Episode guide for
"Hangin' with Mr. Cooper":
Second season
First season * Third season * Fourth season * Fifth season
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This season, Robin is no longer on the show. Instead, we get Mark's cousin, Geneva Lee and her daughter Nicole, from Georgia. Vanessa is unemployed in most of the episodes.
- Baby Love (JA)
Robin has moved out and Mark and Vanessa have bought the house from Tyler's father. Mark is seeing a woman named Marissa, who is a doctor. Mark talks to his mother on the phone and she convinces him to let his cousin Geneva stay at the house. Vanessa is exited about their first house guest.
Geneva is so happy to see Mark, but it doesn't take long for Mark to realize that she has her mind set on staying there for good. Nicole makes her first appearance and she is so glad that Mark is letting them stay. Mark tells Vanessa to explain to Geneva that she can only stay for a couple of days. She doesn't do that.
That day Mark has a date with Marissa. Marissa meets Nicole and she thinks she's adorable and it's so sweet that Mark is letting them stay. Marissa is being paged and she has to rush to the hospital.
Mark tells Nicole that it's so hard to get to meet Marissa, since she's so busy. Nicole gets Marissa to come over after having said that he's ill. Mark is beginning to think that it's not that bad having Nicole around after all. He takes her out for burgers and when they come back he tells Geneva they can stay.
- Slumber Party (JA)
Nicole's birthday is tomorrow but her party is tonight. Mark has finally got a date with Marissa. Geneva hasn't bought her any presents so she and Vanessa go out to shop for presents. They are going to a new mall. But their car breaks down on a small road in the middle of a forrest.
They call Mark and tells him to stay at home and take care of Nicole's birthday. After some persuation, he agrees to do that, but he won't miss his date. Of course, Geneva and Vanessa don't make it to the party and Mark has to take care of it all by himself. At last, Geneva and Vanessa return home. Mark calls Marissa and rushes away to his date with her before Geneva and Vanessa discover what the kids have done to their rooms.
- School's a Drag (JA)
Geneva has got a job as a music teacher at the High School. Mark tries to show her the ways around the school. They are getting a new principal and the rumour tells that she loves to fire people. It turns out to be Mark's sister's best friend, P.J. Moore. She says that Mark is the kind of teacher she hates.
Mark's schedule includes Driver's Ed. and he's not very happy about that. Mark drives the Driver's Ed. car home. Darnell takes it for a ride without Mark's promission. He accidentally hit a lawn mower and gives the owner Mark's name. The owner is going after the school.
Mark dresses up as a woman to play the role as the principal when they man is coming to the school. He wants a date with "P.J." (who Mark is pretending to be) at a karaokee bar. When they meet there, Mark gets him to sign the settlement. Then the real P.J. shows up. Mark tries to hide from her, but after a while she sees him. She realises that Mark really loves teaching and doesn't fire him.
- Limpin' Lizards (JA)
Nicole and Vanessa watches "Lester the Lizard and the Crocodile Kids", a kids' show on TV. They are searching for a new crocodile kid and Nicole wants to try out. Geneva won't let her. Vanessa wants to meet Lester since he owns a piece of his business and she wants to try to get his account to her company.
Mark is teaching Driver's Ed. Earvin and André has got hold of a piece of Lester the Lizard's tail. They got it when they nearly ran over Lester during one of Mark's classes. Mark wants P.J. to get him another class. Driver's Ed is too dangerous. Tyler provokes Geneva to let Nicole audition. P.J. gives Mark a new class. He becomes the school's new Home Ec. teacher. It turns out to be even more dangerous. His eyebrows get burned.
Mark takes Nicole to the audition and Vanessa joins them. It turns out that Lester is a woman who smokes and is hated by everybody on the show. She finds Mark attractive and she thinks she has seen him before. Vanessa doesn't get Lester's account. Nicole becomes the new crocodile kid. Geneva invites everybody in the school to the show. Earvin and André decide to go there, cut the tail into pieces and sell them at the show. Mark gets back to Driver's Ed.
At the show, Lester sees what Earvin and André are doing and she remembers that they almost ran her over. She remembers Mark and also says that Nicole can't be on the show. Mark locks Lester in her dressing room and takes her place as Lester the Lizard. Nicole takes over the show. After the show she says she has decided to quit showbiz.
- Free at Last (JA)
A person at Vanessa's job has quit and Vanessa thinks she'll be promoted. When she isn't, she demands a better job. She gets fired. She starts looking for a job. Mark is beginning to think that he'll have to live in his car if Vanessa doesn't get a job until the next mortgage payment.
Vanessa gets job and she invites Mark, Geneva and Nicole over there. It turns out she's a waitress at a chinese restaurant. She isn't very good at it. She even makes the cook quit. Mark takes the cook's place. That doesn't work out very well. Vanessa gets fired but she gets the money to the mortgage payment through blackmail when she spots a cockroach.
