3rd Season
2000-2001
#1 Safe at Home
#2 Trick or Treat
#3 The Good Doctor
#4 Rescue Me
#5 The Unsinkable Sydney Hansen
#6 The Thanksgiving Story
#7 The Gift
 		#8 Big Night
#9 The Gun
#10 Saved by the Bell
#11 It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
#12 The Lion Sleeps Tonight
#13 The Invisible Man
#14 Parenthood
 		#15 Love Story
#16 Exposure
#17 Magician
#18 Meet Joe Connelly
#19 Trial & Error
#20 Rule Number One
#21 Falling
Other Seasons
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

#1 Safe at Home: Aired Friday, October 20, 2000

Syd is frustrated and scared when she comes home from the hospital, and her family isn't sure how best to support her. When she experiences momentary blackouts, one of which causes a car accident that minorly injures Izzy, she fears that she may never practice medicine again. With help from an unorthodox physical therapist named John, Syd decides to get serious about her recovery. Heather comes back into town and back to work at the vet clinic. Jim adopts an orphaned golden retriever puppy named Fearless even though he always had a rule that he wouldn't have a pet of his own. Andi, still bitter about Robbie backing out of their deal, stalks him and then insists he meet her at the set of the game show. When he shows up, she sets fire to the set. Joanie and Burt have their first argument when he wants her to come to Boston with him for a concert and she wants to make sure she's home in case Syd needs her, but they quickly make up.

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#2 Trick or Treat: Aired Friday, October 27, 2000

Syd returns to the clinic earlier than planned and takes an immediate dislike to her substitute, Dr. Roberts. One of Syd's first actions in the clinic causes a young girl to go into respiratory arrest, and the girl's mother to threaten to sue Syd. This causes Syd to doubt her own abilities as a doctor, but at the same time she is still suspicious of Dr. Roberts. She finally figures out that Dr. Roberts is not who he says he is, and was planning on getting the board of the clinic to give him a few hundred thousand dollars for clinic renovations, and then take off with the cash. When Syd came back earlier than he expected, he sabotaged her so she wouldn't ruin his plan. Joanie tries to heat things up with Burt by playing some costume games at a Halloween party, but she ends up hooking up with the wrong guy. Burt is very understanding, but tells Joanie that he'd like to take things slow because he loves her. Andi threatens to frame Robbie for the arson to the game show set if he doesn't give her $10,000. Robbie tries everything to raise the money, but can't, so he calls Andi's bluff. Andi ends up getting arrested for the crime. Jim has trouble training his new dog, Fearless.

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#3 The Good Doctor: Aired Friday, November 3, 2000

Together, John and Syd convince a young dancer with an injured ankle to quit dancing while she can still walk. The experience brings to light some romantic feelings that John and Syd have been feeling for each other, and they look forward to a week from now when they're no longer therapist/patient. Jim is still having trouble with Fearless chewing shoes, and he hires a special trainer. The trainer, B.J. Maximus, gets incredible results with Fearless, but Fearless is obviously unhappy so Jim fires Maximus. Joanie is still frustrated by the lack of a sexual relationship with Burt, and when Burt shows up at Syd's office asking for help with his impotence, Syd finds it hard not to say anything to Joanie. Joanie finds a Viagra prescription from Syd in Burt's bathroom and confronts her sister. After initially being upset with Syd, Joanie helps Burt and Syd figure out that Burt's problem might have something to do with a recent fall on a ladder, and Syd recommends Burt to a specialist. Robbie, drawn back into Andi's woes by a subpoena from her lawyer, finds himself feeling sorry for his former tormenter, and helps get her out of jail in time for her father's birthday party by pulling a scam with her lawyer's credit card.

