Hope & Faith Season 4

[KurtfromPitts]

Season 4 of "Hope & Faith" finds Hope as a widowed mom. [Ted Mc Ginley left due to creative problems] Episodes include Hope blaming Faith for Charley's death, Justin getting a spot on the GIRLS' basketball team, and Faith attempting to land a job on a sitcom. I'll have more episode plots later.

[KurtfromPitts]

Faith accidentally causes a fire which burns her "woman" room [formerly Charley's "man" room] when she knocks over one of her scented candles, without watching where she was going. Hope is furious with Faith. She tries to get away by blaming Charley's ghost, but that infuriates Hope further. Meanwhile, Justin lands a new best friend in Seth Jordan [Erik Per Sullivan]. At the end, Hope kisses Charley's photo and says that he will be in her heart-as well as the kids'-forever.

[KurtfromPitts]

Faith lands a role on a new family sitcom titled "Family Togetherness", which is a cross between "Full House" and "Malcolm In The Middle". She plays Dorothy, an aunt who is similar to MITM's Lois in temperament. Erin Gray plays the actress who stars as the widow Barbara, and Debbie Gregory is the actress who plays aunt Margaret, with three unknowns who play the growing boys. After returning home from LA, Hope, Faith, and the kids look forward to seeing the pilot until it is pre-empted for a presidential news conference. Faith tries to trash the house but is stopped by Hope.

[KurtfromPitts]

After a new athletic director at Justin's school [Stacy Keanan] decides to have girls play on the boys' basketball team, Justin and Seth test the AD's mettle by landing spots on the GIRLS' team. The boys manage to lead the girls' team to several wins, thus outwitting the AD, while-not seen by the audience, only mentioned-the girls on the boys' team suffer terrible injuries, thus the AD's plan backfires, and she is removed from her post. Meanwhile, Hope tries to comfort Hayley and Sydney, who are still grieving over their father's death, the result of an auto accident. Also, Faith takes up smoking, angering Hope.

[KurtfromPitts]

She's baaack! Kathie Lee Gifford makes a return appearance, this time as Seth's overbearing mom Deirdre Jordan, a former actress. Justin is invited to Seth's birthday party, joined by Faith. Tempers flare when Deirdre accuses Faith of nudging her out of the "Sacred And The Sinful" role Deirdre had coveted. As cake and other foods are hurled by the ladies, Seth and Justin escape to Seth's room to watch the films of "The Little Rascals". Meanwhile, Hope is shocked when Hayley is reading a Playgirl-type magazine, invoking Charley's name, saying he wouldn't have approved of it.

[KurtfromPitts]

Also, Cody Gifford appears as "Butch", Seth's bossy brother.

[KurtfromPitts]

Faith, feeling that Hope has felt a void since Charley's death, hooks her up with a guy named Paul Hamilton [Christopher Sieber]. Hope at first likes Paul, however, he confesses to being a compulsive gambler who is still married and had walked out on his wife to keep gambling. Hope leaves Paul, but not before enrolling him in Gamblers Anonymous. Hope is crushed.

[KurtfromPitts]

Faith lands a part in a motion picture shooting on location in her Ohio town. She is so overjoyed to play the part of the romantic interest of the action hero played by John Stamos. However, things go awry when Faith and Hank Karras [Stamos] butt heads over Faith's wanting demands-more lines and more face time, among other things-as well as her wardrobe. Finally, Hank-who's also the film's producer-fires Faith, replacing her with another actress [Lori Loughlin,making a cameo]. Faith is devastated. Hope tries to console her sister, but to no avail.

[KurtfromPitts]

Hope decides to run for a seat on the town council opposite a vicious, mean mudslinger named Ellen Monroe [Jane Kaczmarek]. No matter how hard Ellen tries to attack Hope, Hope wins over the town's voters, though Ellen does not go down easily. She [Ellen] is finally led out of town hall in handcuffs, and Hope wins. Meanwhile, Faith decides to write a novel about a family just like the Shanowskis. The father figure, patterned after Hope's late hubby, is depicted as a vicious killer who wants to kill her sister-in-law, and when Hope looks at Faith's work, Hope bawls out Faith. Faith asks how Hope found out, and Hope responds by telling Faith "you left your papers on the table".

[KurtfromPitts]

Justin and Seth go to a multiplex where they sneak in to a theater which is showing a porno flick. Unfortunately, they are caught by a suspicious usher who has the boys arrested and taken to jail. Hope grounds Justin and bars him from seeing Seth for an undetermined amount of time and has Justin wash the dishes every day.

[KurtfromPitts]

Colleen Camp joins the cast as Barbara Maricle, Hope's Town Council advisor, whom Hope hired after being fired by Hope's opponent Ellen for something Barbara didn't do, leading Barbara to cry when Hope hired her. When Hope and Barbara engage in too much talking Faith becomes jealous and envious, leading to arguments between the sisters. Also Hayley is pestered by Seth to make love to him.

[KurtfromPitts]

Hope and Barbara set up a date with Sydney and Evan, Barbara's son, played by Scott Weinger. Both like what they see in each other and consider getting engaged, which surprise their parents. Meanwhile, Faith accidentally tapes a soap opera special over a tape of a TV talk show Barbara once hosted, sending Barbara-whose life had been miserable since her husband was killed in an auto accident, the same way Charley died-to tears and getting near hysterical. Hope screams at Faith and almost chases her sister out of the house.

[KurtfromPitts]

This episode is a possible spin-off. Barbara is offered a job as a TV-talk show hostess in New York. She and Hope discuss the idea, and Hope encourages Barbara, telling her to go for it, though the two friends part company-and Barbara would quit her job as Hope's advisor-to the relief of Faith. Also, Justin and Seth are suspended from school for pulling too many practical jokes on their fellow students.

[KurtfromPitts]

Amber Tamblyn guest stars as Dawn Lazarus, a high school snob whose attitude and ways grate on Sydney's nerves. Sydney is talked by her friends into running for class president against Dawn. Also, Faith decides to sell some of Charley's possessions-including his autographed baseball-online, resulting, of course, in her ending up in Hope's doghouse.