1. Pilot

Melanie "Mel" Burke is having trouble with her niece, Lennox. As she tries to juggle being a councillor and a guardian, she gets a little overwhelmed. Her assistant, Rhonda, suggests she get a nanny. Mel is hesitant to do so until she finds out Lennox wrote a poem about her principal, Miss Lunt ( Vernee Watson ), that wasn't so nice. Mel relents and decides to hire a nanny. Before leaving for a meeting, Joseph "Joe" Longo knocks on her door. He apologizes for an outburst (seen earlier in the episode) and asks if she can get him a job.

Mel realizes he was the head of her brother-in-law's company. (It is mentioned that her brother-in-law ran off leaving the company in disarray and it is implied that he ran off with the millions Joe made for him and left his wife to take the blame. The result is her being in federal prison and the reason for the children having to stay with Mel.) She explains that there is a hiring freeze downtown so she can't get him a job. Joe then offers to be her new nanny. Joe takes Ryder to school so Mel won't miss her meeting.

Mel comes home later to take Lennox to school so she can apologize to Miss Lunt. If she doesn't apologize, Lennox cannot go back to school. Mel finds that Ryder is still at home and Lennox is gone. After leaving, Joe sees an online posting from Lennox and realizes she is on the roof. He convinces her to go eat her "big bowl of stink" instead of letting Mel eat it for her. Mel comes back impressed until she finds out Joe paid Lennox fifty dollars to go to the school and apologize to the principal. They later decide to give him a try being the nanny.