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#4 Rescue Me: Aired Friday, November 10, 2000

After Syd detects a tremor in her hand, she is scared for her surgical skills, even when John assures her that she 100% cured. Syd spots a little boy with a cleft pallette, and arranges for one of her plastic surgeon friends to do pro bono surgery, but her money-grubbing friend backs out at the last minute. Syd does the surgery herself, and then admits to John that her tremor might just have been a symptom of wanting to keep him in her life. They end their professional relationship and start their personal relationship... in bed. Joanie supports Burt when he decides to get surgery to cure his impotence, and lies to his firemen coworkers. Robbie sets Andi up in Heather's extra room and gives her a job waitressing at O'Neill's, but his real task is keeping her from running away from the pending arson charges against her. Jim helps the owner of a loud parrot learn that sometimes you don't know what you're going to miss about someone until they're gone.

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#5 The Unsinkable Sydney Hansen: Aired Friday, November 17, 2000

Syd helps a single mother deal with her troublesome, and possibly suicidal, son after his older brother dies in a skate-boarding accident. Just as Syd is realizing that she knows very little about John, he suddenly disappears for the weekend with a vague excuse of a family responsibility. After she spots him at a swanky bar with a beautiful blonde, she gets suspicious and asks him what's going on, but he says that he's unable to tell her. He finally admits that the blonde was a woman to whom he used to be engaged to help his family business merge with her family business, and he just broke it off a few months ago and needed to iron some things out with her while she was in town. John introduces Syd to his mother and shows her the huge castle-like mansion that is his family home. Jim saves a goat that is sick after being covered in red paint and Heather figures out that the goat is a kidnapped mascot painted in the color of its rival school's team. To get revenge for the goat, Jim and Heather tell the goat-nappers that they may have contracted a goat fungus, and the only cure is to be covered in a dark purple ointment, the color of the goat's school. Burt and Joanie try hard to resist each other while Burt is healing from his surgery, and once Burt is fully recovered they waste no time in jumping in the sack. Robbie helps Andi bribe Chuck Chance not to testify against her and she gets off scot-free. She heads back to Los Angeles after thanking Robbie for standing up for her.

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#6 The Thanksgiving Story: Aired Friday, November 24, 2000

While Syd is dealing with a young Chinese immigrant girl who has lost her parents, she feels like John and his rich mother are interfering in her life. Syd is successful in reuniting the girl with her parents, but loses the man in her life when he can't agree to get his mother to stop meddling. Joanie finds out that she's pregnant again, and although she's worried about Burt's reaction when she tells him, he ends up coming through for her. Robbie befriends a homeless musician with a sad tale. Jim helps reunite and sign-language speaking monkey with his friend and trainer from a research facility.

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#7 The Gift: Aired Friday, December 15, 2000

Jim gives Joanie some harsh realities about her pregnancy and the burden she's putting on the rest of the family, but apologizes to her later for not being supportive. Burt gets nervous about being a father and Joanie feels like she can't rely on them. They almost break up, but then he surprises her with a romantic proposal of marriage and she joyfully accepts. Syd is frustrated by an elderly woman who refuses treatment for a nodule on her vocal chords that could be indicative of cancer because she fears losing her God-given voice. When the woman is no longer able to breathe, emergency surgery discovers that the nodule was not cancerous and woman's voice will be preserved, meanwhile her estranged granddaughter reaches out by singing her grandmother's solos in that night's church concert. Robbie's failing toy drive at O'Neill's is given a helping hand by one of Santa's little helpers.

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#8 Big Night: Aired Friday, January 5, 2001

On the eve of Lynda's birthday, the whole Hansen family has a long night. Syd recollects a repressed childhood memory of seeing her mother making out with a neighbor. When Syd meets a dying woman in the hospital who desperately wants the forgiveness of her long-dead daughter, she realizes that she can now forgive her mother for the perceived betrayal. Syd finds herself impersonating the delirious older woman's daughter to give her the forgiveness she needs. Robbie gets sucked into a poker game with a dangerous mafia crowd in a case of mistaken identity, and only escapes with his life (but not his clothes) because Jim once repaired the broken leg of one of the made men's dogs. At Syd's request, Joanie impersonates her older sister at a pharmaceutical convention and ends up getting arrested for prostitution. In jail overnight, she bonds with the other jailed women and convinces them to give up their line of work and pursue their dreams. Jim goes to war with a mouse and almost destroys the house in the process.

