Brendon learns the awful truth - that his mom is dating his soccer coach.
When Paula discovers that Brendon hasn't done any homework during the year, she is less than eager to attend a parent-teacher conference.
Brendon challenges the town bully after Jason gets picked on.
The neighbours' cat runs away on Brendon's watch - with dire consequences for both of them.
Brendon meets Lonnie on a camping trip, and things go well until he is stung by the whimsy of her favour.
Jealousy is the order of the day when Brendon faces a creative rival and Coach McGuirk feels threatened by a likeable assistant coach.
Melissa is furious with Brendon after he takes artistic liberties with a documentary about her grandfather's life.
Brendon's acting skills fail his audition for a local play, so he uses his cinematic skills to secure a part. Meanwhile, Paula begins teaching a creative writing class with an eye on at least one student body.
Brendon believes a fisheye lens with save his stiffly written horror film, but his efforts to get one are frustrated by family cash-flow problems.
Brendon launches a series of efforts to convince the school nurse that he is ill and should be sent home.
Josie's trip to the hospital inspires the subject of Brendon's extra-credit educational film about the hazards of putting marbles in your nose.
Faulted for a bike-riding accident, Brendon is ordered by the court to write an essay about breaking the law. The film he makes instead - a smear piece on the drivers who hit him - does not impress the judge.
After Brendon, Jason and Melissa win first prize in a local film festival, Channel 1 does a story on them; and an offhand remark by the reporter stirs Brendon's curiosity about his father.
Melissa and Jason help Brendon run for office against the previously undefeated Thurman Thackery. Unsolicited help from the school bully, Shannon, raises questions about the fairness of the campaign. Also: Coach McGuirk gives stand-up comedy a try.
Brendon is doing a good job trying to raise money for the school walk-a-thon, but Coach McGuirk is doing a better job spending it. No worries! Coach's long-lost Uncle Pedro has died and left something for him in his will.
Believing they are in a creative rut, the kids agree to take a hiatus. Brendon reluctantly agrees to film Duane's band rehearsal and meets Cynthia, an older choreographer. Coach McGuirk and Mr. Lynch plan a trip to Cancun, while Paula is the victim of budget cuts at her school.
The young filmmakers are filming a new movie about a blind date. Unfortunatly, Jason keeps budding into the scene at the wrong time, which screws everything up. Then Jason invites Brendon to come over to his house for a sleep over. Brendon agrees, but only on one condition; they can't talk about buisness. Jason then bluntly brings up the subject at the sleep over, so Brendon leaves. At 4 AM, Jason calls Brendon... When Brendon shows up late at soccer practice, Coach McGurk grows concerned and then believes that Brendon is doing drugs. He trys to make the soccer team intervine, but only ends up making a fool of himself. Oh, and Jon also makes Brendon clean up a dog's crap. Brendon changes the script for the blind date movie, so that Jason is a main charecter. Melissa doesn't like this, and Paula makes Brendon change the script again. So the finished product has Jason and Melissa being the main charecters, and Brendon being the waiter. Meanwhile, Erik attempts to help Paula get a job. Sh
The kids are invited to Fenton Muley's birthday party. Brendon has been asked to make a special film for the occasion, but has a hard time praising Fenton since he can't stand him.
Brendon and Scab are trying to make a score for a sequence in the Starboy movie, when the old choreograhpher stops by to pick up her bag. Brendon suggests that sometime they should do something. She says to call her when he thinks of something. Brendon, Melissa, and Jason are hanging out at Jason's parent's country club, and Jason tells Brendon he should take her to the country club and order food with his account number, so Brendon does that; both of them sit in the kiddie pool because Brendon didn't want her hair to get wet. Well, someone does a cannonball so it does get wet, then Brendon orders sandwhichs with Jason's account, so the club's personal find out and everything goes wrong, resulting in the choreographer hating Brendon. Meanwhile, Paula goes to a new job interview; actually, she has to take a computer typing test before she gets the job. She lyes to a man that she is excellent at typing, so after she fails the test (due to pressure), she asks to reschedule it because of ""
Brendon spends the weekend with his father and his father's girlfriend, Linda, who turns out to be a very unpleasant person. Coach McGuirk, meanwhile, plays big brother to a student who is prone to sickness.
