Frank and J.T. are tickled pink when cousin Cody, the cool demolition natural who lives in his van, arrives for a weekend visit. J.T. naughtily bets that even he can't charm Barky into a date. Carol is hopelessly and misleadingly unclear about her expectations for the first wedding month-'anniversary'. So Frank simply buys a super-saw in a hardware-sale, but he finds a Jamaica-nostalgic alternative.

Carol thinks that the best way for the family to bond would be the Port Washington Games. The Lamberts, who have won three years in a row, don't want the Fosters on their team, simply because they are not athletic enough. The Fosters find the Games to be barbaric, but they eventually agree to participate. The Lamberts are devastated when they learn that Cody will not be there to help them win for a fourth straight year. Karen turns out to be the secret weapon as her beauty distracts the opponents. When it comes down to the final event, Cody shows up to help the Lamberts win for the fourth straight year.

Carol discover's at Brendan's 6th birthday that a traditional Lambert bowling day isn't his preference, so she arranges a regular kids party, with popular clown Yo-Yo. Alas the star cancels at the last minute, so Frank steps in. Meanwhile the authorities reported Frank and Carol's Jamaican wedding was illegal, so a city hall repeat is required. Unlike Frank, Carol insists on a romantic production. As the reverend she wants to reside is about to leave, it has to coincide with Brendan's party and actually gets merged in.

Dana and her friend Bernice want to see their favorite folk singer at a bar called Jake's. At first, Carol lets her go but later learns from Frank that it is a very dangerous place so she forbids Dana to go. Dana feels that Frank is controlling her so she goes anyway. When Cody learns that Dana went to Jake's, he rushes there and beats up several thugs. Eventually, the numbers are too great and the other thugs are about to beat up Cody. Just then Frank comes in to help Cody. The two of them beat up the others and Dana is saved. Though Frank breaks his hand, Dana appreciates him and Cody saving her.

Since Carol insists on joint activities, Frank agrees to join her to the opera if the Fosters join camping, a favorite Lambert pastime. The Foster kids wine non-stop from the start, and soon get some reasons, such as a truck parking incident which strands them till the park ranger's weekly visit. Cody realizes they're missing, and goes tracking, but so does a bear, really close.

Cody tries to impress Dana and gets a job as a corporate executive. His job is to put prizes in the quarter machines for the young kids. He puts kids before profit and ends up getting fired. The family decides that an answering machine is needed to retrieve messages. Karen gets a call from a crush named Bobby, but neglects to tell Frank that there was a message for him saying the building he is supposed to remodel is getting demolished. Frank nearly gets killed and Karen gets punished.

A show called "America Up Close" is doing a "blended family" segment and the Foster/Lambert family is chosen. Carol is embarrassed because the whole world will see that the kids constantly fight. Carol's prediction was correct and she ends up making Frank sleep on the couch. Dana convinces the other kids to be nice to each other. The next day during filming, the kids are nice to each other and Carol and Frank make up.

Carol's car is doing pretty much everything except running correctly so she and Frank decide they need a new car. Frank brings Carol to his pal's car lot. Frank tries to get a good deal but Carol gets the better deal. J.T. has a date so he uses Carol's car, then someone borrows the car from J.T. Penny finds a man who is a mortician. She brings him over for dinner at Frank and Carol's but he talks about his job too much.

J.T. and Cody believe in aliens so Dana and Karen tease them. They try to make the guys like idiots by having a UFO fly over the house. Cody and J.T. learn of the plan and decide to play some mind games of their own. Frank's office is a mess and Carol attempts to help him organize the place. Carol puts all the information into a computer which pleases Frank. Soon after, Carol loses the information that was on the computer. They end up going through a dumpster to find the information that was in shoe boxes. After getting garbage poured on them, they find the boxes.

Frank and Carol go away for the weekend leaving Dana in charge. Dana has only one rule--no parties. The hotel is a dump but Frank and Carol try to make it work. Everything is going smooth until Frank throws his back out. At home, Dana has two friends over for a study group. Since she has two friends over, she allows each kid to have two friends as well. Eventually, a party breaks out. J.T. gets stuck in the chimney just before Frank and Carol get home and the fire department has to come over to free J.T.