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#9 The Gun: Aired Friday, January 12, 2001

The family paperboy, David, who is also a patient of Syd's, hides a gun in an old box at the Hansen family homestead. Joanie hires a life organizer to get the house ship shape. The life organizer, Doreen, gets the Hansens to plan a yard sale to get rid of their old junk, and the family finds themselves going through all their old boxes. Robbie meets an infomercial producer, Earl Popper, at O'Neill's and starts pitching the man ideas, non of which fly. David is brought into the clinic by his older brother, who has custody of the young boy. David has been shot, and his older brother, Matt, insists that he must have been playing with the gun in the house. Syd quickly figures out that Matt is lying, and gets David to admit that he was shot by some hoodlums that Matt was dealing with for extra cash. David tells Syd about the gun he hid at her house. He was afraid that Matt would use it against the hoodlums, and now Matt is on his way to the Hansen house to retrieve it for just that purpose. Meanwhile, the Hansens have decided that they're not wild about Doreen's methods, and try to find a nice way to let the eager woman down. Hannah starts playing with a box of Robbie's old toys, and discovers the loaded gun. Joanie freaks out when she sees Hannah holding it and Matt arrives just in time to coax the gun away from the toddler. Robbie pitches Doreen's life orgnization plan to Earl Popper and sends them happily off into the sunset together. Joanie blames Syd for her daughter's near-death experience since Syd let David into the house.

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#10 Saved by the Bell: Aired Friday, February 2, 2001

Burt's parents come to town in their retirement RV and Burt asks Joanie if she'll marry him this upcoming Saturday so that his parents can be there. Joanie agrees, and they plan a whirlwind wedding in a few days. Burt's parents' marriage is on the rocks due to the close quarters of the RV, and Jim gets the brunt of their complaining since the RV is parked in the Hansens' driveway. The wedding ends up taking place in the Burt's firehouse, but when the minister doesn't speak English and a fire alarm goes off, the ceremony is never completed. Jim repairs the Ridley's marriage by recommending they move back to their old house and give up the RV. Syd mends the foot of a recluse with a disfigured face, Graham Hollings, who lives in a lighthouse. She tries to tell him that she could mend his face as well, but he tells her to butt out of his life. After Syd calls to apologize, Graham sends her one of the beautiful glass sculptures that he makes. Robbie is arrested when he agrees to be a bookie for peewee hockey games, however he meets an eager young hockey player, Pete, and Pete's beautiful mother, Tina.

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#11 It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Aired Friday, February 9, 2001

When Mary Aliperti has a heart attack, she asks Syd to get Graham to come visit her in the hospital. Graham says he'll go, but he doesn't and Mary dies a day later. Syd is disgusted with Graham for putting his own recluse needs ahead of those of the only friend he has. Graham tells Syd the story of how he lost his family and his face in a boating accident. Joanie and Burt decide to elope to Niagara Falls, but after bickering in a rain storm and almost getting in a car accident, they decide to make the best of a bad situation and try to get married in the small New York town in which they've been stranded. Just before the ceremony, Joanie starts cramping, which leads shortly to a miscarriage. Burt is very comforting while Joanie tries to deal with the loss, and assures her he still wants to marry her. For bookmaking, Robbie is sentenced to community service and ends up coaching the loser peewee hockey team, the Blue Wings. At first, his only goal is to get the team to win their first game, but when he finally tells the kids to just go out on the ice and have fun, the team actually scores their first goal. Tina Calcatera, young Pete's mom, comes to Robbie's defense when another kid's bully father tries to tell the new coach his job, and Robbie falls more under the pretty blonde's spell.