Brendon goes to family therapy with Andrew and Linda to learn 'gentle talk.'Brendon doesn't like the therapy, and when the therapist begins to analyze his movies, he likes it even less.
A class trip to a hotel provides a great opportunity for some 'on location'footage. It sounds like a great plan until Paula is asked to chaperone the trip with Mr. Lynch. Coach McGuirk has to get a second job to pay for damages resulting from a fight with the office coffeemaker.
Mr. Lynch is tutoring Brendon, who is failing History. His lack of historical perspective is evident through his movies, which star the evil George Washington, the evil Picasso and the evil Annie Oakley.
The school writing fair is one week away and Brendon is suffering a bad case of writer's block! Melissa and Jason put pressure on him to no avail, but they end up being a hit anyway. Paula is inspired by the pep talk she gives Brendon and gets back to her writing roots.
Paula tries to get a role in one of Brendon's films about a little girl named Little Malooloo who has two fathers. McGuirk feels left out by the regular pizza club meetings that Brendon has with his dad.
The big day is here: Brendon's dad is marrying his girlfriend. A rash is slowly covering Brendon's body, but otherwise he's doing okay. Paula's friend Stephanie is in town for the wedding and takes a liking to Coach McGuirk.
Erik is worried that Melissa doesn't have enough friends who are girls so he enrolls her in The Fairy Princesses. Meanwhile, Brendon gets invited to spend the weekend with Fenton, whom he didn't even know he was friends with. Both Brendon and Melissa have what they consider to be the worst weekends of their lives.
A kitchen fire at the Smalls is nothing compared to the flaring tempers triggered when both of Paula's newly separated parents move in. To make matters worse, Coach McGuirk volunteers to 'renovate'the kitchen. Meanwhile, Brendon, Jason and Melissa make a crime drama called 'Mulligan and Winooski'about two cops.
The camera does add 10 pounds, but so does bingeing on junk food. Brendon and Jason are gaining weight at an alarming rate, so in order break the 'fat-enabling'cycle, they decide never to see each other again.
Brendon gets caught making fun of another kid at school and as a result, Mr. Lynch sends everyone to sensitivity training on a Saturday. There they learn the value of really bad improv games and experience the song 'No Skin Off My Ass.'Also: Paula secretly enters one of Brendon's movies in a contest.
Melissa gets a new French-accented boyfriend, and Brendon and Jason get jealous when her love life starts to interfere with their busy production schedule--and the casting of their Susan B. Anthony biopic. Meanwhile, Coach McGuirk transforms into to a social planner.
Brendon, Jason and Melissa are performing the musical 'King Arthur Meets Robin Hood'at a medieval fair organized by Mr. Lynch. Tensions soon arise between the fair and the sci-fi convention next door. Can Brendon bring peace to the warring factions? Also, can Coach McGuirk stay in character as a medieval blacksmith?
Brendon has trouble convincing Jason and Melissa to make their latest film backwards, a la 'Memento.' Meanwhile, Brendon is forced to work on his golf game after his dad pressures him into playing a round with an important client. Coach McGuirk gives Brendon some valuable golf advice: cheat.
The kids ignore the fact that they have no musical experience or talent and decide to start a band, recording their first single, 'Freaky Outie.'At the same time, Duane enters a guitar contest where he will face his archrival, Jimmy Monet.
Coach McGuirk tries to convince Paula to pose as his fiance while his sister visits. Meanwhile, Paula needs to get her novel to her agent before he goes on vacation. On the filmmaking front, the kids try to decide whether they want to make a mockumentary about making a movie or a mock, making-of-a-mockumentary movie or just a movie.
Brendon, Jason and Melissa get in BIG trouble at school and have to go to a 'scared straight'program at the local prison. Meanwhile, Paula stumbles across a huge pile of the kids' old movies and incredibly, she watches them. What's more, she discovers an odd motif that runs through every film.
