In this premier episode, we are introduced to the employees of the Poway Bernardo Mortuary, a busy California funeral home: Shonna Smith, the head mortician; Emily Vigney, the office manager; Rick Sadler, the boos; Melissa Wissmiller, the assistant funeral director; Chuck Wissmiller, hearse driver (and father of Shonna, Emily and Melissa); John Greeney, apprentice embalmer; and David Moravee, funeral director. Shonna has only thirty minutes to get a body prepared and to the funeral. Chuck objects to Emily's joke about his diabetes and Emily freaks out, tosses her pizza on the lunchroom wall, and storms out. A circuit breaker problem shuts down the phone system. Chuck talks about his former boxing career and picks up a few of his boxing students in the mortuary's van with a corpse coming along for the ride. At the end of the day, the three sisters have a ""girls' night out"" to escape the stress of the day. Synopsis from A&E: Welcome to Poway Bernardo Mortuary, where a real-life death e
We get a glimpse of Shonna's home life as she gets her kids ready for school. Rick has a company meeting and suggests a contest for them all to quit smoking. After a final cigarette in the garage, the crew begin their smokeout challenge. Shonna gets the challenge of her professional career when she is asked to reconstruct a woman who died in a car crash with severe facial and head trauma. The deceased family arrives to view their mother's remains. The stress to make the body presentable leads to the end of the smokeout as one by one, they all return to smoking. Rick eventually wins the bet. This episode aired as a double feature with the premier episode on April 19, 2004. Synopsis from A&E: The staff of Poway Bernardo Mortuary in Southern California picks the wrong day to try to quit smoking when head embalmer Shonna gets one of the most challenging reconstruction cases of her career--a woman who died in a horrific car crash. With the family desperate to view their mother one last ti
Four bodies to get ready this morning! It's going to be a very busy day at the funeral home. And to make matters worse, Chuck oversleeps. He is late for his first appointment to pick up two bodies at the medical examiner's office. Meanwhile, back at the funeral home, everyone's tempers are on the rise. When Chuck finally returns, he has only 30 minutes to get a corpse to the airport and if he's late, the airline could refuse the ""delivery."" He makes it to the airport in time but no sooner does he return to Poway Bernardo Mortuary when they send him out again. This time, he needs to go to a nursing home to pick up a newly deceased woman. Chuck gets lost on the way but when he arrives at the nursing home, we get a great insight to Chuck's responsibilities in removing a body, and we see the gentler side to Chuck Wissmiller. Dave helps a family member make her funeral arrangements and choose a prayer card, Synopsis from A&E: Body remover and ex-boxing champ Chuck Wissmiller drives everyb
Rick, the boss, is engaged to Melissa, the oldest Wissmiller sister. Their relationship is rocky, to say the least. When they are having a bad day, the boss makes sure everyone at Poway Bernardo Mortuary is also having a bad day. Chuck made a business trip to Long Beach and wants the $9.31 he had to pay for lunch. Rick refuses to pay for his lunch and the two are at an impasse. Shonna has two bodies that have to be completely prepared, dressed, cosmetized, casketed and ready by 3:30pm. Other cases also have to be embalmed so Shonna will have to stay late to get it all accomplished. She also has an 11:00am appointment with a client and asks Melissa to fill in for her and meet with the client. Melissa Rick helps the ladies from ""Garden of Innocence,"" a volunteer group to help bury abandoned babies, to make funeral arrangements. And we find out that Rick had recently lost his 24-year-old son, Randy, after a long illness. Rick finally relents and gives Chuck the money for lunch. The follo
David meets with a family to make arrangements. Shonna goes on a cleaning spree and shows off her ""obsessive compulsive"" side. Her personal crisis. . . she runs out of Windex! The daughters' mother (and Chuck's ex) stops by to drop off Shonna's daughter, Savannah, to the mortuary. It's a very busy Saturday and Shonna is needed to meet with a family, a job she hates since she would much rather be preparing a body! But this a a very busy day, and it is only Shonna and Mellisa who are on duty. Shonna meets with the family who needs their uncle prepared, embalmed and shipped to New York. But her emotions get the best of her once she finishes making the arrangement with the family. Chuck is supposed to pick up his new car today, but thanks to his memory loss, he forgot where he left his paycheck, and is $500 short in his car payment. The car seller doesn't approve of the ""new deal."" Chuck convinces him that he is not a scammer and gets the car with the promise of returning Monday with the
Chuck (an ex-boxer) still trains young boxers at the gym. He buys a boxing bag for the mortuary employees to relieve their tension.John and Chuck install the bag in the mortuary's garage. Chuck gives Shonna a lesson in boxing. John helps a family make funeral arrangements for their baby. It turns out that John lost a child through an accident a long time ago. His son died just 4 days after his first birthday, and the event had a major influence on John's choice of a career in the business. In ""Family Boxing - Round 2,"" Chuck gives Emily a few lessons in punching the bag. Chuck then gives John a chance at the punching bag. A problem comes up in getting the needed permit for the baby's burial. It seems Emily accidentally typed the wrong year on the death certificate. Without the permit, the burial cannot take place. The staff hustles to get the permit just in time for the service. Finally, in ""Round 3"" of family boxing, Chuck trains Melissa (wearing high heels) on the bag. All is going w
Emily starts off her day by getting her son, Ramsey, ready for school. At Shonna's home, she is similarly hustling around getting her children ready. At the mortuary, four new cases have come in, which makes Chuck mumble, complaining about the work load. Meanwhile, at 9:40am, Melissa (Missy) is just getting out of bed. What's her first chore of the day?. . . kissing her cats. She looks through her extensive wardrobe to choose just the right outfit for tonight's planned ""ladies night out"" with her sisters. When Shonna calls Missy to ask her to pick up the kids from school, Missy reluctantly agrees, complaining that she would be late for her hair appointment. After getting stuck in traffic and getting lost on the way to the school, Aunt Missy finally arrives and picks up the kids. Back at Poway Bernardo Mortuary, Emily is arguing on the phone with her husband, Ron. It seems Ron called Shonna's husband, Joe, and has started trouble among the husbands regarding the sisters planned evening.
