S1 E1 • Ned and Stacey

Stacey Colbert, a young freelance writer who has worked for the ""Village Voice,"" runs into Ned Dorsey by chance at a restaurant bar. Ned is a successful advertising account executive who is bombastic, pompous and definitely more than a little off-center. In the course of a brief conversation she is totally turned off by him. Stacey sees her sister Amanda, who hopefully will be able to introduce her to a nice guy, but she's horrified to find out that Ned is the unlikely best friend of Amanda's husband Eric, who works at the same ad agency as Ned. During the dinner conversation Stacey is outraged by Ned's amoral, ruthless attitude toward his work and life in general and she gives him a piece of her mind before stalking off, ending their blind date. At his job, Ned's boss Spencer tells him he can't award him a promotion because he's not married (their conservative clients like ""family men."") Ned lies to Spencer, saying his own wedding is planned for a short time later. Ned gets his promot

Première diffusion : 11 septembre 1995

S1 E2 • Portrait of a Marriage

The morning after their first night ""together,"" Stacey is up before Ned waiting for him to arise, anxious to make sure they ""communicate"" even if their marriage is a sham. But Ned doesn't see the need for it. He informs Stacey that he's having a cocktail party for some clients the next night and will need her to perform her role as his loving spouse. At work, Eric is admiring Ned's huge new office, but is scared when Les MacDowell, the guy beat out for the promotion, drops by. Ned and Les do a little verbal sparring, with Les agreeing to come to Ned's party the next night. Stacey comes home happy after selling an article, but is dismayed to find Ned has thrown out all the redecorating work she did. The party is to begin shortly, as Stacey is reducing to asking the serving staff if they've seen her husband--he didn't come home last night. Ned casually strolls in and hands Stacey a synopsis of their supposed history together, teling her to bone up on it right away. Stacey says it's ""the

Première diffusion : 18 septembre 1995

S1 E3 • Take My Wife, Please

Amanda and Eric enter their regular restaurant, folowed by Ned and Stacey, arguing as usual. Stacey bumps into an Englishman and is charmed by him immediately. At the table, Ned encourages Stacey to approach the man, and the others agree that a new relationship might help Stacey's disposition out. She introduces herself to the guy, Nigel Davies, and makes a date with him. Later, before their date, Stacey is almost too nervous to go, but Ned re-dresses and re-accessorizes her and sends her on her way. The date goes well, we surmise, because the next thing we see is Stacey and Nigel in bed. Stacey tells him she's married, but before she can explain about her and Ned's true relationship, he tells her it's all right, they can manage, and in fact he makes a clandestine love affair sound so romantic that she doesn't tell him the truth about her ""fake marriage."" Two weeks later, as Ned and Stacey are about to leave for her parents' home, she is still walking on air. When they get there, Saul

Première diffusion : 25 septembre 1995

S1 E5 • Model Husband

Ned and Stacey are having dinner at the Moyer's house. Ned has tickets to see the Knicks, but Amanda tells Eric he can't go, that he has to watch their son Howard that night. Ned argues with Amanda but she's adamant, making it seem like Eric is just a little bit henpecked. At work the next day, Ned is going over a storyboard with supermodel Alexa Miroslav, who he has hired to appear in a commercial the agency is doing for a client's sport truck. Eric comes into the office and nervoulsy meets Alexa. While alone with her for a time, his fumbling manner charms her. In the limo on the way to the client's party, Stacey is talking on the phone, eating caviar, and generally acting like a rube. Ned makes a stop to pick up Eric, who is still being nagged by Amanda. In the few minutes Ned is inside, Stacey strikes up a conversation with Alexa, who has very simple lines in the commercial: ""Hey, stranger. What took you so long?"" But Stacey, veteran of two acting classes in college, fills Alexa ful

Première diffusion : 9 octobre 1995

S1 E9 • Reality Check

At a birthday dinner for Amanda at the gang's regular restaurant, Stacey's credit cards are all overdrawn when she tries to pay. Eric offers to pick up the check, but Stacey says no, it's my treat--and tells Ned to pay. Back at the apartment she writes Ned a check for the dinner, a check he knows will bounce. Ned soon gets the story out of her--she's in deep financial trouble. In fact when Eric comes over to figure out her situation, he finds she's $28,000 in debt! Amanda suggests she start cutting her losses by moving out on Ned, but he will not hear of losing his trophy wife. The next morning Ned and Stacey visit the bank to try to straighten things out and are told they best term they can offer her is a partial payment of $5600 due immediately. Ned writes a check but a proud (and unrealistic) Stacey tears it up, still insisting their finances are separate and she can pay off the money herself. Stacey is rolling up coins, taking hack writing jobs, doing anything she can to make money