In a suspicious coincidence, Melissa and Jason each break their arms. This may affect the current film in production, but Brendon is also worried that he is dumb, or at the very least, that Melissa is smarter than he is. Meanwhile, McGuirk wants desperately to become a lifeguard.
The kids decide to run away to Europe and become ex-patriot artists, but find their plan is a little lost at sea. Back home, McGuirk's car breaks down and he has no money to fix it. He asks Tom Wilsonberg, author of 'Starting Early: The New World of Corporate Kids,'for financial advice. Tom's answer? Gambling.
The kids are preparing for Halloween, Linda (Brendon's new stepmother) is preparing to have a baby, and Coach McGuirk is preparing to have the romantic night of his life. Despite all this, no one is prepared when things start to go wrong.
Brendon, Jason, and Melissa attend a performing arts camp where they learn that they actually know very little about the performing arts. Meanwhile Coach McGuirk is forced to flee from a crazed group of crying men who want to hug him.
Brendon is chosen to direct the school musical 'Bye Bye Greasy'. Everyone gets involved, including Fenton (lights), Paula (sets), Coach McGuirk (with a special incentive), and Shannon (the school bully who appreciates singing and dancing).
Brendon is trying to finish an underwater movie about a Mighty Septopus, Fenton Mewlys gets in the way with his stuck-up fits of frustration. Meanwhile, Paula has trouble breaking up with her new boyfreind, and Coach McGurk joins a training facility, but decides to only work on the Pec Flexor.
Brendon begins writing reviews for a movie website called movie-winner-or-weiner.com. Jason and Melissa are excited because Brendon gets passes for all of them to see the premiere of 'All That Violence'. Meanwhile, Coach McGuirk wreaks havoc because he's finally got a friend 'on the inside'.
The kids run out of funds to complete their most ambitious film yet, a medieval rock opera. While Brendon is dying to get out of what he sees as the worst film he's ever made, Jason and Melissa go door-to-door for finishing funds. Brendon sneaks off to join the Skunk Scouts, hoping to recapture what's left of his childhood.
Brendon, Jason and Melissa try their hand at a Hitchcock-style thriller. They want to get into a film festival run by a local video store clerk. Coach McGuirk spends all his time at a diner, trying to woo a roller-skating waitress/actress named Fred. Meanwhile, Paula tries to get a refund from her hairdresser.
Brendon gets in trouble for making a movie about a foul-mouthed robot. The neighborhood kids love it; the parents hate it, and Paula orders Brendon to re-shoot and make a G-rated version. Meanwhile, Melissa gets jealous when her dad, Erik, wants to date a woman from his journal writing class.
Life turns upside-down for Brendon, Jason and Melissa when they find a lost puppy, which Brendon names Honkey Magoo. The hyper puppy quickly runs out of friends after wrecking Paula's house, ruining the kids' movie, chasing off Mr. Lynch's cats and turning Jason's new parakeet against him.
Jason falls for a fifth grader, but he can't get beyond that awkward, initial 'stalking'phase. He asks Brendon for help, but Brendon has bigger problems: after cheating on a test, he's being blackmailed by Jr. Adelberg, Walter and Perry. Melissa, feeling left out, helps Coach McGuirk cheat in traffic school.
When Brendon scores a lucky goal in a soccer game, he runs a foul of Cho, the best goalie in the league. Jason thinks Cho's a bully, Melissa thinks he's hot, but Brendon is caught up in the middle of doing nice things for people and changing their lives.
Brendon, laid-up in his room with a broken leg, thinks that the man who just moved in next door may be a murderer. McGuirk trains to become a bartender.
Brendon, Jason and Melissa are assigned a family tree project in school. The assignment brings up issues that none of the kids feel like dealing with, namely--their families. Meanwhile Coach McGuirk gets laser eye surgery to correct his vision, and becomes an occasionally blind possible prophet.
The kids test their latest film in front of a rather hostile focus group. Meanwhile Coach McGuirk helps Paula pick out and assemble an extremely large grill for the Small family.
