For Better For Worse

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For Better For Worse

Starring Julia Roberts as Karen Bradford, a late-thirtysomething happily married mom of three living in Minnesota with her family. Karen and her loving husband of 16 years, Jeff Bradford (Jeremy Piven) live happily in their suburban Minnesota home with their three children: their "typical young teenage boy" 14-year-old son, Jordan Bradford; their inquistive yet naive 11-year-old daughter, April Bradford; and their cutie pie and "the baby of the family" 7-year-old daughter, Erica Bradford. Karen, Jeff, and the three kids are often visited by Karen's always-bickering-out-of-love parents, Jim and Rose Morgan (James Garner, Gena Rowlands), who are loved by Jeff and Karen yet can equally get on their last nerves in short amount of time.

Karen's younger sister, Kelly Madsen (Julia Campbell) along with Kelly's ex-husband, Dan Madsen (Vincent Ventresca) and Kelly's new lesbian girlfriend, Gina Keehan (Justine Bateman) also make surprise visits at the Bradford home, sometimes announced and sometimes unannounced. Kelly and Dan have been divorced over 2 years now, but have remained still good friends, even though Dan is still madly in love with Kelly and is secretly hoping they'll get back together. Kelly and Dan's divorce was caused by Kelly becoming aware of her attraction to women - her business partner, Gina specifically. While it has taken some time to adjust to the change, Kelly and Gina's relationship has become accepted by Kelly's family. Also, despite being divorced from Kelly, Dan is still accepted into the Morgan/Bradford family and considered a part of the family still.

In the series premiere, Karen becomes devastated when she loses her cushy receptionist job at the prestigous law firm, where she's been employed for past 12 years, and now replaced by a younger busty blonde college graduate. Karen becomes irate when she finds out who's her replacement and yet she becomes upset because now she has to find another means of income to help support her family. Meanwhile, Jim and Rose return from a Caribbean cruise from celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, and Karen swears everyone to secrecy about the fact she lost her job when her parents are around.


Cast of Characters:
Julia Roberts as Karen Morgan-Bradford
Jeremy Piven as Jeff Bradford
Julia Campbell as Kelly Morgan-Madsen
Justine Bateman as Gina Keehan
Vincent Ventresca as Dan Madsen
Unknown Actor as Jordan Bradford
Unknown Actor as April Bradford
Unknown Actor as Erica Bradford
with James Garner as Jim Morgan
and Gena Rowlands as Rose Morgan

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Episodes

Ep1: Pilot Episode:
Karen becomes devastated when she loses her cushy receptionist job at the prestigous law firm, where she's been employed for past 12 years, and now replaced by a younger busty blonde college graduate. Karen becomes irate when she finds out who's her replacement and yet she becomes upset because now she has to find another means of income to help support her family. Meanwhile, Jim and Rose return from a Caribbean cruise from celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, and Karen swears everyone to secrecy about the fact she lost her job when her parents are around-who catch on and realize that Karen is hiding something.

Ep2: Hide No More:
Jim and Rose try to figure out what Karen is hiding from them, until Rose believes Karen is pregnant after she notices that Karen, after returning from grocery shopping, didn't buy her usual bottle of wine, and Rose jumps to conclusions. Karen becomes fed up with Rose's constant meddling and trying to help her out, resulting in Karen telling her parents that she lost her job and now has to go find another job while trying to support her family. Rose and Jim become upset when they hear Karen's news yet unsure of why she decided to hide it from them. Karen recalls when she first started there that Rose remarked that Karen only got that job based on her looks, and now it has been proved true in her eyes. Rose has a heart-to-heart chat with Karen, ending in a mother-daughter tearful hug. Meanwhile, Kelly and Dan awkwardly celebrate their second year anniversary of being divorced over a few bottles of booze, while Gina is away visiting her brother.

Ep3: Love Me Not:
Jeff remains supportive of Karen when she eagerly looks through the classifieds to figure out what will be her next move. Yet Jeff reassures her to just take a week or two off to figure out what she really wants to do next, instead of just rushing into another job. Also, Jordan becomes devastated when the girl he likes, dumps him for another boy, and he becomes envious and jealous of this other guy "stealing his girl". Jordan turns to former-uncle Dan for advice on the situation, which brings out Dan's bitterness about Gina "stealing" Kelly from him. After taking Dan's semi-unethical advice, Jordan lands himself in detention after throwing a punch at the other boy.

