The Gregory Hines Show : Season 1

Even though he specifically asked them not to fix him up, Nicole and Carl do just that, and hit him with a surprise blind date at the restaurant Nicole runs, Nicole's. The lucky woman, Cindy Pruitt, gets herself so choked up over hearing about the death of Ben's wife of 18 years, Sarah, that she runs off mid-date in tears -- which is fine with Ben. He comes home to witness Matty kissing his lab partner, Paige, without either of them seeing him. So he pretends like he saw nothing, and tries to ge

Ben and Alex wait at Nicole's to close an autobiography deal with basketball superstar Will Jones -- which makes Ben testy when the guy fails to show up on time, interfering with his plans to coach Matty's basketball team. Ben tries to bail on the dinner, but Alex and Nicole both force him to stay long enough for Will to arrive. After Ben tells Mr. Jones why he can't stay, Will asks Alex to reschedule; he wants to watch the game. Matty's team, the Home Court Pressers, are on a losing streak, no

Carl introduces the family to his new girlfriend, Jeanette, who's a professional cellist. Ben enjoys her company, since she's not only a musician, which he wanted to be, but an aspiring writer, as well. Alex and Nicole, who came over to watch a Bears game, pull Ben aside long enough to alert him to the fact that he's flirting with Carl's girlfriend right in front of Carl. Which isn't a first for him. Ben swears his actions are innocent, but he's shocked the next day at work when Alex tells him t

Since Ben has never met Paige's parents, James suggests that he invite them over to the apartment for dinner -- a suggestion which sends Matty's jaw crashing to the floor. Ben has to promise that he won't embarrass him in front of them before Matty grudgingly agrees to it. Ben greets Paige and her parents, Gary and Carolyn Taylor, two very stiff, pretentious doctors. After providing a pseudo-intellectually unstimulating conversation, the Taylors have a conniption when Ben says that Matty and Pai

Matty asks Ben if he and Weitzman can catch a train to a Blackhawks game -- in Detroit. The farthest Ben allows him to travel to see it is their living room sofa. Carl tells Ben that he broke up with Jeanette, and claims he's okay about it. But he isn't okay about it, so Ben helps him partake in his favorite post-breakup, pick-me-up activity: poker. Since he told Matty he's responsible enough to do a lot of grown-up things, if not go to Detroit, Ben agrees to let him, and not James, housesit whi

Ben's birthday is coming up, and Matty knows just what to get him after Ben spots his favorite author, Samuel Lawrence, sharing a subway car with the Stevensons. Although Samuel wrote the most influential book of Ben's childhood, ""Leaving the City,"" Ben can't bring himself to talk to the elderly writer, since Samuel has quite the reputation for being a recluse. Matty drags Weitzman along to the subway in hopes of running into Samuel again, so he can ask for the man's autograph. Ben is down abo

Ben goes to a ritzy furniture store with Alex and Matty to buy a new lamp for Matty, and Ben becomes smitten with the saleslady there, Cheri. After Alex pushes him to ask her out and Matty wanders off, Ben tells Cheri that he's interested in buying a new sofa. It becomes clear that she's interested in him, too, when she offers him her 30% employee discount on an expensive, leather couch he likes. Matty is upset when Ben refuses to let him have a minibike, because they're dangerous, even though W

It's Halloween, and Ben dresses up like one of the Pips in preparation for a big party he's throwing. A big party to which Alex happened to invite Maya Angelou, who's in town for a book-signing gig. Matty and his new hockey teammates -- who are all two years his senior -- go out to their own party, dressed as a hockey fight. Carl the pirate hits on all the uninterested women at Ben's party, while Nicole the genie fights off the advances of all the men interested in her. Alex and Angela are there

Ben begins to feel unneeded when he leaves Matty in Carl's care while he and Alex work overtime filing tax returns, and Matty has more fun with Carl than he ever had with him. And worse, now that Carl pulled a trick to get Matty in to meet Denzel Washington on their outing, Matty doesn't even want to spend time with Ben. Ben worries that he doesn't even know his own son anymore after Paige drops by the apartment with Matty's stuff. They broke up, and Matty didn't tell him. But he did tell Carl.

