad.

Strangers and Brothers
Holy crap! Patrick Dempsey plays Aaron, Lily and Judy’s schizophrenic brother, who is really in bad shape. Dempsey is quite good in the role, but unfortunately I have trouble not seeing McDreamy. I haven’t watched Gray’s Anatomy since mid-second season, and yet the show is so pervasive in the media that I can’t envision him as anything else (not even Ronny Miller). Anyway, Mom and Aaron have some weird issues that either haven’t been explored , or I just wasn’t paying attention. Lily and Judy are amazing with Aaron, while their mother seems to wish she could forget he exists. Having had some experience with dealing with this type of thing, I really like the fact that the show doesn’t treat Aaron as though he’s particularly “weird”; compared to how everyone else treats him it’s the mother who seems weird.

During shiva, Phil’s best friend/lawyer Manny tells Lily that Phil set up the business so she & her mother could fire Jake without repercussions – even though Jake owns 30% of the restaurant. Later, Manny tells everyone the news and Jake storms out of the house. In the end, Lily gives Jake her father’s watch and tells him to make the restaurant work.

In addition to dealing with Aaron’s schizophrenia, this ep deals with the notion of widowhood. Not only has the mother just lost her partner of 50-odd years, but the kids were always closer with their father, and now that he has passed away the mother is terrified of where this leaves her in the scheme things. It seems their mother has never been a part of their lives, so when Lily and Judy tell their mother they want to be there for her, her reply is, “I’m supposed to count on you now, suddenly?” How sad.

I have no clever line with which to title this post.

Once & Again – Mystery Dance
First a decent ep, then an enjoyable one, and now a Judy-centric one?!? Suddenly I like this show. The ep begins with Judy complaining about how she attracts weirdos. She and Lily go to an art opening and Judy meets Rick’s sculptor friend Sam (Steven Weber!) who is kind of weird but also charming.

Judy and Sam totally hit it off, and end up kissing a whole bunch after a somewhat awkward, protracted, and very non-physical courting. And then – and you see this coming a mile away, really – it turns out that Sam is “very married.” Judy is irate and heartbroken, and cuts off all ties with Sam. But he turns up on her doorstep and convinces her that he and his wife don’t love each other anymore. Judy is so drawn to him that, in the end, she ignores her best judgment and sleeps with him.

Meanwhile, Lily wants to talk to Rick about what happened with Jake in the hopes that it will help them move on. Rick is reticent on the subject and, big surprise, they fight about it. How can two people who fight so much actually enjoy being in a relationship?

Once & Again – Daddy’s Girl
And just like that … O&A turns on me. I’m pretty sure I just hate Lily, so Lily-centric eps are bad news. In this ep Lily’s dad comes to town for the opening of Jake’s restaurant. Lily and Jake continue to fight about money. Lily’s friend convinces her to hire a lawyer, and she gets a good one, so Jake freaks out. But the opening is a success. One cute moment: Rick gives Lily a cricket for Valentine’s Day and she screams her head off.

Grace likes a new boy, Jared, and he likes her back. Jared and Grace are cute and awkward but when they finally kiss, O&A ruins it with this tripe: “I think you are amazing. The way a lake is amazing. Or snow.”

Think it can’t get worse? You’d be wrong. “I think they should invent a new word that describes the moment before you kiss someone. I think it’s like when a bird decides that it can fly.”

Yeah. I just threw up a little. At the end, in a shocking twist, Lily finally stops being a fucking princess and realizes she can’t depend on [or, according to me, expect] Jake to take care of her financially for the rest of her life, so she looks through the classifieds and creates a resume. About time!

I've never ever said "go figure" in my entire life.

Once & Again – Mediation
After Lily and Rick break up, they are both distracted and depressed. Lily and Jake go to a mediator to help them divorce amicably, but they just end up fighting the whole time. Jake is still having money troubles and thinks they should sell the house, but Lily refuses. Obviously I understand Lily’s reticence to uproot her kids and all that, but considering that Jake is barely scraping by I think she’s being kind of horrible.