After lecturing Dana endlessly about her drivers test, Frank is one day late to renew his license administratively, and fails the written test himself. Al tricks Frank into allowing her to learn drumming. For once she doesn't seem to feel like quitting soon. Dana now even drives Frank, until real traffic proves terrifying and he passes his make-up test.

Mark is doing homework for a classmate because he is being threatened. Carol feels that Mark should confront the bully in a peaceful way while Frank suggests that Mark defend himself. The bully happens to be a girl which gets Al's attention. Al begins to consider Mark a brother and sticks up for him. J.T. is running the 100M for the JV track team and breaks the school's record. Dana has to write a report on J.T. for the school newspaper. She writes a negative article but J.T. gets the typesetter to publish a very positive one.

J.T. helps Al come up with a name for her band and he becomes the manager. The band gets to perform at the bowling alley where Frank just did a remodeling job. The other four girls in the band get the flu and J.T. is forced to get Dana and Karen as replacements. Since no one else is available, J.T. and Cody dress up as girls. The crowd finds out J.T. and Cody are guys and Carol saves the band by performing herself. There is a mouse loose in the house. Frank wants to kill it but Carol believes the mouse should live.

Carol decides to go back to school to finish college. Between that and the beauty shop, there is not much time left for housekeeping. When Frank steps in to relieve Carol of some the work, it becomes apparent that they have both taken on too much.

Frank's contractor friend, John Patterson, invites him and his family to join an exclusive country club. While the Lamberts and Fosters engage in a series of gags, Dana fumes about having to come along in the first place; she's sure she'll be embarrassed by Frank's oafish, clumsy ways. However, she winds up sticking up for her step-father when she finds out the only reason Patterson invited him to join was to make him the butt of cruel jokes.

JT is so desperate to be introduced to school 'hottie' Tina that he agrees to be Dana's slave for a whole humiliating week. Frank's father, grandpa Bill, visits and presents his far younger bride Luanne Dexter to the family. Frank remembers having seen her as bachelor party cake stripper, but they never discuss this matter. When he gathers the courage, Bill doesn't believe him. Date Tina proves a terrible, incompatible snob.

Frank is turning forty and Carol fears he'll go through a midlife crisis and maybe have an affair. So she gets him a boy's dream, flying lessons, and goes along. Unfortunately the flight instructor, Mel, has health problems. Cody and J.T. got him the shower head he wanted for his birthday and insist on installing it themselves - without the instructions. The girls bicker about baking a birthday cake.

Port Washington's Lodge elects Frank as first deputy Grand Mallard. So he can coach Cody to pledge as new member, and supervise that his project isn't too ludicrous even for that bunch. He also gets to MC the Mother and Miss Mallard pageant. Karen sees that as her first step to a modeling career, so Carol can't refuse entering, nor leave after judge Howard overdoes his customary 'flirting'. The grand day arrives for both.

It is time for Dana to take the SAT. Just as she is about to sit down, Cody shows up. He does something new every week. When the scores arrive in the mail, Cody actually did better than Dana. Dana challenges Cody to take the SAT again. Cody agrees and beats her again. After a long talk with Carol, Dana must learn to live with her scores.

The school year starts even harder the usual. Even Mark is terrified he has to take wood-shop. Al's cooking is so bad it requires power-tools to cut it. Worst off is JT's with a Shakespeare assignment for Carol's former favorite teacher, Mrs. Hill, and a class visit from his stepmother. It turns out 'Fishface' grades jocks a D, even after Frank coached JT on Hamlet all night. Until Carol steps in.

JT is desperate enough for a date with popular Judy to pay Karen back for her fashion and grooming help, to Dana's amusement. Frank felt his back hampered him joining Cody jumping as a 'human fly'. He is tempted by 'macho rivalry' for the kids' admiration with Al's friend Lori's dad, former football star Ted Davis.

J.T. begins his own cable-access television show, a program that is very similar to "Wayne's World." He invites a girl he has an eye on to the show, but becomes upset when the young lass falls for sidekick Cody instead.

