23rd Sep 1996

Hip young writer Tom Rhodes thought he could breeze back home after a few lackluster years in New York and one worst-selling -- albeit critically acclaimed -- novel under his belt, but his new life as a small town English teacher living on campus at Harkin Academy supplies some major lessons in and out of the classroom. First off, there's chemistry between the longhaired iconoclast with a blue-collar background and Harkin's high-strung, beautiful guidance counselor Nikki Harkin. Once the girl of Tom's teen-aged fantasies, Nikki's now hooked on therapy and apparently attached to a rich boyfriend. Tom hits another snag with wannabe-hip headmaster, Ray Heary, who digs his image but frowns on his casual teaching style, as does acerbic, highbrow history teacher Ronald Felcher. Meanwhile, Harkin's outlandish woman-child math teacher Amanda Reeves worships Tom, and young Milo views his maverick new teacher with skepticism -- especially on the night Tom catches the disconsolate student going o

30th Sep 1996

Harkin Academy's boys are agog when a movie star's gorgeous teen-aged daughter enrolls, but when smart, ""plain Jane"" Zoey's self-esteem plummets, an attentive Mr. Rhodes steps in to boost her confidence and inadvertently sparks Zoey's colossal crush on him. In the nick of time, Nikki and Amanda alert a clueless Tom to the fragile teen's feelings.

7th Oct 1996

Tom is in hot water when he becomes a dorm supervisor and holds a pizza party, only to have the boys he's responsible for sneak out for a night on the town; Nikki tries to conceal her feelings for Tom's book.

14th Oct 1996

Nikki becomes conscious of the fact that she's way too dependent on therapy, so she quits, a decision that only depresses her further.

21st Oct 1996

Seeing the great picture that Tom accidentally shot on his film, Heary considers a career with his new-found talent, the art of photography.

28th Oct 1996

At Halloween, a gift from Tom haunts Nikki, who's feeling guilty about Carl; Amanda's strange behavior spooks the staff; and Jake's scared silly over the prospect of a test.

4th Nov 1996

No synopsis.

11th Nov 1996

It's Parents Weekend, and wouldn't you know that the woman who picks Tom up in a bar for a passionate one-night stand turns out to be -- Zoey's mother.

18th Nov 1996

No synopsis.

25th Nov 1996

Mr. Heary is anxious to put on Tom's gritty, unpublished play for Thanksgiving. But one of the school's biggest backers wants to see something that has Pilgrims.

16th Dec 1996

No synopsis.

6th Jan 1997

Tom learns that even a sensitive man of the 90s can have his faults when a school study suggests that he and other Harkin Academy teachers have been favoring boys over girls.

13th Jan 1997

It's a blow to former townie Tom when a night out ends up in a barroom brawl provoked by local toughs -- and Tom gets slapped with a lawsuit.

20th Jan 1997

Everyone swoons over the handsome, charismatic, popular new Italian teacher. When Tom's the only one who dislikes Giorgio, it's written off as jealousy, despite his best effort to prove the newcomer a pretentious, dishonest phony.

3rd Feb 1997

Tom is helped over a crisis of professionalism by spectral pep talks from the characters of Welcome Back Kotter.

17th Feb 1997

An obnoxious millionaire buys the school, and wants Tom to be the new headmaster.

10th Mar 1997

Cupid's arrow is especially sharp on Valentine's Day: Carl breaks up with Nikki, Nikki blames Tom, and Ronald just wants to call the whole thing off and celebrate Lincoln's birthday instead.

No synopsis.

Jake is tried in a kangaroo court for harming Billy the Goat, the school's mascot, and the fact that he refuses to rat on his friends isn't helping him any.