In the end of the episode, Mark and Vanessa watch "21 Jump Street" on TV and make some comments on Holly Robinson (same actress that play Vanessa). Vanessa says she doesn't like her.
- Father Fairest (PS)
It's Halloween time! P.J. orders Geneva and Mark to go chaperone the Halloween party at the high school. Mark teaches a science class and finds out that Earvin is mad at his father for leaving him when he was born. Mark decides to fly in his father from New York. Meanwhile, Geneva has to sew a costume for Tyler, Vanessa, Nicole, and herself. Geneva sews a horse costume and Nicole and
Tyler can't decide who to wear the head. Can Geneva satisfy them all?
The father comes in but he is White. Earvin does not care if his father is a different race but is still mad at him for leaving him when he was born. Mark dresses up as a doctor and Earvin's father dresses up as a grape. Mark invites Earvin's father to go to the dance and try to patch things up with Earvin. Can Earvin forgive his father for leaving him?
- The Goodbye Girl (PS)
Geneva is forcing more rules for Nicole's safety since they now live in Oakland instead of Georgia. Geneva catches Nicole riding her bicycle to the store to buy candy. Geneva punishes her and Mark and Vanessa think Geneva is being harsh on Nicole. Tyler recommends that Nicole should get a divorce from Geneva. Mark convinces Geneva to use reverse pshycology and soon Nicole
would want to follow Geneva's rules. Nicole is having a fun time and Mark feels that the reverse pshycology is not working. Will Nicole obey Geneva's rules?
Meanwhile, Mark will play poker with his friends and Vanessa wants to get on a date with one of Mark's friends that came off of a divorce from his wife. Vanessa plans to play poker with the guys wearing some clothes that would attract Mark's friend. Instead, Mark convinces Vanessa to talk about sports and wear casual clothes. During the poker game, Vanessa wins everyone's money and Nicole puts hand-cuffs on Mark and Nicole and does not know where the key is.
Mark's friend's ex-wife comes in and takes the man who Vanessa is trying to get a date with. Why did the man go back to his ex-wife
instead of Vanessa? The ex-wife was wearing a dress that Vanessa was going to put on. Poor Vanessa. Why did she and Geneva have to listen to Mark?
During the credits, Mark builds a 15-story building with playing cards and amuses the audience.
- Seoul Shake (PS)
Mark gets to be head coach of the high school basketball team. He is holding a try-out for the basketball team. One of the students, Sammy, is going to try out. He is a new student from South Korea. His parents wants to have him work in the family market but the student wants to be on the basketball team. Unfortunately, Sammy does not play very well at the try-out.
Sammy brings his parents over to make Mark convince his parents to let Sammy play basketball. Mark tells the parents and Sammy that he should work in the market and Mark agrees with his parents. Sammy does not respect Mark anymore.
Meanwhile, Geneva is trying to build Nicole a play house and she has a hard time doing it. Vanessa is still trying to find a job. So, Geneva hires Vanessa to build the desk for $5 an hour.
The next day, Mark promises P.J. that the school will win the State Championships. The opening games are a few days away when they find out that their star player is injured. Mark sees Sammy playing basketball and everyone wants him to play since he made every shot in front of the team. One problem, Sammy works at the market now. Everyone tries to convince Sammy's parents to let him play on the team.
Mark gets an idea. Earvin will replace Sammy at the market while the parents are away. When Mark comes home, he offers a job to Vanessa to be a candy seller at the game instead of working for Geneva. When the game starts, Sammy shows up but Earvin feels
that Sammy's parents are discriminating him but finds out it was just in his mind.
The next day, the parents find out that Sammy played and left the store. Also, Sammy won the game and everyone came in the store to celebrate. Will Sammy's parents still let their son be on the team?
- The Prince of Soul (JA)
Vanessa starts working at a "Soul food" restaurant. There she meets a prince from an African country who she starts seeing. The Prince likes her too and then he proposes to her and Vanessa says yes. Mark and Geneva think he is a con, and Nicole starts to act like a Princess! Dissappointed by the fact that he is accused of being a con the prince calls the wedding off and he leaves for home.
But it wasn't till they watch the news later that night that they realize he was really a prince after all. At the end of this episode Mark and Vanessa race off to the airport to stop the plane, but it's too late.
- Air Cooper (LLB)
Vannessa new boyfriend decideds to put Mark in a commerical advertsing these new shoes, since he played with the Warriors and all. If agress to do and ask P.J. if they could you the school gym for the commercial. She said that if he got her a pair of the tennis shoes then it would be a deal. On the other hand Nicole has to do a report on the person that she thinks is a hero to her and she is not allowed to do her parents so she decide to do Mark as her hero. She follows him around and then tells the kids at school that he will be staring in the commercial. Vannessa goes over to her boyfriend/the director for lunch. She finds out that Mark will be wearing the brand X shoes while a superstar actually gets to wear the other ones.