Al and Brendan get more than they bargained for when they agree to take care of a neighbor's St. Bernard ... way more, especially after the dog's masters decide to move away and leave the dog in the Lamberts' care. Everyone becomes even more miserable when Carol falls in love with the slobbering mutt.

Dana is promoted to manager of a '50s-style restaurant, and her condescending, overbearing demeanor quickly takes its toll on employees J.T. and Karen to the point that they resign. Frank and Carol are sympathetic to Dana and help out during lunch hour ... until Dana again asserts herself. In the end, Dana learns a lesson about what being "the boss" means.

Karen realizes a dream when she takes a modeling job in Chicago, but she has to deal with her overbearing mother. Carol tags along and interferes with the photo shoot, angering Karen. However, one of the other models takes Karen aside and shares her dream ... just to be a kid. Meanwhile, Dana - and then the others, one by one - come down with the flu. They all quickly make Frank their butler, which (along with Mark sharing how often he has to vomit) drives family patriarch crazy.

Frank becomes worried when he learns Dana has asked Mike Walters (aka "Mike the Mover") out on a date, particularly since he has learned Mike has a reputation of pressuring his dates into having sex. However, a plan to spy on Dana and make sure no hanky-panky takes place backfires, and Dana quickly accuses her stepfather of meddling. The next day, Mike shows his true colors during an unannounced visit, and Frank is there to back up Dana when she asks him to leave. Meanwhile, J.T. agrees to wax and wash Frank's new truck, but buys a substandard brand of wax that ruins the truck's paint job ... and Frank's trust in his eldest son.

Dana and J.T. become rival candidates for class president, J.T.'s candidacy prompted after he becomes annoyed that the only candidates are "dweebs and geeks" and that there are no everyman candidates. The candidacies polarize the household, and eventually J.T. wins. However, the work quickly becomes more than J.T. has bargained for and he quickly resigns.

J.T. and Cody get dates with two girls with "easy" reputations, but the dates come to a halt when Cody announces he wants to wait until he meets "the dudette of his dreams." J.T. is upset at first, but later realizes Cody is right.

Carol imposes a severe crackdown in family spending after a long-overdue video is found under Brendan's bed. The other siblings immediately blame Brendan, and their behavior toward him becomes so rude and disdainful that he decides to run away. It isn't long before the youngest Lambert is found (in Cody's van), and after Frank and Carol reassure Brendan that he wasn't to blame, the other children realize they need to apologize.

Frank's old high school buddy arrives for a visit, and it becomes obvious he still hasn't grown up. Meanwhile, Cody wins a live turkey in a supermarket raffle, but struggles with his conscience when he learns the bird is about to be butchered.

A resident of the Lakeview Retirement Home (where Cody is a volunteer) dies. The man leaves Cody his estate, valued at $250,000. As Cody struggles with how to spend the money, his cousins pester him for a share of the inheritance (to spend lavishly, natch). Eventually, enough is enough and Cody decides to put the money to good use: Save for $500, turn the cash over to the nursing home for needed upgrades. Cody then spends the rest of the money on a new camcorder (to replace a junky one that Frank purchased and breaks down in spectacular fashion).

When Frank and Carol veto Dana's plan to have a no-adults party for her 17th birthday, she decides to rent a hotel room. Things become complicated when Frank and Carol do so (for a romantic weekend) in the same hotel, but the only available one is the one across the hall from Dana's. Meanwhile, Cody is asked to mediate a dispute between Al and Karen over a ruined blouse.

Frank hires good looking woman as part of his construction team, which makes Carol feel insecure. The kids (with the exception of Dana) try to make money in the stock market.

When "J.T.'s World" becomes a huge local hit, a national syndicator approaches the show's star about making the show an even bigger hit. J.T. thinks he's about to become a huge star, and his ego grows wild. However, the eldest Lambert is thoroughly humbled when he learns the syndicator's plans for his show are vastly different.

Dana is dumped by her boyfriend right before Valentine's Day, and takes out her frustrations on everyone, including a potential new suitor. Meanwhile, Frank gets a temporary job at Carol's hair salon, and his new hairstyles - caused by his own ineptitude, rather than creativity - quickly become popular with the local teen-agers (but not their parents).

