In the pilot, four young writers—brothers Charlie and Jack Davis, Alex Burton, and Kate Griffin—land jobs in Hollywood at the hidden-camera television show Here's Looking at You. The foursome ends up renting a house together from their show's executive producer Dawn St. Claire.

Charlie falls in love with Brie, an attractive new secretary at the production office of Here's Looking at You. Brie fails to notice Charlie until she sees him driving an expensive Porsche. Heeding his co-workers' advice, Charlie confesses that the Porsche is only a rental, and Brie walks out on him. They use the situation as the basis for a hidden-camera stunt on the show.

Charlie and Kate spend their Saturday nights playing Monopoly, so Jack and Alex encourage them to place personal ads to pep up their social lives. When Charlie meets his date at the restaurant, he discovers that it's Kate. They get a good laugh out of the awkward situation... and decide to go home and play Monopoly.

Charlie, Alex, Kate, and Jack develop "writer's block" trying to come up with a good idea for a practical joke for the show. When they finally come up with a great idea, they find that the producer of a rival hidden-camera show is featuring the same idea they had. Everyone suspects one another of selling the idea, until they learn their maid is really an actress that was hired to spy on them.

Charlie fears for his life when he finds out that his blind date Donna is the wife of accused mobster Joey "The Icepick" Montaine. Donna leaves Joey and Charlie's roommates to try to rekindle the romance between her and her husband.

Charlie, Alex, Kate, and Jack stay up late to tape some new ideas for Here's Looking at You and start doing exaggerated, unflattering impressions of Dawn. When a messenger takes the tape, the quartet sneaks into her house to try to get it back before she finds out, but she comes home before they can. The next day, Dawn apologizes to the group for recording over their tape without watching it first.

Kate's roommates worry when she starts falling asleep during meetings. They discover that she's moonlighting as a stand-up comic at a local club every night. When they see her routine, Charlie gets offended by her description of him and they fight. After an incident at an ATM, Charlie apologizes for his behavior and offers to write her some material.

When Charlie and Jack's 18-year-old brother visits from Chicago after breaking up with his girlfriend, he becomes infatuated with Lindsay. They decide to elope in Las Vegas and the roommates pursue them when they find out.

Jack is appointed as the new head writer of Here's Looking at You, annoying his friends when his new position goes right to his head. Charlie, Alex, and Kate conspire with Dawn to help teach Jack a lesson.

During the taping of a Here's Looking at You segment about superstition, Jack ridicules a professed witch, who puts a 5-part curse on him. As each part of the curse comes true, Charlie invites a psychic to the house to try to lift it.

After the roommates agree to a truce following a massive practical-joke war, Alex and Kate find a burglar in the living room and think it's Charlie and Jack's final prank and treat the man like a guest. When Charlie and Jack come home, they tell the girls it's a real burglar, and the four hold him until the police arrive.

The network cancels Here's Looking At You, leaving the roommates to seek new jobs. They become writers of a new daytime talk show hosted by the obnoxious Dick Roberts. The show's first guest is investigative author Jerry Slaughter, whom they lose moments before he is supposed to appear, so Charlie decides to take his place. The ruse backfires when the real Jerry Slaughter appears during the interview. The roommates, fearing they'll be fired, are surprised to receive praise for their ingenuity, and they keep their jobs.

Guest starring: Christopher Gartin as Mortie Gallup, David Groh as Jerry Slaughter, Grant Moran as Announcer, and Judd Laurance as Floor Manager

Kate's brother sends his son, troublesome 8-year-old Nick, to visit her, then leaves a message that he's too busy to return for his son, and Kate and her roommates suddenly become unlikely full-time parents.

Guest starring: Sav Farrow and I.M. Hobson

With Kate's nephew Nick now living with them, the new living situation severely cramps the roommates' carefree lifestyle, so Kate figures they're better off elsewhere and rents a dreary apartment. When they start to miss her, Charlie, Alex, and Jack decide to convert the attic into a bedroom for Nick so they'll move back into the beach house.

Kate, Charlie, Alex, and Jack agree to babysit Dick's nerdy son Sam, but are unprepared for the hypochondriacal boy who arrives with a virtual pharmacy in his suitcase. Nick decides to turn the overprotected Sam into a regular kid by taking him out skateboarding. Sam breaks his leg, but he is happy because for the first time in his life he feels like a regular kid.

Guest starring: Christopher Castile as Sam Roberts, Eric Freeman, Bernadette Bowman, and Mary Portser

Jack's ex-girlfriend Wendy visits and insists that Charlie escort her around town; Charlie is thrilled when he meets the now-attractive Wendy, irritating his brother. In the end, Jack decides to put aside his ego for once and be glad Charlie's having a good time. Meanwhile, Sam is caught hiding Nick's cheat-sheets during a test and earns his respect by not using them.

Nick is excited to see his favorite band in concert; Kate promised that she would take him, but ends up breaking that promise when she finds out that everyone must camp out in line overnight to get tickets, so Nick sneaks out of the house to get tickets himself. Kate, Alex, Charlie, and Jack go to bring Nick back home, but decide to stay in line and camp out for the night while they're there.

Jack and Charlie take Nick and Sam's nature scout group on a camping weekend, but their inexperience with the nature scouts causes them to end up lost in the wilderness. Nick stands up for Sam after the boys in the scout group tease Sam for being a nerd. But Sam's intelligence saves them, as he leads the boys to civilization. Meanwhile, Arnie comes to the rescue of Alex, Kate and Lindsay when they become trapped in the exercise equipment that they were assembling as a surprise for Charlie.