This ep introduces a new minor character named Miles Drentell, a business tycoon for whom Rick begins designing a building. He is haughty and a perfectionist, and Rick and his partner have trouble living up to the man’s demands. Grace begins tutoring Eli in English, and she tells him about the breakup (which he didn’t realize had happened). I’m FINALLY starting to warm up to this show, largely due to a nice little scene in which Eli calls Grace for help on a paper, and both parents are asked to hang up once the kids get on the upstairs extension. So there they are, both on the phone, each able to hear the other breathing and wanting to speak, but just … not being able to. Later, they have a terribly awkward moment at the high school when they both arrive to pick up their kids and Eli & Grace force them to interact in the hopes that they will make up.

Unable to handle the depression anymore, Rick calls Lily and the two meet up. She thinks he wants to get back together, but instead he tells her that he’s no longer bitter toward her, that their timing was just wrong, and that it’s clear the relationship will not work. However, by the end of the scene – which is honestly one of the most unembellished and frankly sad breakups I’ve seen – Lily and Rick realize they can’t bear to be apart.

A quick aside: the B&W interviews are beginning to confuse me. They have always focused on one character at a time, so I thought they were supposed to represent each person’s innermost thoughts. In the Thanksgiving ep, though, Lily’s parents had one together – which I thought was a neat idea, like they’ve been together so long that their thoughts are one. But in this ep, Grace and Zoe share one. Huh?

Once & Again – Sneaky Feelings
What is going on? The last ep was decent, and this one I actually liked – for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that stupid Lily does not make an appearance.

Now I admit, “Sneaky Feelings” started off on a bad note because it is Jessie-centric and the last Jessified episode almost made me quit the show for good. But almost instantly, we are greeted with a shining beacon of hope – the introduction of Mark Feuerstein (The West Wing, Good Morning Miami) as Leo Fisher, a new client/love interest for Karen. Leo is a young, idealistic, socially awkward doctor who is frustrated by the roadblocks he comes up against while trying to get outpatient housing built for AIDS patients. [Side note: Feuerstein himself is a passionate activist for AIDS charities]. He and Karen begin arguing immediately, and there is so much sexual tension between them you could cut it with a knife. Finally, they come to the shaky realization that they are very much alike. He kisses her, she responds, and they share a passionate, shove-the-other-person-up-against-the-wall kind of kiss.

AND, holy crap, a very young Jason Dohring (Moonlight, Veronica Mars) plays one of Eli’s basketball teammates. AND, Alexandra Holden (Friday Night Lights, Six Feet Under) plays Cassidy, a cute volleyball player to whom Eli is instantly attracted.

Anyway, the Sammler family is in an uproar. Eli has been feeling stifled by Jennifer, who is admittedly clingy. Karen is dating Lloyd, who she never really liked very much. Jessie, who loves Jennifer because she is like an older sister, is pissed at Eli for being interested in someone new. Jessie also likes Lloyd, who is really sweet to her, and she is pissed because her mother is clearly not interested in him. And I think I hear the Get-Up Kids in the background.

In the increasingly complex Eli-Jennifer storyline, Rick tells Eli that he is too young to be spending all of his time focusing on one person, and he shouldn’t feel bad for wanting to break up. Karen tells Eli that’s crap, that breakups are terrible no matter what, and that he needs to be more sensitive to Jennifer’s feelings. Both parents are right, which is what makes this interesting.

Karen comes home one night to find Cassidy at the house, and tells Eli he needs to do something before someone gets hurt. Alas, as Eli and Cassidy leave the house, Jennifer comes bounding up the front walkway. Caught! Meanwhile, Leo pursues Karen and so she breaks up with Lloyd, who is is devastated.

Drinks won't be in me, because I won't be drinking.

Once & Again – Outside Hearts
Lily goes out of town for a book convention, and Judy takes care of the Manning kids. Grace likes a new boy, and goes to a party that Eli also attends. There is a lot of talk about not drinking and driving, and Eli tells his parents he won’t drink. But he does. And when some kid drinks too much, Eli is the one who calls the cops. Then, since he's been drinking, Eli does the responsible thing and calls his dad to come pick him up. But instead of cutting him some slack, Rick and Karen punish him. Meanwhile, Lily admits she’s upset that her kids like Judy more, and Judy admits that she likes being the “cool” aunt.

On this disc when you push “skip” right as the ending credits start, you see a little “next, on O&A” medley, which has not happened on the previous two discs. How strange.

Once & Again – Thanksgiving
Lily’s parents come into town for Thanksgiving and treat Jake as though he is the best thing since sliced bread, and then try to convince Lily to get back together with him. We learn that Lily has a schizophrenic brother that she never sees (though apparently Judy visits him all the time). Booooring!