The family--including Cody--vacation in Hawaii. Among other adventures, Dana meets the man of her dreams: a beach bum named Brian. The two hit it off, and the romance quickly blossoms to the point where Brian gives Dana a 6-karat solitaire diamond ring in a Tiffany setting. However, Dana is heartbroken when Carol finds out and objects to the impending marriage.

Frank and (especially) Carol refuse to accept daughter Dana's engagement, they get into a huge argument. Dana considers eloping with sweetheart Brian, but when the two begin talking about their future, they realize that perhaps they were not meant for each other after all and (sadly) break it off. Meanwhile, the others become engaged in adventures involving sand castles and buried treasure.

After meeting a biker chick at school, J.T. wants to ask her out ... but first consults Mark on how to treat this young woman. Meanwhile, Frank mortifies Al when he tags along with her and Carol to the store to buy the 13-year-old girl (fast entering puberty and quickly becoming very beautiful) her first bra.

Mark is recruited to join the local Pony League baseball team (which Frank coaches and Al is the star catcher) after one of Al's teammates suffers a season-ending injury. Mark, who was never good at baseball, may wind up spending the season on the bench ... until he gets his opportunity to save the day in the championship game.

As a practical joke, J.T. places an unflattering baby photograph of Karen in the high school yearbook. Later - after Cody and J.T. visit a psychic - J.T. becomes convinced that a dark-hair female will stab him to death with a large knife ... and that profile fits Karen. Also, Frank and Carol purchase a new massaging bed, but the bed does everything but help them relax or enjoy a good night's sleep.

Frank wins a contract to construct a multi-million dollar office complex, and this will necessitate the removal of a house sitting on a key part of the property. He hires munitions expert Cody to level the structure, but when Cody goes inside to inspect the structure, he finds out that a family is still living there. Meet the Emersons, a couple with two children that have been down on their luck for the last year; both parents had lost their jobs several months earlier, and are now penniless and have nowhere else to stay. Cody is sympathetic and immediately refuses to destroy the house. Frank, nervous about the repercussions, tries to get Cody to start the work ... until project backer Mr. Hartman threatens to sue Frank for breach of contract, a move that could force the Lamberts into bankruptcy. Carol learns about the Emersons' situation and rallies to their aid. In the end, Mr. Hartman agrees to a plan to have the house moved, and Mr. Emerson gets a job on Frank's payroll. Also: J.T. becomes the manager of Al's envelope-stuffing enterprise (where Mark and Brendan are also working), but is quickly overbearing; the three younger siblings revolt and J.T. is left to complete the work himself.

Carol sets Karen up with a young lad named Freddy for the dance, but Karen has her eye on someone more desirable. Karen asks the other fellow, Jeffrey, out, then dumps Freddy by lying to him. At the dance, Jeffrey and Karen win the "Perfect Couple" award, but when they spot Freddy, Karen's conscience gets to her and she decides to apologize. Meanwhile, Frank becomes imprisoned in Cody's van after he installs an alarm that works all too well.

To become closer to a new boyfriend, Dana auditions for - and wins - the role of Juliet in a local production of "Romeo and Juliet." However, her bid at stardom is placed in jeopardy when she learns her co-star is the very man she detests the most: Cody.

While a friend of hers is away for three months, Dana can have her apartment. Carol is against, but Frank convinces her this is the best way to let her try out living alone close by before she goes to college next year. Carol gives in, but is obsessed with 'her baby' to the point Al feels neglected. Even J.T. discovers he misses one thing about Barky: a sparring partner at trading verbal abuse. At first Dana felt hounded by ma, but once she's really alone feels miserable enough to start talking to Gordon, the pot plant Cody gave her as company. She's ready to return to the comfortable nest, but now Carol has changed her tune, so she calls the men for fake repairs in the apartment... Meanwhile Frank has accepted a construction client's payment in kind: the TV of his choice, to put in the parents' bedroom, but Carol makes him promise to throw it out as soon as watching sports gets in the way of their love life given his addiction to sports airings...

Carol finds convincing Frank and the other Lamberts to begin attending church to be a tall order.

