Tue, Feb 8, 2011
Jimmy is delighted when he finally meets fellow single father in the supermarket, so he agrees with Justin their kids should get play dates, despite lack of support on the Chase home front. It turns out Justin's far less dysfunctional family is also snobbish, end employs Virginia as cleaner. A last chance dinner backfires.
Tue, Feb 15, 2011
Jimmy lets hygiene-obsessed Sabrina and her detection use of the store's black-light to identify counterfeit banknotes convince him germs are an omnipresent health treat. Faced with bright blue proof all over the house, the Chances start cleaning like mad, only to find mad Maw Maw undoes it all in no time. Residential care being out of budgetary reach, they move her into the greenhouse, which goes quite well. However comparing family histories with Sabrina after watching family movies changes views.
Tue, Feb 22, 2011
The Chances get caught in Virginia's web of lies when her cousin Delilah, whom she told Maw-Maw was dead, turns up to claim her share of the estate, her business being wiped out by the crisis. Their rivalry started when Delilah, who was spoiled and better at everything else, lost most desirable teenager Burt to jealous Virginia, so she proposes an alternative mode of payment: in 'bedroom' kind. Jimmy was to mind the 'deceased' inconspicuously, but she escapes and crashes back in.
Tue, Mar 8, 2011
The Chances prepare to host once more Burt's cousin Mike, a hopeless loser even by their standards. Yet they find him a changed man, as neat member of a loony sect, one of Tanya's four 'brother-husbands'. Jimmy is inadvertently attracted by their neat, apparently harmonious 'fraternity'. Alas, Mike is 'divorced' and moves in whining and desperate, worse then ever. Burt has another confrontation with his brother Bruce, who wants help to get his son Mike back and gets it after explaining why he threw the boy out years ago.
Tue, Mar 15, 2011
Realizing the three adult Chances are klutzes and a danger to themselves, Jimmy worries whether Hope will be taken care of after an accident. After an attempt to have them teach each other 'survival tricks' collapses in bickering, Jimmy drags his parents to dodgy lawyer Wally Phipps, who inspires including a fourth potential guardian, Sabrina. Actually she's afraid of the responsibility, and Burt is offended that she ranks higher. Their survival skills are tested frightfully realistically when an armed Maw Maw mistakes them all for 'dangerous mongooses'.
Tue, Apr 19, 2011
Jimmy hopes gullible Sabrina's boyfriend Wyatt may be cheating on her in college, so he insists to go with her to Wyatt's frat's wild costume party, but conclusive evidence is perilously hard to find. In order to have contact with generation peers, Maw Maw goes to Dead Tooth's daycare. She falls for a man who also lives in the past, but that includes an affair with another crone, supposedly from his Korean War days.
Tue, May 10, 2011
Barney tells the team he loses each year's annual commercial competition for the store, so now he wants to recruit his employees to compete for this year's submission; unfortunately, flattery and considerations like fair-play, and team spirit, get in the way. As Hope's baby-monitor accidentally tunes into a neighbors house, eavesdropping Burt discovers Andrew is being abused by his tyrannical, impossible-to-please wife, Donna, and wants to help. Virginia is reluctant, not wanting to be seen as a nosy neighbor, but agrees to help (which proves harder then expected).
Top-rated
Tue, May 17, 2011
At 23, Jimmy doesn't mind sharing his birthday with Maw Maw, although it was hell when he was a kid and she had lots of friends and he had none. When he turned 18 during his nasty Goth period (alias "Drakkar Noir"), she "finally" felt able to throw the Chance trio out of her home, so they had to grow up instantly and seek real job incomes--supplemented by devious ways to skin the supermarket. However, five years ago her mind went, so they got the house back--with her as senile resident hazard.
Top-rated
Tue, Sep 20, 2011
Watching his 13-year-old self play the piano and singly beautifully, on home video, Jimmy sees through the claim that it was just a pianola, now broken. Virginia owns up to feeling guilty for having strangled Jimmy's talent, estranging him from his schoolmates, until a golf club from the air knocks Jimmy down and the musical talent out of him, later the subject of another confession. After consulting Dr. Finklestein, the Chances try to reconstruct the past, including Maw Maw's cruel and unorthodox tutoring methods, hoping Jimmy's memory may be restored. It seems to do so and Jimmy is bribed into the music school's annual concert, only to find out otherwise, yet there's a consolation prize to his taste.
