Writer: Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones
Director: Andy Cadiff

Episode Length: 21:36

Guest Stars:

Rating: n/a

Rating:  TV- PG

First Broadcast: November 19, 1997

Storyline #1: Mother's Day
Mike's mom is in town and he is intent on showing her off.  She spends here time hanging around the office embarassing Mike and enjoying the wonder that is running New York City.  Mike plays along because he and his mom have a good relationship and he doesn't mind being the center of attention.  (Mike never has been one to shy away from attention.)  But when he can't get out of a business lunch, he hands his mom off to the Mayor and apologizes.  Mike's mom, Macy, is thrilled because she spends the afternoon convincing the Mayor to purchase educational software from her company.   That night, Mike wants to take his mom out on the town but she suprises him by saying she will just make her own plans.  That turns out to be a good thing for Mike because scandal erupts.  The Mayor is photographed giving money to a known prostitute and an overzealous reporter dreams up a story where the Mayor is hiding a scandalous affair.  Mike gathers the staff and sends them out to scour the city in order to find Mayor Winston.  Not having any luck, Mike visits his mom's hotel room to find solace.   Instead, he finds the Mayor emerging from the shower.

Storyline #2: Wrongful Discharge
City Hall is beefing up its security and the first step is installing metal detectors.   The second step is to wake the security guard.  It seems that Hank the security guard is a nice old man who is very personable but not very secure.  The next day, Stuart plays a prank on Stacey by filling her pockets with items that set off the metal detector.  Stacey decides she doesn't want to play around and simply walks around the metal detector.  At Stuart's whim, Hank feels he has to start doing his job and fires off a round into the ceiling.  Rumor has it that the shot hit someone upstairs near the vending machine.  The next thing we see is Paul all bandaged up with a cover over his right ear.  It seems Paul was shot in the head.  Paul files a complaint about being shot and Hank gets fired over the incident.  But Hank, the diligent American, feels that litigation will solve his problems.  He serves Paul with a supoena.  Hank is suing for his job back.

Storyline #3:  Sorry, I'm Spoken For
Nikki's got a new boyfriend and he works in the entertainment industry.  However, it's not the industry she thought.  Nikki's date is a ventriloquist.  At first, she recoils at the idea but soon falls for Steve.  However, Steve has a problem.   He can't relay his feelings very well so he uses his puppet, Mr. Bungle, to speak for him in situations.  While at first amusing, Nikki yearns for Steve to say something for himself.  So she challenges Steve to put Mr. Bungle in the box and speak for himself.  However, the moment is too much for Steve.  So Nikki decides that she needs to move on.

Review: Family Affair I

Overall, a cliff-hanging episode.  I know I said that Wonder Woman left a lot of story lines open, but this one topped even that.  The only story line that was completely self-contained was Nikki's ill-fated foray with wodden puppeteers.  I guess the producers are upping the ante by making us watch back-to-back weeks in order for us to continue watching the show.

First up, Nikki's date.  By now, we all know that Nikki is alone, desparate, and willing to go out with anyone who will pay attention to her.  Doesn't she remind you of Elaine?  No Matter.  I was a little upset that this didn't get more play.   Not because we want to see Nikki flounder, but because Steve was such an interesting character.  I would have liked to see more of Mr. Bungle, perhaps showing him at a show while Nikki watched.  Unfortunately, we only see Nikki fret over the fact she's dating another wierdo.  It's not as fun as it looks.

For the second time in 3 weeks, a Family Ties alum visits the show.  And Meredity Baxter reprises her role as Alex's, I mean, Mike's mom.  Baxter (Birney) was much more believable than Tracey Pollan.  She was charming and loveable, just as moms should be.  However, there was very little development of her character other than the mention of her seperation with Mike's dad and the fact that she writes software.   I would have liked to seen those topics explored instead of mentioned and glossed over. 

That said, let's get to the meat of the episode:  Macy sleeping with our loveable Mayor.  It seems that the Mayor is starting to get over his failed relationship with Jennifer and is ready to look for a relationship after his divorce.  I was a little suprised that both Macy and Mayor Winston would jump into bed so quickly.  Macy was set up to be tough and self-reliant, not necessarily looking for new loves.  And we all know the Mayor was venerable, but not necessarily so sudden.  That would be the job of Stuart.  That being said, it definitly does raise some interesting issues for next episode.  How will Mike cope with having to deal with his boss and his mom being a couple.  I'm sure it won't progress too far, because Meredith Baxter is only scheduled to be on for one more episode, so a long-term relationship isn't in the cards.   But it will be interesting to see how they resolve the situation, especially with the whole "hooker photo" angle.

Finally, Paul is once again the brunt of cruelty.  But it was a little strange to have Paul shown in such a negative light.  Paul has always been a little slow, but he's not mean.  Yet that's how he's being portrayed, especially when compared to little old Hank.  It's kind of an interesting angle, but not one I would have put on Paul.  Since Paul has always been on the slow side, it's just not as fun having an old guy sue him.  I would have rather seen Carter get shot in the head.  Carter needs to be more abrasive yet friendly.  This would have been a way to cement his image.  That being said, this story was well-executed, and I hope that the ending of this tale will be as enjoyable as the setup.

Rating [5 pt. scale]: 4.5

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