J.T. and Rich have to write a report for their English class. They decide to break into Mark's computer to steal the papers and sell them to the football players. Dana finds out and tells Mark and then she decides to get revenge on them and changes the papers to make them sound bad.

Is it easier being a teen-ager or a parent? That's the question Frank and Carol hope to resolve with J.T. and Dana when they agree to "switch places" for a weekend. The exercise comes after J.T. and Dana refuse to do their share of the housework and complain that Frank and Carol seem to do nothing themselves.

When Mark frets over getting his first "A" (instead of the A-pluses he has been so accustomed to), Frank decides the best way to relieve the tension is to play video games. However, Mark quickly becomes a video game addict, forcing Carol to take drastic steps to break her son out of his new addiction. Meanwhile, Cody drives Dana nuts with his ways of trying to cure the common cold ... with mind power.

Frank and Carol search like crazy for anniversary presents.

Cody moves into the house while his van/house is in the shop for repairs, and drives everyone crazy. Meanwhile, Karen decides to volunteer at the local homeless shelter so she can meet a cute guy.

Through the "find a friend" section in a biker magazine, Cody meets a young woman who is raising an 8-year-old boy alone. Cody and the boy hit it off, and it isn't long before the woman decides that Cody is the man she is looking for.

Dana and Karen team up to teach the Lambert step-siblings a lesson in secretly tape-recording others' telephone conversations.

Frank and Carol are arrested by a know-it-all Barney Fife-type deputy on Christmas Eve when they are accused of being burglars.

Frank feels hesitant when Carol buys a marriage-improvement book.

When she has trouble making (and keeping) friends, Al decides to start hanging out with a group of bad girls. When Dana alerts Frank about Al's new friends, he prohibits her from seeing them again, leading to a huge argument. Eventually, Al realizes her friends are no good when they let her take the fall for stealing Cody's electric guitar.

Cody takes a speed-reading class and becomes a replacement storyteller at the library, where he learns that one of Brendan's friends has a reading problem and tries to help him.

Mark develops a crush on a pretty classmate on his thirteenth birthday.

Cody annoys the family - especially Dana - with his weird dreams. He winds up ruining her college visit, but then saves her from being sexually assaulted at a bus station.

Karen's coveted modeling opportunity falls by the wayside when Al is chosen for a new jeans advertisement. Meanwhile, Cody struggles with a good luck streak.

Frank decides to take Carol for a little week-end get away. But he unwittingly brings her to a place that he took one of his exes.

Dana assesses Cody's mental state for a psychology class assignment. Forced to make a decision between college and work, J.T. chooses work, much to Carol's chagrin.

Carol begins to feel insecure about her appearance and aging beauty as her 40th birthday approaches, so she orders some diet pills that make matters even worse. Meanwhile, Cody consults with a psychic to meet Abraham Lincoln (the topic of Al's term paper). Al decides to do the research herself as the unorthodox Cody claims he is having a normal(?) conversation with the 16th president.

Cody uses the loss of Karen's diary as the basis for a writing class project.

Cody looks forward to his birthday: his father, Frank's brother, will visit. He offers to make Cody the senior vice-president of his real-estate company, but Cody doesn't quite fit the corporate image. Meanwhile, Carol sets up Dana and Karen with the dates from hell; they get back at her, but she manages to have the last laugh, heh-heh-heh.

On prom night, JT is set up with a 13-year-old girl (as a joke). Meanwhile, Dana's date doesn't go much better when her boyfriend decided to get back with his ex-girlfriend. The two are left to comfort each other and wind up sharing a few dances, as well as gaining a new grudging respect for each other.

Feeling that he isn't getting enough respect, Mark takes up karate, and when he gets kicked out of class he turns to Cody, who has a black belt, for help training for the big tournament. On tournament day, Mark faces the best person; he falls behind in the beginning, but Cody sees his weaknesses and Mark comes back and ties the match. He ends up losing the match, but he has won the respect of everyone except the teacher who had kicked him out. He challenges Cody and is beaten badly. Meanwhile, Frank installs an intercom to deal with the constant fighting in the Lambert home, but he takes it down when it wakes everyone up in the middle of the night.