At the age of 62, Chuck still loves flirting with ladies half his age. Emily wants to see her dad hooked up with the right woman. Since David met his wife, Patricia, through an online dating service, Emily enlists his help to find Ms. Right for Chuck. Shonna knows that her father needs to forget the ""looks thing"" and find a woman his own age. Rick, Shonna and David collaborate to write Chuck's online personal ad. David attends to a couple who are making arrangements for their reclusive neighbor, who died without any family. Several woman respond to the girls personal ad for their father. Emily calls one of them to set up a rendezvous. The prospect is a 51-year-old red head. They set up a dinner date for Chuck. Emily and Shonna break the news to Chuck about their plans for his blind date. They show him her photo online and he agrees (after he jokes that she is 20 years older than he would like). Everyone give Chuck advise for his upcoming date. At home, Chuck gets ready for his big nigh
The girls' mother (and Chuck's ex-wife since 1989), comes by the mortuary to lend a hand on a very busy day. Mom, Sue, bears an eerie resemblance to all three of the daughters. Shonna teaches mom how to properly answer the telephones. John meets with a Mormon family to make arrangements for their mother. According to the Mormon religion, it is customary for the family to dress the deceased. Shonna assists the family with dressing their mother. Shonna is exhausted from a very stress-filled work day and her mom comforts her. Melissa asks mom to type some obituaries but mom hasn't typed in years and makes her objections known. Shonna acts as a mediator between Chuck and Sue since there is clearly still some tension between the two of them. After work, while driving to her mother's for dinner, Shonna reflects on her relationship with her mother over the years. The three daughters arrive at mom's for a dinner of her famous Swedish meatballs. They begin looking at photos and reminisce about
After a two and a half year relationship, Rick gives Melissa an ultimatum to set a wedding date and Shonna is thrown in the middle of the conflict. David drives a body to the airport and welcomes the opportunity to get away from the tensions that are brewing back at the funeral parlor. Shonna sits down with Rick to discuss the problem between him and Missy, which is affecting everyone at the mortuary. She later calls Melissa to get her side of the story. After David arrives at the airport, he considers taking the long way back to the home. Emily is feeling ill and tells Rick she is leaving early. Rick fails to tell David that Melissa is coming in late, so by the time she arrives, David is fuming. Missy is feeling rebellious and wears her open-toed shoes; a violation of Rick's company dress code. Back at Rick's home, it is clear how obsessed he was with his former fiancee. In the same year, Rick has lost both his son and Mellisa. Rick, who is also a pilot, decides he needs to get away
Synopsis from A&E: Office Manager and youngest Wissmiller sister Emily has the mortuary's most overlooked--and often most stressful--job. Today is particularly bad because Rick takes out his recent break-up with Melissa on Emily, and the emotional demands of grieving families stretch her to the max. To make matters worse, baby brother Von is coming to town, and the family party will be held at her house that evening. Welcome to the Poway Bernardo Mortuary, where a real-life death experience awaits you!
Synopsis from A&E: Finding a date for Chuck gets harder and harder for the Wissmiller sisters as they continue their Internet matchmaking efforts for their dad. While Emily lines up a potential date, Shonna does some dating research herself--when she discovers a distinctive article of clothing during an embalming. As the day ends, Chuck nervously prepares for a date, hoping that this time love will bloom and not wither on the vine.
Synopsis from A&E: Poway Bernardo Mortuary faces one of its biggest challenges when making funeral arrangements for a Cold War naval legend--Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, former captain of the USS Pueblo. The whole team is put to the test. David makes the arrangements with the late commander's wife, and Shonna nervously prepares for one of her largest open casket viewings ever. Meanwhile, the high-profile service is to be handled by a duo working together for the first time--Chuck and David. What could possibly go wrong?