Once & Again – When There Is Smoke
Rick takes Lily and her kids to dinner, at Grace’s objection, but to her surprise she actually likes him. Jake is still having money troubles, and he finally breaks down and opens up to Lily, crying and telling her she’s the best thing that ever happened to him. And they have sex. And Grace sees them. Meanwhile, Eli moves down to the basement of Karen’s house, thus asserting his independence, and Karen is unhappy about it.

Once & Again – The Gingerbread House
In this depressing Christmas ep, Lily is racked by guilt for sleeping with Jake, though Judy tells her in no uncertain terms never to tell Rick about it. Unfortunately, Rick can tell something is wrong. After the indiscretion, Jake and the girls think that he and Lily are getting back together. Lily finally does something right and tells Jake she wants a divorce. And she tells the kids there is no way they are getting back together. In the end, Lily's guilt forces her to tell Rick that she slept with Jake, and in the sad & snowy finale, in a Christmas tree lot, Lily tells Rick that she is in love with him. And he walks away. She calls his name, twice, but he keeps walking and doesn’t look back.

Gay people can be shoplifters too, you know.

Once & Again – A Dream Deferred
In this ep, Judy wants Lily to build a coffee bar in the bookstore. Rick gets involved, and gets so excited about it that he ends up pressuring Lily to go through with it even though she knows they can’t afford it. Judy is fast becoming the only character I actually like on this show, so any eps that revolve around her are a step up in my book. Meanwhile, Lily learns that Jake is having money troubles when she gets a call informing her that their mortgage payment is late. So she whines about it to him. Blech.

Once & Again – The Ex-Files
The Sammler family goes on a trip together when Eli’s basketball team plays in some kind of finals game. There is a weird moment in the hotel when Rick sees Karen in her underwear and he kind of gazes longingly at her – while on the phone with Lily, mind you – but nothing ends up happening. Why tantalize me with this if nothing's going to happen?!? On the trip, Rick meets a new man in Karen’s life [who is the dad from 90210], named Lloyd Lloyd. Ouch. Meanwhile, Lily plans a relaxing weekend alone but can’t handle being by herself for a whole two days. Good lord. Jake has the kids for the weekend and they accidentally end up meeting Tiffany, a girl he’s been dating who is more into him than he is to her. Zoe likes her, but Grace is a raging bitch as usual.

Once & Again – The Past Is Prologue
Big surprise, Lily has a problem. Rick is distracted by work and Lily feels neglected. This ep features a lot of flashbacks to the early days of Lily and Jake’s marriage, when she also felt neglected and had terrible hair. Eli and Rick get into a fight in this ep, and Eli screams “What, are you going to beat me up?!?” Which is so totally out of nowhere and causes all this strife in the Sammler family. And Eli cries a lot, which is really bugging me. I think it’s really pathetic and weak. I know, I’m an asshole.

Why don’t they call them “hot hogs” … that’s what they are.

Once & Again – The Scarlet Letter Jacket
I don’t like this show, but I have decided that it might be fun to blog about something I don’t like. I'm mad at whoever who voted for this show [I know you're out there, it won the poll]. Because I don't like this show, you get a three-in-one post today to help quicken our journey through the world of O&A.

In this ep, Grace tells Lily that everyone at school knows about her and Rick. Even Jake has heard about the relationship from a friend. Lily and Rick are having dinner when Karen interrupts, so Lily hides [which is really lame. To his credit, Rick tries to convince her not to]. The school is having some sort of carnival, and Grace & Eli, Lily & Karen, and Rick & Jake are assigned to work together. Grace and Eli get along really well, and she starts to develop a huge crush on him [I sense trouble ahead, though I think it’d be pretty rad if they also developed a relationship].

Setting up for the carnival, Lily hears all the mothers gossiping and realizes soon they’ll be gossiping about her. Jennifer’s friends are bitches, telling Grace that Eli thinks she’s too fat and her breasts are too small. One of the mothers finally tells Karen about Lily and Rick, and Karen gets pissed at Rick for not telling her.

Lily wonders if their relationship is going too fast, and tells Rick they have to be careful of other people's feelings. Rick feels that other people can get over it [I like Rick. Not so much Lily]. She then reminisces about all the times she has let other people control her actions. So in the end, Lily goes over to Rick in front of everyone at the carnival and puts her hand on his shoulder. This reminds me of the handholding ep of MSCL which will be discussed soon.