When J.T. is sent his first credit card. Frank doesn't think he can handle the responsibility, and a spending spree soon proves this. Dana is unhappy about going to a local public college and her first English essay is a disaster.

Cody hopes to expand his "coolness" when he joins a fraternity ... but then learns one of the dudes has tried to go a little too far with Karen.

Frank gives Carol the silent treatment when she beats him out for a coveted sports announcer position at the local radio station.

Putting an antenna on his van, Cody is struck by lightning and gets amnesia. Homecominq-Queen candidate Karen must date a nerd to get his tie-breaking vote.

Cody grows a gigantic pumpkin for Halloween. Mark is interested in a girl at school and asks her to the Lamberts' party.

Carol and Frank are shocked when she thinks she's pregnant. Al has her first real date and asks her siblings for help. Dana and her study group get a C for a philosophy test for which Cody manages an A.

Frank and Carol announce to the family that they're going to have a baby, and the kids are underwhelmed and are not happy. To improve their attitude, Carol insists that they all go to family therapy.

Cody's old friend has come to town; when Frank and Carol decide to build a new room for the baby, the children all want their own rooms.

Al has a new boyfriend, Zack, who has just moved into the area. His anti-establishment views on life upset Frank and he stops her from going on a date with him. Suddenly, Dana finds out that she is allergic to Cody.

Frank and Carol go away for a romantic weekend. Frank is worried that Carol is going overboard about the baby. Mark has a computer date. The girls have a bonding session, answering quizzes and talking about their fantasy men.

It's Christmastime and JT feels that he can going skiing with his mates now that he is 18, but the trip doesn't go as expected; bad-tempered Aunt Edna visits, much to Frank's and the children's displeasure.

JT has borrowed a Porsche from work and impresses a waitress. He lies and says that it is his and, using money he finds, he buys her an expensive necklace. Frank is reluctant to go with Carol to the gynecologist for her ultrasound.

Cody starts directing a movie with the kids as actors but forgets to write a script first. Dana begins dating a 36-year-old man but it doesn't quite go as she planned after meeting his friends. Carol starts eating weird food combinations.

When Mark's girlfriend Gabrielle spends the weekend, J.T. gives Mark advice and the girls give Gabrielle advice, and they break up. Cody gets them back together. Meanwhile, Frank gives Carol hints about what he wants for his birthday.

Al pressures JT to help her learn to drive. JT suggests the driving lesson take place in Frank's new truck. It comes back with a huge dent in the side, and the two scrambling to cover up what happened.

As Carol's pregnancy progresses, the family help with the chores but don't come up to her standards. When Dana and Cody are made history tutors for struggling students, it's Cody's approach that works with them.

The family suspects that the reason behind J.T.'s chronic poor scholastic performance might be dyslexia.

Cody is trying to reduce his use of the word dude and he enlists the help of Dana. Frank doesn't tell Carol that he is putting in a bedroom window for one of his old girlfriends. Carol is upset when she finds out.

Cody starts sleepwalking, which takes him back to his childhood. Dana is incredulous that J.T. got an A+ and she only got a B, until overhears their professor talking about him.. Frank tries to put together a barbecue grill.

After JT makes fun of Karen for wearing a pregnancy pad, he and Frank are dared to wear the pads for a weekend. Cody takes Brendan to see his favorite player Kenny Barton but is unable to get his signature without paying $50.

Al is offered a trip to Disneyland but needs $500. JT comes up the idea of babysitting many kids at once but they are overwhelmed. Frank makes Cody the foreman but the responsibility doesn't sit well. Karen's prom tries Carol's patience.

Dana is taking Karen to a college party and Al talks Dana into taking her. Karen becomes jealous when the college Casanova is attracted to Al and not her. Carol is having a sale of Frank's old junk, and he does his best to keep it.

Carol goes into labor and the family heads for the hospital, except for the Foster children who were forgotten. Carol wants a natural birth without drugs but changes her mind when she feels the pain. Lilly Foster-Lambert is born healthy.