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#12 The Lion Sleeps Tonight: Aired Friday, February 16, 2001

Syd finds out that Mary Aliperti owned the lighthouse in which Graham Hollings lives, and now that the estate is in debt the property is being sold. After making Graham confront his past and his guilt over his family's death, Syd convinces him to go through with plastic surgery to help him re-enter the world now that he's losing his home. Joanie is severely depressed after her miscarriage, and pulls away from her business, her family and Burt. Syd convinces her to see a therapist, and even though the therapist is very helpful, Joanie continues to shirk her responsibilities and spends time alone in a bar drinking gin. Jim and Heather are left caring for Hannah who has an ear infection, and they try every trick in the book to get her to take her medicine. Robbie sabotages his father's car as an excuse to see Tina Calcatera at the garage at which she works, but is unsuccessful at getting her to come to lunch with him. When Tina's son Pete insists on "coach" joining them for dinner, Tina tells Robbie that she's sort of interested, but doesn't want him hanging around getting Pete's hopes up after hockey season ends in one week unless they have something serious going on. Robbie realizes he has one week to get Tina to see that they could have a future together.

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#13 The Invisible Man: Aired Friday, February 23, 2001

Syd unveils a repaired Graham, and he starts to try to rebuild his life. However, the late Mary Aliperti has one more surprise for Syd, leaving a package with a note asking Syd to deliver it to Edward Joyce. It turns out Edward, who lives with his grandfather, Harold, is Graham's son. He was an infant when the accident happened, and he and his grandfather believe that Graham is dead. Syd engineers a difficult yet satisfying reunion between father and son. Joanie delves deeper and deeper into the bottle, pushing Burt away and forgetting their anniversary. She almost runs the Barkery into the ground, but a little off-hand advice from a bartender gets her to wake up and take control of her life again. She feels she has to stand on her own two feet, and so tells Burt that she can't be with him. Burt tearfully lets her go. Robbie tries to help young Pete when his father says he's going to come to watch his son in a game and Pete gets so nervous that he almost forgets how to play hockey. Tina yells at Robbie for interfering too much, but after Pete suffers a minor yet scary injury in the game, Tina apologizes to Robbie and lets him buy her a drink. Jim is laid up with a cold but insists on having Heather bring his patients (lots of dogs) up to his bedroom.

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#14 Parenthood: Aired Friday, March 2, 2001

St. Clare's clinic is being considered for and eventually wins an award that comes along with a grant. The doctor in charge of the award, Paul Gavins, takes a shine to Syd, and then admits to her that he dated her mother before Jim. Paul believes that he fathered Syd just before Jim and Lynda got married. Joanie checks the dates and it seems to work out, and Paul tries to start a fatherly relationship with Syd. Syd asks for proof, a blood test, which Paul is happy to do, but in the end Syd realizes that biological or not, Jim will always be her father. Syd and Jim finally talk it over, and Jim says that Syd was absolutely conceived on his and Lynda's honeymoon, she was just born a few weeks premature. Joanie hires a new baker, a diva from Chicago named Elliot, who is originally very frustrating. However, the odd couple end up bonding and he helps revive the Barkery with his fabulous human-oriented pastry creations. Robbie tries to date Tina, but with her busy schedule it isn't easy. Tina starts to feel guilty about trying to date while she should just be concentrating on raising Pete and breaks things off with Robbie. Robbie is very understanding, but much happier when Tina comes to her senses and agrees to give the two of them a try. Jim and Heather solve the problem of an orphan pig and the problem of a lonely poodle by getting the poodle's busy owner to take home the pig.