Once & Again – Liars and Other Strangers
Lily’s daughters are sullen and snippy (particularly Grace), as they don’t like Rick. Actually, they’ve never met Rick. But they want their own parents to get back together. Lily and Rick need a quiet place to have sex [this show is all about R&L doing it] so Lily’s sister Judy offers up her apartment. Unfortunately when Judy meets Rick, she hates him (she even says so in a B&W interview moment). Judy also tells Lily that she is teaching Grace that sex is shameful – she understands that sneaking around is what makes it hot, but it is teaching Grace the wrong ideas.

Eli lies to his mom about Rick & Lily so as not to hurt her feelings. When he realizes he has left his World Cultures textbook at Rick’s, he goes to pick it up but is stymied when he hears R&L having sex. Eli lies and tells his mom he stayed up all night studying, so when he fails his test she is worried that he can’t handle school even when he studies.

While at Rick’s, Jessie finds Eli’s textbook and Karen sees it. She’s pissed that Eli lied, but Eli won’t defend himself. Eli goes to Rick’s and starts crying, upset because he keeps getting put in the middle. Rick tells him not to cover up for him, but Eli says it’s his responsibility to protect his mom. Finally, Karen tells Eli that he’s good at being the man of the house, but that he doesn’t have to take care of her. She knows about Lily and she doesn’t need to be shielded from it. To sum up, we’re four episodes in and basically nothing has happened. Great.

Once & Again – There Be Dragons
Ok, this theme song is seriously getting on my nerves. I’m sure my cute upstairs neighbor is judging me based solely on this terrible music. It's a woman going "ooooh, ahhhh" much like in the early seasons of Felicity. Anyway, in this ep Rick decides that it’s time Lily met his kids. Rick and Jessie are going on their annual camping trip, so he tells Lily to stop by that morning. He is distracted by her presence and nearly slices his finger off, so Lily takes the family to the emergency room and Jessie likes that she was “not flustered.” Now every time someone chops vegetables in this show [which happens quite often] I’m expecting blood and gore.

Meanwhile, Jake tells Lily that he wants her back, and she says “screw you.” Basically. But it’s super obvious something is going to happen with them. This ep had an excessive amount of sappy B&W glimpses of Jessie's inner thoughts. Parts of this show are really good … there are times when it nails the parent-child relationship. But most of the time, it’s overly saccharine. And it makes a LOT of generalizations based on gender that really bug me; i.e. “sex means more to girls” or “men don’t worry as much as women do.”

I don't think the world was constructed for 40-year-olds to date.

Once & Again – Let’s Spend The Night Together

As the ep opens, Lily and Rick make plans for “tonight” because their schedules are so hectic. When Rick picks the kids up for school, Karen tells him that she heard Eli say “I love you” to Jennifer, and asks him to talk to their son about condoms. At school, Grace tells her best friend that she caught her mom & Rick nearly having sex on the living room couch.

Rick talks to Eli about sex and tells him it always means more to girls, no matter what they say [WTF? Seriously.] However, when Rick gets home Eli appears half-naked. He says Jennifer is upstairs, embarrassed. Rick isn’t upset about the fact that his son wants to have sex, he’s upset about the sneaking around. Eli says, “So where should we do it if you say it’s ok with you?” Nice play, Eli! This gets no response.

Lily and Rick go to lunch and agree to have sex that night, but later Lily panics and cancels the date. He shows up anyway, and convinces her to go to his place. Next comes a horribly awkward sex scene that ends with Rick unable to maintain an erection and Lily in tears.

Yikes. This ep was iffy, though it’s early yet so I’ll try not to judge the whole show. I was particularly amused by Lily’s freakout before she cancels the date, as I have a friend who is recently out of a seven-year relationship and is worried about dating again because she thinks that everyone has herpes nowadays. So, that was kinda funny.

I always had a map for my life … now I've walked off it entirely.

Apparently I’m unintentionally going through some sort of Marshall Herskovitz/Edward Zwick phase right now, as they are involved in both MSCL and O&A. Next stop, Thirtysomething. And now, here's some background on Once & Again, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Once & Again aired on ABC from 1999 to 2002. It was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the same team that created Thirtysomething and My So-Called Life. One of the show's more unique aspects were the "interview" sequences filmed in black and white and interspersed throughout each episode, where the characters would reveal their most innermost thoughts and memories to the camera.