Mark is growing up and there are the inevitable mother-son conflicts. Dana gets all excited when Cody says he can get her a date with Brad Pitt, and J.T. becomes very protective of Al when his friend wants to take her on a drive-in date.

Al, Dana, and Karen realize that they must set aside petty differences and work together to babysit Lilly.

Cody thinks that the new neighbour is a jewel thief from New York. Dana moves into a college dorm and Carol seems to be the only one who misses her. Karen and Al visit her a week later and are shocked at the change in her.

Cody gets Lilly to sleep when Carol is unable to do so, which makes Carol think she hates her. Dana is forced to work with JT at a family helpline by their psychology professor, much to her chagrin. A potential suicide shakes them up.

Karen is trying out for head cheerleader, with Carol's help and very competitive spirit. The Lamberts decide to hire a housekeeper. JT is smitten when an aspiring model applies and gives her the job. Cody goes into the fitness business.

Cody accidentally ends up with a middle-aged mail-order bride. Frank and Carol get fed up with the kids' endless petty demands. Karen attempts to be a country-singing star.

Al gets a job at the mall at a cookie outlet called Mr. Chips. She is annoyed at having to work alongside the restaurant's eponymously named mascot, a chimpanzee ... and is further embarrassed when she is asked to take the chimp home.

Cody proudly announces he got a back-breaking 'dream job', as 'stagehound' (roadie) for Mark's idol, rock band singer Christi Rose and Petal to the Metal, and gets the geeky kid to meet her backstage. Impressed with kind, cool Cody's way to handle fans, Christi asks him as her personal body-guard. Meanwhile, the four eldest kids' constant begging and fighting for the family car convinces Carol and Frank to buy another car for them. The kids' enthusiasm over Frank's car choice, a Mustang convertible, cools when it seems to be his baby, rather too precious to be left in their hands... Fleeing a horde of pushy fans in Cody's arms and on his Harley, Christy stays the night as his guest in the Lambert house and asks him to come along on her six months tour...

Cody joins Dana's feminist group, over her misgivings. They are to have a meeting but there is competition from a toga party. Frank and Carol have a spa night together. Mark is flying solo to the school dance and ends up on the wall.

Dana was eager to see 'the Amazing Codini' perform, but realizes too late he takes her into the magic box, hasn't fixed the necessary link to get out again and has no back-up plan, even knocks it over- they are trapped indefinitely, to her absolute horror, while he enjoys the closeness; yet salvation is within reach all the time... Meanwhile Carol dragged Frank to a beauty convention (a fake temperature doesn't fool experienced parents), then told him to entertain himself as she couldn't interest him in the least, only to finds Frank enjoying a female participator's manual hair-care too much... Reading about a cash price for the baby chosen at a Yum-Yum baby-food commercial audition, Lilly's babysitters J.T. and Al dashed off thereto but are too excited. When their parents return, Lilly has been switched with a baby-boy...

Cody manages to electrocute himself adding Christmas lights to his van. JT works part-time selling Christmas trees and gets a lesson in the true meaning of Christmas by a co-worker. Frank sets Al up with the son of an old family friend.

Dana is asked to model for a melodramatic campus artist, naked. JT is interested in Karen's lab partner but she is well out of his league. There is a rat in the roof and Frank is determined to get rid of it, with little success.

Mark's teacher wants him to go to an academic academy for gifted students. Frank and JT will win Super Bowl tickets provided they dress up as cheerleaders, but there is a catch. Cody invents clothing made out of food.

Frank is caught in the middle of a dispute between Carol and his well-meaning but overbearing mother, Helen, over the rearing of baby Lily. He wants to stay out of the argument, but realizes his marriage is more important when Helen announces plans to move to Port Washington to be Lily's nanny.

Cody has a bad case of the hiccups and nothing seems to cure him. Carol persists in reading a horror story before going to bed and Frank knows what's coming. Al is worried about her boyfriend going on a ski trip with 'The Love Boat'.

It's almost Valentine's Day and Dana is again having boy trouble. So Cody writes her a fake love letter but Dana thinks it's somebody else. Frank tries to please Carol with a fake Rolex watch. This is okay until she tries to return it.