They decide to tell Mark but he says that they should just go ahead. Then the director puts a banner up which says "Those Who Can Play, Those who can't teach" They decide to put a stop to the commercial. Well the dircector gets fired and his boss made the changes for the commercial to make Mark look like the star that he really is.
- Santa's Got a Brand New Bag
Mark works as Santa in a mall. This episode needs a summary. Contribute to the episode guide by writing one!
- Private School (HCH)
Mark is assigned to a private school by P.J. to teach American history. The school is nothing like what Mark is used to. Everyone is properly uniformed, preppy, and all white! He ends up teaching them all about black history "from slavery to Soul Train".
- For Whom the Heck the Bell Tolls (PS)
In this episode, Geneva has a hard time at the grocery store. Nicole asks why men treat women differently than others. Nicole decides to dress and act like Vanessa and see men, or usually Tyler, will respond to a woman like Vanessa.
Mark teaches a drama class at Oakland High. Mark receives a letter that his assistant coach, when he was playing high school
basketball, has died. The coach's son asks Mark to give the speech at the funeral. One problem, Mark does not know who the man is. Mark's plan is to look at the body of the dead man in the coffin to see who he is. Unfortunately, he was cremated. Now Mark has to give a speech on the man he does not know. Will Mark
remember the assistant coach?
- It's My Party and I'll Die if I Want to
Mark is turning 30. Vanessa and Geneva decides to arrange an over-the-hill party. Tyler discovers a strange lump on Mark. Mark goes to the doctor to have it tested. A misunderstanding leads to Mark thinking that he's going to die because of the lump. He goes sky-diving and gives away his stuff. He even gives most of his money to Thaddeus to name a park after him. This episode needs a complete summary. Contribute to the episode guide by writing one!
- The Courtship of Mark Cooper (EW)
Mark is dating an attorney named Denise (Lela Rochon). And when Mark tells her how he really feels about coming over to the house unannounced, she then breaks up with him. Meanwhile, the student hold a car wash to raise money for a school dance.
Mark receives a court supbeona stating he damaged Thaddeus White's car on the driveway where the students held the car wash. Mark and Denise battle it out. Mark finds out why Denise wants him to meet her parents - it's not because she wants to get married, they're just big NBA fans.
- Wedding Bell Blues
This episode needs a summary. Contribute to the episode guide by writing one!
- Truth or Consequences
Mark catches Vanessa lying on the phone to Thaddeus. They make a bet. So, when P.J. invites them to her fund raiser thay can't get out of it. P.J. wants Mark to take her niece Luttie to the fund raiser, and that's the way it goes since Mark can't lie about not having a date.
Tyler falls in love with Geneva.
This episode needs a complete summary. Contribute to the episode guide by writing one!
- Trading Places
Vanessa wants to get a job at a Christian, conservative radio station. She can't tell them that she's living single together with a man. So, she tells the manager, when she has him over for dinner, that Mark is her husband and that Geneva is her wild cousin.
This episode needs a summary. Contribute to the episode guide by writing one!
- Pros and Convicts
Vanessa wants to show Geneva how to have a good time. Geneva tries to hit on a man who turns out to be a police officer. He mistakes her for being a prostitute and arrests both her and Vanessa. This episode needs a complete summary. Contribute to the episode guide by writing one!
- Double Cheeseburger, Hold the Diploma (JA)
During detention, Mark gets the kids to write job applications. Earvin gets a job and drops out of scool. He starts working at a hamburger restaurant (Clown Burger). Since it was Mark's idea to write the application, Earvin's mother tells Mark to go to that restaurant and talk Earvin into coming back to school. Mark brings Tyler and Nicole when he goes down there.
In the hamburger restaurant, Mark argues with Earvin and tries to embarass him. Finally, he gets Earvin top come back to school. But Earvin's mother still wants Earvin to have a part-time job and Mark is going to help him get one.
- Groom and Doom (PS)
Mark stands in the way of Geneva's happiness when she receives a marriage proposal from a man willing to take on being a father figure to Nicole.
This episode needs a complete summary. Contribute to the episode guide by writing one!
- Hangin' with Mrs. Cooper (TB)
Mark mother comes to visit him because she wants to start working
and get out of the house but Mark dosen't want her too so he calls his father so he can try and get her back. Mark finds out that his mother is a great teacher after P.J made her subsitute his English class after he called in sick. Mark
doesn't like it so he runs over to the school and finds Earvin and Andre and the rest of the class looking at dirty pictures. He takes them. Then his mother comes in he tries to hide but she sees him. When she starts teaching he realizes that she's a good teacher.
At dinner Mark father comes and talks to his mother and they get back togther. Nicole writes an ad in the newspaper so she can get her mother a date for Mother's Day. Tyler comes over and gives Geneva a piece of string for Mother's Day because she been so nice to him. At the end of the show Nicole's gift (a man) comes and Geneva grabs him by his tie and rushes out the door. At the end of the episode Mark gets his mom to cook for him and his father.
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