We open on Lily (Sela Ward) lying in bed, with a voiceover/B&W “talking head” of her talking as though she’s being interviewed [these asides are a bit irritating]. Anyway, she is saying “All I ever wanted to be safe. That’s the funny thing, cause I never chose the safe thing.” She feels as though her life is losing direction, and she isn’t sure what to do next. We see her waking up her children: 14-year-old Grace and 9-year-old Zoe. We learn that Lily is in the middle of a divorce because her husband, Jake, cheated on her. Next we see Rick (Billy Campbell) waking up, and his B&W bit: “I always had a map for my life. You know, where I was supposed to be headed. And now it’s like I’ve walked off it entirely.” No specific reason is given for his divorce, but we learn that he also has two children: 16-year-old Eli, and 11-year-old Jessie.

Rick and Lily first make contact while dropping their kids off at school. Their eyes meet and they have a quick flash of connection, then Rick drives away. Later that day, Grace is hurt in a soccer match and Lily takes her to the school office, where Rick and Eli are waiting for a meeting with the guidance counselor. Rick and Lily chat, each revealing that he/she is divorced, and they have a bit of cute flirtation. Later, Rick calls Lily to ask her out, and he is adorably nervous. She is distracted my her family crowding the kitchen and replies, “Uh yeah, thanks. You know, if there is any, we’ll call. Thank you so much.”

Which, yes, has absolutely nothing to do with what Rick has asked. Later, she calls him back to apologize and they make a date. During all of this, Rick’s kids know what is going on and are supportive of it [“Go Dad!”] while Lily tells her daughters she is going on a date, but does not tell them who she is dating. Lily’s kids are skeptical, as both want their own parents to get back together. Jake’s continued presence—he behaves almost as if they are not getting divorced at all—continues to make things difficult.

At school, Eli notices Grace in the hall, and her friends freak out. Later, he invites to a make out party, and Grace is amazed … for Grace is super high-strung, has panic attacks, and has incredibly low self-esteem (she thinks she’s ugly and overweight). And Eli is apparently somewhat of a school hottie.

Rick and Lily have a great date, and make out like teenagers. They set up another date, with Lily asking Jake to take the kids for the night. After much cute hedging, Rick & Lily go back to her place with the agreement that they will not have sex. However, this goes out the window pretty quickly, and they are getting naked on the couch when Jake & the kids walk in. Grace is horrified, and finally realizes that this is why Eli has been talking to her.

Lily and Rick meet for coffee, and she tells him they can’t date. He tells her that what is happening between them doesn’t happen that often, but she walks away. However, in the end she calls Rick and they meet again. There is no dialogue, they just walk up to each other and break into huge grins. And that’s the end of the pilot.

So far I like it ok. With the exception of Grace, the characters are presented as very well adjusted. I’m assuming this will disintegrate as the show continues, or else how boring! To sum up:

THE FAMILY MANNING

Lily Manning: high-strung, high-maintenance soccer mom who owns a bookstore with her sister. She is hesitant about relationships, is afraid of getting hurt, and uses her children as an excuse (i.e. “they’re not ready for me to date yet”). Lily has two children…

Grace Manning: a relatively normal 14-year-old. Not popular, but has her group of friends. Suffers from low self-esteem and panic attacks. Is desperate to start dating, but no one is asking her.

Zoe Manning: little miss perfect. Cute, sweet, able to easily manipulate her father…

Jake Manning: charming and handsome, his unfaithfulness led to his divorce. However Jake and Lily are not divorced yet, and there is a suggestion that until recently they were still fooling around.

THE FAMILY SAMMLER

Rick Sammler: calmer and more casual than Lily, owns an architecture firm with his best friend. Started dating immediately after his divorce. More “carpe diem” than Lily. Rick has two children…

Eli Sammler: handsome, popular 16-year-old. Good at basketball but terrible at school; wants a girl who won’t judge him for his tutoring (he is overly concerned with this). Girlfriend is Jennifer.

Jessie Sammler: at this point I know nothing about this child, except she’s 11 and the daughter of Rick and…

Karen Sammler: a normal mom, a little high-strung, very concerned with Eli’s trouble in school. Thinks Rick doesn’t want to admit their son has a problem.