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Ep4: Fatherly Blunders:
Karen becomes upset with Jim when he invites Dan along with him to participate in the father-son/son-in-law competition down at his men's lodge, seeing how Dan is actually his ex-son-in-law, and Jim totally neglected to ask Jeff to be his partner. Meanwhile, April gets her first babysitting job-a rambunctious 2 year old boy, who ends up going missing while playing a game of hide and seek. April, in fear of telling her parents, resorts into calling for backup (also known as her two siblings) to help her find this "missing" boy before his parents arrive home.

Ep5: The Day Off:
Karen finds herself almost at wits end when she is home with all three kids due to a cancelled day of school. At first things are going good, but soon things go down the hill for Karen, such as Jordan's constantly begging to be undergrounded (for his detention still) so he can hangout with his buddies, Erica's annoying bratty friend being dropped off for the day (as her mom has to work), and April becomes horribly secretive and emotional and will stop at nothing to keep Karen at arms length--making Karen curious as to what is really going on. Turns out, April got her period and is horrified and embarrassed to even discuss it with her mom or let her know--until she calls her Aunt Kelly for advice.

Ep6: Simple Thoughts, Simple Minds:
The family becomes surprised when Dan brings his new girlfriend, Leah (Jenny McCarthy) to dinner at Jim and Rose's one night. Leah ends up being a total "dumb blonde" and "airheaded", enough to annoy everyone. Kelly finds herself in an awkward state when she becomes to feel jealous of seeing Leah with Dan, even though she is more than happy with Gina-who oversees Kelly's (not-so) well-hidden jealousy and begins to question their relationship. Also, Jordan becomes in awe of his former uncle's girlfriend and her beauty, resulting in a father-son talk with Jeff about how to not be so obvious when eyeing women.

Ep7: The Fast, Shimmering, Expensive Purchase:
Jim purchases a big-screen TV without consulting Rose, which lands him in the doghouse and down on the couch until the TV goes back. Jeff, Dan, and Jordan spend a Saturday afternoon looking through car lots, in hopes of finding a new flashy sportscar that Dan can afford to attract new women after his divorce. Elsewhere, Kelly and Gina take April and Erica for the weekend to test their parenting skills, leaving Karen home all alone--which is nice yet doesn't last long as she becomes dragged into her parents' fight over the new TV, much to her dismay.

Ep8: Bitter Experiences:
While out grocery shopping with Rose, Karen ends up bumping into her former boss, Stan (Dabney Coleman) and his wife, Jean (Kelly Bishop) in the store. Karen's bitterness shines through when she is reunited with Stan, while Jean still thinks Karen works at her husband's firm but is broughten up to speed quickly by a still angered Karen. Jean then becomes upset with Stan and forces him to apologize and offer Karen her old job back. But before Karen even ponders over considering going back to her old job, Rose butts in and tells Stan that she isn't going to go back working for him and deserves to work somewhere better than his firm, which stuns Karen happily. Elsewhere, Gina and Kelly experience mixed emotions when they learn that Erica has told all her classmates and teachers about her aunt and her girlfriend, who end up becoming a spectacle when they go to pick her up from school one day.

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Ep9: Meeting Girlfriends and Brothers:
Jordan becomes embarrassed when his parents want to meet Jordan's new girlfriend, who turns out to be a very sweet, polite girl--which makes Jeff and Karen ponder over why she is going out with their son. Meanwhile, Gina's twin brother, Derek (Jason Bateman) makes a surprise visit to spend the weekend with his sister and her girlfriend. Derek is well-liked by everyone, except Jim who thinks Derek is shifty and untrustworthy--which puts Kelly into an awkward position.

Ep10: First Job Interview:
Karen prepares for her first job interview since being let go, with a real estate office for an available office manager position. Karen's interviewer turns out to be her former high school nemesis, Rachel Woods (Rachel Hunter), who later finds out that "Karen Bradford" is the former "Karen Morgan". Back in high school, Rachel and Karen both fell in love with the same guy, causing them to go from friends to rivals. Needless to say, Karen doesn't get the job-due to Rachel's mutual dislike for Karen still. Meanwhile, upon Jordan's request, Jeff puts locks on the bathroom doors after Jordan is accidently walked in on by his sisters while he is in a "private moment".