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#15 Love Story: Aired Friday, March 16, 2001

Syd, who has been feeling rather painfully single, falls hard and fast for a young charming junior high school basketball coach. She soon finds out that he suffers from a rare heart defect that could make him drop dead at any moment, and they share a two-day whirlwind romance until he does just that. Joanie finds herself masquerading as her gay baker's girlfriend in order to get a loan for new kitchen equipment for the Barkery. Even though Elliot has too much to drink and makes a bit of a fool of himself, they get the loan, and Elliot gets a date out of it too. Robbie's romance with Tina is taking off, but he's confused when Tina pulls away. He thinks that Tina is seeing someone else, until she admits that her lawyer recommended that she keep her social life to a minimum in case her soon-to-be ex-husband sues for custody. Tina decides to keep seeing Robbie no matter what her lawyer says.

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#16 Exposure: Aired Friday, March 30, 2001

Syd's old friend, Dr. Rick Rozelli, comes to visit from Uganda where he runs a clinic with his fiancé. Joanie is planning Hannah's third birthday party. Robbie is excited for a whole two days with Tina since her son Pete is going camping with his father. The local ice cream man comes to Jim with his sick bull dog. Jim thinks the dog has probably just eaten too many fudgsicles, but it soon becomes clear that there's something more serious going on. Tina comes to the Hansen house to meet Robbie while Robbie waiting for her at O'Neill's. Elliot comes over to the Hansen house with Hannah's birthday cake. Rick goes with Syd from the Hansen house to the St. Clare's where he is in the process of asking her to join him in Uganda when it becomes clear that he's very sick. He tells Syd to call the health department, and the first diagnosis is that he has Ebola. Ebola is uncurable and fatal. The clinic is put under quarantine as well as the Hansen household with Jim, Heather, Joanie, Hannah, Tina, Elliot, and all of Hannah's little friends there for her party. Joanie, Tina and Elliot have to entertain fifteen young girls. Joanie and Tina realize that they know each other from summer camp and Joanie is still bitter about Tina putting gum in her hair. Robbie sneaks into the Hansen house to be with Tina and his family during the crisis. Jim performs surgery on the very sick bull dog with the aid of a veterinarian surgeon over the phone. Syd tries to reach Rick's fiancé to tell her how sick Rick is. While visiting the web site for Rick's clinic, she sees a video showing Rick with his pet green monkey. Syd figures out that Rick doesn't have Ebola, but has a similar disease from the monkey that is curable. The quarantine ends and everyone is relieved.

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#17 Magician: Aired Friday, April 20, 2001

Lynda's estranged father, Thomas, shows up and offers the three Hansen siblings substantial amounts of money to work for him... in locations spread across the U.S. Meanwhile, Jim receives his own mysterious check to stay in Providence and fight puppy mills. Robbie dreams of a Camaro, Joanie dreams of sending Hannah to Brown, and Syd desperately needs cash to save St. Clare's from being shut down when the old church needs renovations, but they all realize that their grandfather is simply trying to steal Jim's kids from him as he believes Jim once stole his daughter, Lynda. They turn down the lucrative offer, so Thomas comes back to Syd and offers to save St. Clare's in exchange for her joining him in Seattle. Jim goes to Thomas with his own offer: save St. Clare's and have your grandchildren in your life. St. Clare's is saved by a miraculous anonymous donation, Robbie and Joanie each receive $10,000 checks, and Hannah gets a bond that will mature in time to send her to Brown.

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#18 Meet Joe Connelly: Aired Friday, April 27, 2001

The office building next to St. Clare's gets new occupants, one of which is Congressman Joey Connelly who keeps stealing Syd's clearly labeled parking space. Syd treats a baby with a rare disease called Glycogen enzyme deficiency. The drug company with the only effective drug against the disease hasn't released much of it since the disease is so rare, and Syd can't even get through the front door to demand the drug for her patient. After settling their parking differences, Syd asks Joe for his help in pressuring the drug company. He procures the drug for her, but she moments too late and the baby dies. Robbie takes Tina for a romantic few days in the mountains, but their trip is a disaster when it rains on them, their cabin is raided by a bear, and they can't even start a fire. Tina tells Robbie that he doesn't have to try so hard since he's already won her heart. Fearless is listless, but Jim can't find anything medically wrong with him. Heather thinks the dog is depressed, and encourages Jim to enter him into a drug-busting program when Fearless exuberantly discovers marijuana on one of Jim's customers. Jim gets Fearless evaluated, and apparently Jim's pet would be perfect as a drug-sniffing dog. Joanie encourages Elliot to come out to his mother, and is horrified when he does so and his mother disowns him. Joanie takes a page out of Syd's meddling book and orchestrates a reconciliation between Elliot and his mom.