The Stevensons are visited by Ben's long-time friend, Michael -- who lost a race to him many years ago -- and his young daughter, Pauley. When Matty is reunited with Pauley, he sees how nicely she's developed, and develops a crush on her. They're spending the weekend in Chicago, because one of the country's top ad agencies wants to steal Michael away from his current advertising gig in New York. Ben notices Matty's crush when Michael and Pauley sleep over at their place, and recommends how to ma

Carl brags about his new client, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Matty's choir has been selected to go to D.C. to sing at the nationals. They'll need $5000 to go, so the choir parents are planning a big fundraiser -- which used to be Sarah's department. Ben is eager to offer his services as volunteer, but all Matty wants him to do is write a check. At school, Ben meets the treasurer, Sharon Glazier, and chairperson, Candice, and tells them he's volunteering. He also meets Roger, one bitter parent whose wif

Matty starts a 2-week internship at Nicole's, for a school program. While he, Ben, Carl and Alex are out having dinner, they are shocked to see James hanging all over a younger woman. And not just a younger woman, but their neighbor, Mrs. Davis. Although Ben is easygoing about the whole thing, a territorial Carl doesn't want anyone else trying to take their mother's place. When the brothers plan to tell their father that they know, James surprises them by saying that he knows they know; he spott

Matty gets a new--and older--Spanish tutor, Maria, but he's too smitten with her to concentrate on the español. James hears from his doctor that he's got bunions which require surgery. He doesn't want to take time off from his old-fashioned barbershop, so Ben offers his and Carl's services in running the place temporarily. The barbershop is exactly as it was when the two last saw it 30 years ago. Complete with James' crochety, old co-worker, Junior Braush... who hates Carl. After he gets a ""D"

Matty braces himself for a Sadie Hawkins Day dance by dodging the calls of the many interested girls who aren't named Diane. Carl finds romance of his own courtesy a woman who rents videos from the same store he does. And Ben makes it a trifecta by lighting up to a younger woman, Allison, who pitched a media plan to him. She beats him to the punch by asking him out. Matty's spirits sink when Ben tells him Diane called to ask him to the dance, only to pick up and hear that it's not Diane, but Dia

Ben is nervous about an upcoming television appearance on ""Book Chat."" His anxiety leads to a recurring dream where he's about to get on an elevator, and a group of tap dancers surround him, show off their stuff, and ask him to join in, only for him to say that he can't. Ben figures the dreams will end once the appearance is over and done with, and repeatedly turns down Alex's offers to join him on vacation in the Caribbean to clear his mind and scope out hot babes, using Matty's basketball ga

Ben becomes awestruck after a manuscript falls into his lap about a fearless Masai Princess called Wahunthra. At Nicole's, he and Alex meet with its beautiful, unpublished author, Toni, and her much more talkative, plus-sized agent, Joyce. Ben's fascination turns to disappointment, as he had felt a strong connection with Toni through her writing, only to see she's nowhere near as communicative in person. But the dinner isn't a total wash, since there's chemistry between him and Joyce. They'll be

Matty joins a study group, and begs Ben for some money to attend a lecture. When Ben presses him for more info, Matty confesses that it's a mostly-girls study group, and one of those girls just so happens to be Christy Putnam, a girl he's had his eye on for a long time. To help him score points with the smart crowd, Ben recommends that he invite the whole group over to the apartment to study. After ""smartening"" the place up, the kids -- Christy, Amber and Harrison, the token Asian -- arrive. B

Matty gets in trouble at school, making Ben have to come down and talk with his tough English teacher, Anita Hunsley -- or, as the kids affectionately call her behind her back, Anita the Hun. As it turns out, Ben and Anita knew each other from way back when as camp counselors, before Anita got married and assumed a different surname, a surname she kept after her divorce. While Matty is forced to brush up on his Shakespeare, Ben hits him with a surprise -- he's invited Anita over to the apartment

Ben gets a surprise visit from his baby sister-in-law, Julia Bullock. She's a drifter slash swindler who owed him $1000, and skipped town without paying him back. The first thing she gives him upon their reunion is a check for the amount of the loan, and the second is an apology for her irresponsibility, claiming she wants to be more responsible from now on, especially now that he's widowed. Hoping to let bygones be bygones (and make sure her check actually clears), Ben offers to let her stay wi

Ben takes out a mugger to protect Matty, making him a hero in his son's eyes, and an object of envy in Carl's. Ben just wants to put the incident behind him, but he doesn't get his wish after Matty brags about it in school, his class goes to the publishing company for career day, and all they want to talk about is how Ben beat up a bad guy. Ben and Carl go to Nicole's for dinner, where Nicole plans to give Ben a surprise party for his heroics, but she's forced to cancel the celebration when he t

When Ben turns down an offer to spend the night at Kyra's place after walking her home, he wonders if there's something wrong with him. Nicole consoles him by saying that he might not be ready so soon after Sarah's death. Meanwhile, Matty brags to a skeptical Ben that he's found a way to see two girls at the same time without either one knowing about the other. When Kyra walks Ben home on their next date, he tries to kiss her and invite her in, but she finds ways to dodge both advances. Unsure i

After a heart attack scare with James, Ben recommends that he start taking better care of himself. But when Carl reminds him that it's been five years since he's been to a doctor, Ben decides to set a good example for his father, and see the physician who works with Carl's girlfriend, Naomi, to prove that he's the picture of good health. Instead of seeing that male doctor, Ben is shocked to see Naomi herself, since the guy Carl recommended is in London. After nervously going ahead with the check