Synopsis from A&E: It's Emily's birthday, and she hasn't had a party since she was 16, so today she gets two! First, a lunch at the mortuary, where Melissa's taken charge of the menu. But Rick has plans too--he's going to bring a new woman to Emily's party after work to make Melissa jealous.
Synopsis from A&E: After a whirlwind romantic weekend, Rick brings his new girlfriend to Poway Bernardo Mortuary. Shonna and Emily are dying to meet her, but they hope that she'll arrive before their sister--and Rick's ex, Melissa--gets to work. Meanwhile, Chuck oversees a memorial service that brings back haunting memories.
Synopsis from A&E: In the season finale, an emotionally worn Rick hires a ""Life Affirmation"" expert to give the staff a seminar on how to improve their interaction with grieving families and each other. Reluctantly, the gang is forced to get to know each other more deeply than ever, and even face their own mortality. Will things ever be the same again?
In the new season's premiere, we catch up with the mortuary gang, who are still dealing with the painful aftermath of Rick and Melissa's break-up. Rick refuses to be around Melissa, and the stress is driving everyone nuts. Meanwhile, other mortuary staffers have their own emotional problems - Emily is separating from her husband, and John is separating from his wife.
Emily doesn't want her split with her husband to interfere with her son's seventh birthday. Everyone's invited to the party except boss Rick, who's still taking his break-up with Melissa out on everyone. The mortuary staff tries to keep the party a secret from Rick and it looks like they'll be able to pull it off - until Emily and dad Chuck have a blow-out that threatens to ruin everything.
Tensions at the mortuary over Rick's break-up with Melissa comes to an explosive head when he takes his frustrations out on the staff. John, already on edge over his divorce, threatens to quit, much to Shonna's dismay. In a screaming rage, Shonna tells Rick he's got to change his ways. And everyone waits to see if he will.
A kinder, gentler Rick brings a new Funeral arranger on to the team to help out when new business is too much for everyone to handle. Matt Nikoley, who doubles as an assistant pastor, has a style very different from his new co-workers - especially when it comes to swearing under pressure and taking the Lord's name in vain. Matt starts training and soon faces the challenge of his first funeral arrangement, the patriarch of a family who has also been in the funeral biz - added pressure for Shonna to make him look perfect for his final viewing. Meanwhile under stress the gang tries to check their profanity, and it isn't easy.
It's the big Western weekend in Poway, and it looks like Rick may be finally moving on after Melissa. He goes on a horse riding and roping trip and lines up a date for the local rodeo. With Rick out of the way, the mortuary staff finally gets to have some fun, and Chuck and John even head out to see if they can rustle up some women of their own.
It's an unhappy time for Chuck. Ex-wife Sue has plans an ""un-anniversary"" celebration on the night that would have marked their 42nd anniversary, and a big fight with John leaves Chuck on the outs with his daughters. But the gang is reminded of the importance of family when they arrange the funeral of man who was a devoted husband and father. Will Shonna forgive Chuck for everything past and present?
A couple who met in grief counseling after losing their spouses writes in to ask if they can be married at the mortuary! Despite their own cynicism towards marriage the gang agrees, hoping to lighten things up around the place. Rick will perform the ceremony, Chuck will give the bride away, and the girls will all be bridesmaids. But, as the big day approaches, everyone's on edge because Rick will have to deal with ex-fiancée Missy at the ceremony. Will celebrating the new love of others help bring the love back to the mortuary?
Recently separated from his wife and living on his own, funeral director John Greeney has a lot on his mind. Now he must handle the arrangements for a family's much beloved father on the anniversary of his own father's early demise. The love shown by the deceased's family makes him reflect on his dad and his new solo life away from his children. Meanwhile, Shonna and Emily have their own plans to help him get back on track. They think adding a woman's touch will spruce up his new bachelor pad.
When a young couple loses their 3 month old son, it's new arranger Matt's job to help them and his first time handling a baby case. Though John, who lost his own baby boy, lends a hand, he must do so while trying not to relive his own tragedy. Everyone at the mortuary is touched by the family's loss as Shonna works to prepare the child for the viewing where his parents will see him for the last time.
It's boss Rick's birthday - a time for him to ponder love and life. To celebrate he's invited everyone (except ex-fiancée Melissa) to a swim party, but only Chuck wants to wear a bathing suit. While a big fight between Chuck and Emily threatens to dominate the party, Rick can't shake off the ghosts of his own recent losses.
Funeral Director David Moravee helps a family plan the funeral of their much loved father to be buried next to their late mother. As the gang at the mortuary all contemplate losing their own parents, David, whose mother's birthday is upcoming, realizes that he's never told her how much she means to him. Meanwhile, Chuck takes the hearse for a ride, leaving John and David stranded on their way to a funeral.
The gang brings in a woman to set up the mortuary's first website, to attract new business. She gets to know each of them personally as they help a family deal with the death of their beloved father. While she may have eyes for Rick, It's Chuck who really wants to make an impression on her.