About this season
Lydia DeLucca is a New Jersey bartender who wants more out of her life than just marriage and kids. So she breaks off her engagement, and heads to college. This doesn’t make her ex-boyfriend Lou happy, who thinks she is wasting her time getting an education. Her family is none too supportive either. Her mother, Dolly, thinks marriage would be better since she thinks Lydia can’t take care of herself. Her dad, Frank, cares more about the New York Giants than Lydia’s psych term paper. But that’s life…
Episodes (17)
1. Larva
Aired 28 September 2001 • 60 min
A sprained thumb motivates Lydia to choose a major and inspire others; Jackie is faced with an unexpected pregnancy and a marriage proposal.
2. Something Battered, Something Blue
Aired 5 October 2001 • 60 min
Lydia learns that a physical-therapy aid is assisting the football coach in getting an edge over the competition; Jackie has an unpleasant encounter with Victor's mother; Paulie and Plum elope when Dolly won't accept their engagement.
3. The Devil and Miss DeLucca
Aired 12 October 2001 • 60 min
Lydia dates a hockey player and gets a false impression about him as well as Eric; a new employee starts working at the restaurant; jealousy gets the better of Paulie.
4. M.Y.O.B.
Aired 19 October 2001 • 60 min
Lydia discovers that Eric's wife is having an affair; fed up with municipal bureaucracy, Dolly takes matters into her own hands.
5. Bad Chemistry
Aired 26 October 2001 • 60 min
Secrets continue to weigh down Lydia, who continues to keep mum about Paulie's marriage and Karen's affair; Dolly gets depressed when she learns a sordid secret about her father's past.
6. Boo!
Aired 2 November 2001 • 60 min
Paulie is frantic when Plum is reported missing on Halloween; Dolly is forced to entertain Plum's neurotic mother; Jackie receives a lesson in parenting from a lost trick or treater.
7. Plus One
Aired 9 November 2001 • 60 min
Lydia's romantic advances toward Eric fall on deaf ears; Paulie is worried by the arrival of Plum's old boyfriend; Jackie gets in touch with Ray's sensitive side.
8. Idiots
Aired 16 November 2001 • 60 min
Days before their official church wedding, Plum and Paulie reconsider the wisdom of being married; Lydia asks a hockey player to be her date for the wedding.
9. Oh, Baby
Aired 7 December 2001 • 60 min
Scandal rocks Dolly's campaign thanks to a protest striptease by Lydia, and Paulie's decision to have sex with Plum in the park.
10. Sex in the Suburbs
Aired 21 December 2001 • 60 min
Lydia reconsiders a romance with Eric, who begins to rethink his relationship with Samantha; Dolly tends to the needs of a lonely voter.
11. All About Lydia
Aired 11 January 2002 • 60 min
Lydia helps an actor bring authenticity to the role of an Italian-American from New Jersey; Jackie's romance with Ray is threatened when his past catches up with him; Lydia has her own share of drama in keeping her new beau a secret from Dolly.
12. What's Family Got To Do With It?
Aired 12 January 2002 • 60 min
Jackie's conflict over leaving for Mexico with Ray or staying in New Jersey with a visiting Abigail puts a strain on her friendship with Lydia; Frank has difficulty in accepting a generous gift from Plum; Lydia is charmed into getting Mack's irresponsible brother a job at the sports clinic.
13. Momento
Aired 26 January 2002 • 60 min
Cucina DeLucca silent partner Paulie doesn't stay quiet for very long after distant cousin Lorenzo arrives from Italy to help in the kitchen and ends up making drastic changes to the restaurant's menu and ambiance; a laid-up Jackie thinks she's witnessed a murder.
14. Behind Closed Doors
As Paulie's birthday approaches, he discovers that Jimmy is gay; Lydia finds a new apartment right above the Cucina, and reunites with Mack; Frank and Dolly get an unpleasant surprise when they enter Lydia's new place without knocking; Lydia discovers that Jackie and Mack had a brief affair fourteen years ago.
15. Love's Labor
Lydia and Mack decide to move in together; Dolly and Frank are unhappy and decide to use reverse psychology on their daughter by pretending to like Mack; Jackie worries that Adele won't be able to cope with running the salon in her absence; Lydia begins to lose interest in Mack when she learns that he doesn't want children; Adele throws Jackie a surprise baby shower; Mack moves out of Lydia's apartment; Jackie goes into labor at the salon and Eric delivers her baby with the help of Dolly and Lydia.
16. Baum's Thesis
Lydia advises a jock to pursue his dreams, encouraging him not to drop out of college; Jules returns for her grandson's christening; Jackie begins a quest to find her father; Paulie and Plum talk about having children; Jackie asks Frank to be Victor Francis's godfather.
17. Gutterball
Plum discovers that Gavin is the new teaching assistant assigned to her class; Valerie comes to the rescue when an attractive divorced friend tries to seduce Frank; Plum convinces Paulie to sit for the sergeant's exam, despite his lack of confidence; Lydia meets Gavin in the library and, unaware that he's Plum's ex-boyfriend, invites him to be her ""non-date"" for Plum's birthday party.