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Burt accidentally discovers that Sabrina's father Cap is really rich and tells the home front. They now hope to 'coach' her into sharing some of the Collins wealth, but she replies to have chosen to earn her own, modest income at the supermarket, an insane waste beyond the needy, greedy Chances' comprehension. Eager for rich friends, Jimmy convinces her to take him and his parents along to her sister's engagement party. Cap takes to Jimmy, who sides with him against her petty class struggle insults. As a reward, he sends a Japanese smart toilet like Virginia adores, but that causes marital tension, like Virginia's new taste for lobster, which hurts Burt's pride and budget.
Tue, Oct 4, 2011
Jimmy is envious of Sabrina's smart-phone, yet anxious to sabotage a message on it from 'rival' Wayne. To Jimmy's surprise, Virginia 'welcomes' pony-tailed hippie Jack by knocking him unconscious with a portable TV as Burt's kidnapper twenty years ago, but Burt protests and confesses that the kidnapping was a scam; he set it up to spend some careless time traveling without 'chain and bolt'. Also surprising Burt, Virginia confesses that she gradually enjoyed protection and 'comfort' from measly cop Ross enough to consider a proposal from him just when Burt's return (after a 'non-'gay kiss from Jack) made her snap back. Surprising everyone, Maw Maw adds a last layer of devious scheming to the past plot.
Wed, Oct 5, 2011
Virginia's nemesis, spoiled cousin Delilah, invites the whole family to Las Vegas for her high-profile wedding with an air force hero. Jimmy asks Sabrina along, as she always wanted to 'go wild once'. Burt is allowed to come but without cash, given his gambling record. Instead he and Jimmy earn cash doing odd and dubious jobs, but make a pittance. Virginia fails utterly to sabotage Delilah's wedding. Burt hoped to make up for his pauper wedding by renewing his vows here, but comes up with a budget comfortable alternative.
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
Virginia, Burt, Jimmy, Sabrina, Maw Maw and Hope camp out on the front lawn after their house becomes tented for termites, but getting caught in the rain is the least of their problems. After learning that Hope hit a boy at day care, the family attempts to stop arguing out of fear that she will follow in her serial killer mom's footsteps.
Tue, Nov 15, 2011
Jimmy, Virginia, Burt, Sabrina, Maw Maw and Hope borrow a house to impress Burt's wealthy parents who have decided at the last minute to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family. Things get interesting when the real homeowners return early, and Burt's folks get a taste of what life is really like for Burt and Virginia.
Tue, Nov 29, 2011
The Chances dream of winning riches and fame at the National Invention Convention Extravaganza, whose star Andrew Dice Clay is announced to a stop in town. Each family member is supposed to come up with one brilliant novelty, but only greediest Virginia actually does so alone, sponges under the armpits to save deodorant. Jimmy dares not offend Sabrina by turning down her 'improvement', which actually wrecks his idea, a mob operated by a crawling baby. Burt and half-wit neighbor protégé Andrew come up with bro-gurt, macho flavors of yogurt. Competition day proves ruthless for candidates on various grounds, with a sting.
Tue, Dec 6, 2011
Jimmy's close relationship with daughter Hope has him sewing dresses, baking cookies, and wearing fancy hats at tea parties until Burt yells at him to "Stop being a girl!". In an attempt to be a little more 'dangerous' he decides to spend some time with Frank. Strangely enough waking up in Franks house after a night of partying lets Jimmy discover a new side to Frank, one that he really wants to bond with to the rest of the families horror. Discovering they were bullied by the same guy back in school, Jimmy and Frank set off on a quest for revenge that has some pretty surprising revelations in store for everyone involved.
Tue, Dec 13, 2011
A remarkably recognizable movie forces the Chances to have a look at their own family life. For Jimmy, Maw-Maw's spirit takes him on a frightening journey to an alternative future, if he hadn't met Hope's mother and hence remained childless. the consequences prove surprisingly grave for just about every relative and even his supermarket colleagues.