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#19 Trial & Error: Aired Friday, May 4, 2001

Sydney tries to force Xiadex to continue with the drug trials of Glyphenerol, along with help from Diane Wilson and other mothers of sick babies with GED. She conducts her own trial with the unused drug for Tyler Wilson, and finds great results, contrary to what Xiadex is publishing about their own trials. Sydney goes to Joe Connelly for more help, but stops trusting him when she finds out that Xiadex contributed $2 million to his campaign. He comes through for her in the end, though, giving her information that could bust open Xiadex's story. Syd and Joe come close to sharing a kiss, but get interrupted. Jim sends Fearless off to narcotics training camp and not only misses him, but is hurt when it seems like Fearless doesn't miss him back. Jim reluctantly lets Fearless go to work at the airport for a few week when one of the regular dogs gets sick. Robbie is upset when Tina says she is considering her estranged husband's offer of getting back together for the sake of their son. Robbie almost sleeps with a seductive waitress at work, but is glad he didn't when Tina comes back and assures him she's in love with him and is definitely going through with her divorce. Elliott tries to shake things up in Joanie's hum drum life, and Joanie, after making a fool of herself in front of an art teacher named Mitch, gets asked out to dinner.

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#20 Rule Number One: Aired Friday, May 11, 2001

Syd and Joe finally get Xiadex to continue Glyphenerol drug trials, even though their star witness, Dr. Connelly, backs down at the last minute. Throughout their working together, they try to deny their mutual attraction, particularly when Syd insists that she doesn't get involved with married men, but they lose control when their celebration turns to passion and end up kissing in a Washington D.C. hotel room. Robbie and Tina break up under the threat of her estranged husband, Peter, suing for custody of her son. Robbie refuses to go down withou a fight, and taunts Peter, know that the man's temper will cause him to throw a punch. Once Peter does so and is immediately arrested, Robbie promises not to press charges if Peter withdraws his custody suit. Tina, blissfully unaware of Robbie's machinations, celebrates when Peter withdraws his motion. Fearless becomes a local hero after he busts a huge shipment of cocaine at the airport, but Jim's pride quickly turns to fear when the dog is found poisoned. Luckily, with quick-thinking on Jim's part, Fearless recovers. Joanie, on Elliott's advice, forces herself to go on a date with Mitch, but she realizes that she can't stop thinking about Burt.

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#21 Falling: Aired Friday, May 18, 2001

With a strong nudge from Elliot, Joanie gets in touch with Burt and they go out on a date. As she starts to explain how much she misses him, Burt tells her that he's with someone else. Joanie is devastated, but uses the closure to move on with her life. Joe tells Syd that he's leaving his wife, and they try to start a real relationship. Joe's wife Erica tells Syd to stop ruining her husband's political career, and when someone tries to threaten Joe with pictures of him and Syd kissing in a restaurant, Syd breaks up with him. After some poignant advice from Joanie, Syd goes back to Joe and they reconcile. Robbie and Tina almost break up after a misunderstanding caused by someone else's engagement ring being served to their table at a restaurant. In the end, Robbie proposes for real and Tina happily accepts. Fearless, still wallowing after being poisoned, is revived by some sibling therapy in the form of his visiting brother, Peerless. Meanwhile, the poisoner finds out that he didn't succeed in getting rid of the canine and comes back to finish the job with a gun. Jim gets caught in the crossfire and his children find him bleeding on the sidewalk outside their home.

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Other Seasons
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5