Première diffusion : 13 novembre 1995

S1 E10 • Thanksgiving Day Massacre

For once, things seem to be going well during a Colbert holiday gathering. Ned is cooking Thanksgiving dinner and is determined to have everything just perfect. But it all begins to fall apart soon enough. When Ned sends Stacey and Eric out in search of cranberry sauce, a series of events ensue that sees Eric and Stacey stuck in Manhattan unable to get back to her parents' house, Saul and Ellen going to see her long-estranged sister to attempt a reconciliation, and Ned and Amanda stuck in his car in the snow, where they almost have a ""moment."" Back at the Colbert's house, only Aunt Ceil remains with the Moyers' son Howard, who is stuck listening to her old show-biz stories.

Première diffusion : 20 novembre 1995

S1 E11 • Sleepless in Manhattan

Stacey somehow convinces Ned to come shopping with her for a new bed, a task that takes them all over the city with no purchase in sight. Finally Stacey sees the perfect bed--but the store manager tells her it's already been sold. Eager to end the shopping trip, Ned bribes the manager into selling it to her. Back home, Stacey is ecstatic with her new purchase, but Eric lets it slip how Ned made the deal. Stacey spends a sleepless night worrying about the poor soul who may have been cheated out of this wonderful bed. When they try to return it the next day, the manager tells them all sales are final--until Ned bribes him again. When Stacey hears about this arrangement, she won't accept it, provoking a frenzied outburst from Ned and a huge fight in the middle of the department store.

Première diffusion : 4 décembre 1995

S1 E12 • Threesome

At a restaurant Amanda runs into an old acquaintance, Sam, who she introduces to Ned and Stacey. The couple hits it off with Sam and both make dates with him. Stacey is romantically interested in Sam, but Ned still desires his companionship and they wage a battle for Sam's mind and heart.

Première diffusion : 11 décembre 1995

S1 E13 • Accountus Interruptus

Ned pitches ideas to sexy CEO Jordan Haswell, who makes it clear after the meeting that sex will seal the deal, a prospect which Ned finds to his liking. Later at a party at Ned's, Jordan openly flirts with him in front of Stacey, who is outraged since Jordan doesn't know about her and Ned's arrangement. Stacey tells Ned that by acceding to Jordan's demands for sex, he's no better than her ""punk."" Later in Jordan's room, Ned is troubled by Stacey's words and has an uncharacteristic attack of morality, refusing to sleep with Jordan even if it means losing the account.

Première diffusion : 18 décembre 1995

S1 E14 • New Year's Eve

Ned and Stacey are particularly irritated with each other this New Year's Eve, so Stacey is happy to accept a last-minute date from one of a pair of brothers she once met on vacation. Unfortunately, she can't remember whether this one was the rich, interesting one or the dud. Ned doesn't put up much of a fight, even though it means Stacey won't be available for ""wife duty"" at his party that night. It isn't long into the date before Stacey finds out that Don is not the brother she was hoping for. Meanwhile Ned has to fend off questions about Stacey's whereabouts and the best he comes up with on the spot is that she's at the hospital with her brother who is suffering from scurvey. His guests insist he go spend the holiday evening with her. Eric and Amanda return to their home in an amorous mood which is broken when they find Ned killing time in their bedroom, and they evict him. Don senses Stacey's disappointment and lets her cut the evening short. She returns to the apartment to find gu

Première diffusion : 1 janvier 1996

S1 E16 • A Tender Trap

Stacey engineers an ""accidental"" meeting with Megan Foster, whose contacts in the publishing world could help get Stacey a staff job at a magazine. But Megan turns out to be much more interested in Ned. Stacey pleads with Ned not to treat this woman like one of his one-night stands. Trying to help Stacey, Ned acceeds to all of Megan's sexual demands, which are exhausting him. Meanwhile Eric can commiserate with Ned--he and Amanda are trying to have another child, and during her ovulation, she's putting him through his paces like a ""drill sergeant!""

Première diffusion : 15 janvier 1996

S1 E17 • Promotional Rescue

When a department head's job becomes open at the ad agency, Amanda encourages Eric to pursue it aggressively, but Eric has his usual laissez-faire attitude. Amanda asks Ned to put in a good word for Eric with their boss Kirkland. Eric gets the promotion, but at the first big budget meeting he attends on he won't sign off on Ned's extravagent presentation for a major account. This causes hard feelings between Ned and Eric, and during an argument Ned lets it slip that Eric only got the promotion through his intercession. Eric is angered by this, but feeling helpless he agrees to back up Ned's budget proposal. Ned presents a horrible bloody ""morphing"" commercial to the client, who promptly walks out. Eric's career as a department head also ends swiftly.

