The Gregory Hines Show

1. E1. Square One

   Sep 15, 1997

   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 get Matty to admit to him what happened, to no avail. Nicole goes down to Ben's publishing company, the Home Court Press, to apologize for the bad date, but when she and Alex each want to fix him up again, Ben asks them to lay off, because he wants to find someone himself. Like, perhaps Elizabeth who works upstairs. Ben has no idea how to ask her out, but he finds himself one step closer when her elevator gets off at his stop. Ben nervously prepares for his first date in 20 years, wondering what t

2. E2. Basketball Jones

   Sep 19, 1997

   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 thanks to Matty's chubby friend, Weitzman. Ben agrees to let Will deliver their half-time pep talk -- unaware that he's going to give them a vitriolic ""You suck, losers"" speech. After Will breaks Ben's clipboard, announces that he's a bad coach, and sends the kids back on the court, an infuriated Ben blasts him for ruining the team's self-esteem, since he had spent all season boasting that losers always win. But Will's speech pushes the kids to their very first win, and Ben feels useless when th

3. E3. Flirting with Disaster

   Sep 26, 1997

   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 that Jeanette was flirting back. Ben's revelation isn't helped by Carl asking him for a favor -- look at Jeanette's book. Fearing Alex was right, Ben refuses to at first, but eventually caves. Jeanette goes to Ben's office to see what he thought of her book. While he's trying to state his opinion, she gets shamefully close to him, cracks up over something he said that wasn't a joke, spills water on her chest, and has her blouse unbuttoned. But when Ben tells her that he gave her the wrong impress

4. E4. Epilogue to a Kiss

   Oct 3, 1997

   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 Paige excused themselves to play videogames in Matty's bedroom -- which is verboten in their uptight household. The night goes straight downhill after Ben announces that he saw Matty and Paige kiss. Since Ben wasn't disapproving, and wasn't around when it happened, Gary and Carolyn fly off the handle, break up the budding Romeo and Juliet, tell Ben off, and drag away an unhappy Paige, making an even more unhappy Matty mad at his father. Hoping to patch things up, Ben calls the Taylors later, expect

5. E5. Boys' Night In

   Oct 10, 1997

   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 while he goes over to Carl's for their late-night poker game -- which hurts James feelings when he finds out he doesn't get to babysit that night. After grilling him on what to do in emergency situations, Ben leaves, worried that he made a mistake. Carl, Ben, Alex and Nicole are joined by Carl's co-worker, Doug Baker, and the five of them settle in to play a little poker. Even with Ben's mind centered on Matty, he still manages to beat the cards off the others. Until Alex happens to ask Doug what k

6. E6. Catcher on the Train

   Oct 17, 1997

   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 about his second birthday without Sarah, and doesn't want the gang to throw him a party -- which they do anyway. Matty and Weitzman find Samuel, and Matty asks him to sign Ben's copy of his one and only book. Samuel wants money for the deed, but since the kids don't have enough, he agrees to do it in exchange for Matty's yo-yo. Ben is ecstatic when Matty gives him his gift, but it doesn't end there -- Matty brought home Samuel, as well. The Stevensons share a pizza with the guy, and Carl decides to a

+16 more episodes — open all seasons to browse every episode.