Carol and Frank go to a baby playtime class and find out they are the oldest parents there, which they find unsettling. JT thinks that two men would never fall out over a woman but Dana is determined to prove him wrong.

When Cody is wearing his cheese-head he guesses the lotto numbers. Mark and Karen try to take advantage of it. Dana has a new boyfriend who believes in honesty, which irritates everybody. JT pretends to be Lilly's father to pick-up a girl.

JT receives a probation note for poor results and Frank warns him that he needs to buckle down or get a job. He does better but is under suspicion of cheating. Al wants to get her hair shaved and a tattoo in order to stand out.

Rich gives out 20 chain letters and gets good luck, but the Lamberts who don't believe in it receive bad luck. The girls go to a ski lodge looking for boys and Karen ends up going out with a Prince, who is going incognito for the weekend.

Dana is having trouble choosing a career path and goes to a career testing centre with JT and Rich to help them choose a career. There are some unusual results. Carol hires an over-active worker for Frank's work crew.

Frank's mother comes to town and offers to take the whole family to Disney world for a week. JT tries to impress some girls by spending big. Mark tries to organise a Disney world record. The girls decide to enter a talent contest.

The talent quest goes to Karen's head and she dispenses with Dana and Al. JT and Rich fall out over JT's big spending. With Mark's assistance, Flash continues to chase the park record.

When Flash intends to move to his aunt in Kansas City, commuting 8 hours twice a day, Carol invites him to the Lambert home. Frank has bough second-hand stuff to build a bachelor frat-style guys room in the basement, with a mechanical bull... Dana considers her feminist protest against scanty-dress waitresses in Mr. Packwood's diner Yabbos failed when they decide to hire male waiters in sexy shorts too, but the other girls 'get hungry' while J.T. and Rich decide to apply for the job to get close to the foxy colleagues; however the female customers actually prove as abusive pigs as Dana calls all men...

Just as Karen is musing that nothing ever happens, Cody returns from his overseas trip after two years, bringing with him gifts for the family. For Frank and Carol he has a cheque for $50 000, which starts a disagreement on how to spend it.

A resident of the Lakeview Retirement Home (where Cody is a volunteer) dies. The man leaves Cody his estate, valued at $250,000. As Cody struggles with how to spend the money, his cousins pester him for a share of the inheritance (to spend lavishly, natch). Eventually, enough is enough and Cody decides to put the money to good use: Save for $500, turn the cash over to the nursing home for needed upgrades. Cody then spends the rest of the money on a new camcorder (to replace a junky one that Frank purchased and breaks down in spectacular fashion).

Cody takes a speed-reading class and becomes a replacement storyteller at the library, where he learns that one of Brendan's friends has a reading problem and tries to help him.

Cody hopes to expand his "coolness" when he joins a fraternity ... but then learns one of the dudes has tried to go a little too far with Karen.

Cody annoys the family - especially Dana - with his weird dreams. He winds up ruining her college visit, but then saves her from being sexually assaulted at a bus station.

Putting an antenna on his van, Cody is struck by lightning and gets amnesia. Homecominq-Queen candidate Karen must date a nerd to get his tie-breaking vote.

Frank and Carol search like crazy for anniversary presents.

J.T. and Cody get dates with two girls with "easy" reputations, but the dates come to a halt when Cody announces he wants to wait until he meets "the dudette of his dreams." J.T. is upset at first, but later realizes Cody is right.

Cody looks forward to his birthday: his father, Frank's brother, will visit. He offers to make Cody the senior vice-president of his real-estate company, but Cody doesn't quite fit the corporate image. Meanwhile, Carol sets up Dana and Karen with the dates from hell; they get back at her, but she manages to have the last laugh, heh-heh-heh.

Just as Karen is musing that nothing ever happens, Cody returns from his overseas trip after two years, bringing with him gifts for the family. For Frank and Carol he has a cheque for $50 000, which starts a disagreement on how to spend it.

To become closer to a new boyfriend, Dana auditions for - and wins - the role of Juliet in a local production of "Romeo and Juliet." However, her bid at stardom is placed in jeopardy when she learns her co-star is the very man she detests the most: Cody.