Première diffusion : 22 janvier 1996

S1 E19 • The Gay Caballeros

Ned enjoys a good relationship with his client, gay fashion designer Brent Barrow, who invites the Dorseys and the Moyers to his restaurant and takes Stacey and Amanda shopping at his warehouse. While helping Stacey put away her new clothes, he notices that she and Ned sleep in separate bedrooms. Stacey tells them that they have an arrangement. Brent says he understands but wrongly assumes she means Ned is gay. Later Eric and Ned arrive at Brent's Mardi Gras party before their wives and notice that only men are in attendance. Ned is eager to correct any misunderstanding with Brent and he tells him that he's straight. Brent assumes Ned is in denial about his sexuality and is ready to quit doing business with him, so Ned now tries to tell him that he is gay after all and in love with Eric. By the time Stacey and Amanda arrive at the party, Ned and Eric have done such a bad job of acting gay that Brent is sure that Ned is truly straight.

Première diffusion : 19 février 1996

S1 E20 • Gut Feeling

Ned keeps ignoring chest pains despite everyone's warnings. Even when he finally sees a doctor, he totally rejects the idea that he needs surgery on his gall bladder. While perfoming as Leonard the rodeo clown at Howard's birthday party, he suffers an acute pain attack and is hospitalized. It's obvious he also has a fear of hospitals and is terrified that he may die in surgery. While on the operating table, his vital signs flatten out and he appears to be having a near-death experience. He runs toward a voice and a bright light, until he sees that it's Stacey calling him. The patient makes a miraculous recovery.

Première diffusion : 26 février 1996

S1 E21 • Pals

Ned is working with Bobby Van Lowe, a smart-aleck ""brat pack""-type actor (from the hit sitcom ""Pals"") who goofs his way though a series of public service announcements. Amanda jumps at the chance to sell a rich young actor some expensive real estate. While showing him a pricey co-op, Bobby takes a liking to Amanda and kisses her, which Ned accidentally sees. Amanda isn't interested in pursuing a realtionship with Bobby, but she does want his and his friends' business, so she stars spending more time with him and even talks about putting off having her next child for a while. (Stacey, meanwhile, is predictably starstruck by Bobby.) Eric is confused until he gets the news out of Ned that Bobby kissed his wife. Expecting the worst, Eric confronts his wife and Bobby, accusing her of having an affair. Later Ned finds himself in the unusual position of trying to comfort a drunk and distraught Amanda.

Première diffusion : 4 mars 1996

S1 E22 • It Happened One Night

Feeling ill and irritated with her sister's complaining about her marriage to Ned, Amanda lashes out at Stacey, telling her she's responsible for her situation and that if she really wants her life to change, she should do something about it. Stacey abruptly decides to leave Ned and flees back to her parents' house. Her dad takes her to a coffee shop to talk, where Stacey tells him the marriage is a sham, but Saul doesn't grasp the true meaning. Ned arrives with Amanda at the Colberts and talks to Ellen. As Ellen attempts to counsel Ned, the younger ones both learn more than they want to know about the older couple. Amanda comes by the coffee shop to talk to Stacey. While there, the two of them see Stacey's old boyfriend Joey, who is now a pot-bellied father of six driving a bread truck. They flash back to the same coffee shop years earlier before their high school prom, where we see Stacey dressed in ""Flashdance"" gear, Amanda looking like Ally Sheedy in ""The Breakfast Club,"" Eric as a

Première diffusion : 11 mars 1996

S1 E24 • The End? (1)

After yet another bad date, Stacey complains about the paucity of good men available for someone like her. Ned scoffs at this, saying she's the problem and that he could easily find a better man for her than she ever could herself. Stacey takes the challenge and tells Ned she can find him a better woman for him than he can find for her (a man, that is. Got it?) Stacey's blind date with Ned's friend Alex turns out to be very enjoyable; in fact, she thinks he's just about the perfect man. Ned's date Frances, however, turns out to be a neurotic, psychotic wreck. Three weeks later Stacey and Alex are still a hot item, but Ned is getting resentful. Stacey has been spending so much time with Alex that she's been neglecting her ""official"" wife duties. After she misses an important affair with a big client, Ned is particularly angry with her. She promises to be back from her ski trip with Alex in time to meet the client and his wife at the apartment. When Stacey and Alex arrive home from the s

Première diffusion : 1 avril 1996