Ep11: Rough Patches:
Karen continues to dwell on her inability to get a new job yet, which causes her to become upset, bitterly angry, and depressed. Meanwhile, Jim receives news from Rose's doctor that Rose's high blood pressure is skyrocketing and needs to be undercheck, otherwise could lead to dangerous results, which causes Jim to question Rose about why she hadn't told him about her high blood pressure. Gina and Kelly's floral business takes a negative hit when a new floral shop competition moves in across the street from them, which owned by a former employee of theirs, Rayanne (A.J. Langer) whom they let go a year ago.

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Ep12: Sisterly Events:
Rose gets a surprise visit from her thrice-widowed younger sister, Janice (Debbie Reynolds). Rose and Janice attend a crafts fair in a nearby town, while out and about, Janice spills the beans and confides in Rose- that she is having kidney complications and needs to a donor, and Rose may be a match. Rose is blindsided by this news and upsets herself when she internally can not feel comfortable going under the knife for a kidney transplant for her sister. Elsewhere, Kelly and Karen get into a sisterly disagreement while at April's soccer game, about Kelly wanting Karen to help set Dan up with a fellow soccer mom as Karen refuses to do so.

Ep13: Guilt Trips: Part One
Rose insists on taking Karen and Kelly with her, as she embarks on a road trip to St. Louis as she has decided to give her kidney to her sister, Janice (Debbie Reynolds). Rose's nervous and full of uncertainities concerning the procedure, as her two daughters are still refusing to talk to each other. Karen is waiting for Kelly to apologize for her dig at her about being unemployed, as Kelly is waiting for one from Karen as she made a dig at her relationships with Gina and Dan. While the women are gone, Jim becomes bored and decides to pay Jeff a visit at work. Jeff, who is less than thrilled when his father-in-law makes a visit, becomes even extremely angry with Jim after he ends up getting Jeff fired from his job as Jim unintentionally insults Jeff's weight-sensitive boss after making a "joke" about his weight and eating habits while enjoying a ride up in elevator up to Jeff's office.

Ep14: Unforgivable: Part Two
Jeff becomes extremely short with Jim and refuses to let him set foot into his family's home as Jeff is still fuming from being fired, thanks to Jim. Jim tries to make amends and apologizes numerous times to Jeff, who is fed up with Jim and refuses to talk to him. Meanwhile, Karen and Kelly get into a huge public fight just outside of St. Louis, and the two girls are at wits end with each other. Rose settles them down and drives them into St. Louis, but just when Rose thinks everything is going better now (that the sisters have stopped arguing), things get worse. Moments before Rose, Karen, and Kelly arrived at Janice's home, Janice had died of kidney failure. Rose becomes truly devastated that she was so close to actually saving her sister's life, but didn't make it in time as her two grown daughters were conducting a childish spat. In the heat of the moment, an upset Rose bitterly tells Karen and Kelly that she may never be able to forgive them for being the reason why she wasn't able to be there in time to save Janice's life---which stunned and saddens Kelly and Karen (enough to call a truce).

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Ep15: Mother Load of Crises:
Karen and Kelly attempt to make it up to Rose, who has calmed down a bit but still upset with her daughters. Rose has a meaningfull heart-to-heart chat with her two girls, ending in a tearful embrace. Also, Jim confesses to getting Jeff fired from his job, which causes Karen to want all the information and ends up freaking out--now that both her and Jeff are unemployed.

Ep16: Bitter News:
Jeff and Karen's bitterness towards Jim starts to rub off onto Jordan, April, and Erica, when they decide they don't want to attend Jim's birthday party at his and Rose's home. That alone causes Rose to stand up and tries to defend her guilt-ridden hubby to Karen and Jeff, who decide to ease up on Jim despite their bitter feelings. Meanwhile, Kelly decides to enter herself, Gina, and Dan into therapy, with Dr. Steiner (Holland Taylor), who wants Kelly to re-evaluate her relationships with both Gina and Dan--who become paranoid of losing Kelly to the other and starts to "suck up" to Kelly in hopes of her choosing them. But instead, Kelly ends up deciding to "take a break" from her relationships with both Dan and Gina.