'Guy With Kids' Season 1, Episode 2: 'Chris' New Girlfriend' Recap

In the pilot episode of the “been there, done that, heard those jokes before,” series “Guys With Kids,” we’re introduced to the gang—Nick, Gary, and Chris. They’re grabbing coffee together and ribbing back and forth, discussing Chris’ new love interest, Jennifer, and how reluctant he is to introduce her to Nick lest he criticize her until all Chris can see are her flaws.

When an alarm reminder goes off on Chris’ phone, he congratulates Gary on his anniversary, and Gary panics. He completely forgot. Desperate, he snatches up a few sad daisies from the table and rushes off to face his wife, who is no doubt furious that he failed to mention it.

But when he makes it home, his wife, Marny, isn’t upset at all—unless you count her concern to get her two older boys to karate class on time. That’s when Gary realizes the beautiful truth: Marny has forgotten their anniversary as well.

In Nick’s world, he and his wife Emily are reminiscing to their daughter about how Mommy and Daddy met. Emily waxes poetic about their first date—how they went to the turtle pond in Central Park, and how Nick bribed a security guard to let them ride on the carousel after hours.

Chris and Gary come over, and Emily runs off eagerly to cyber-stalk Jennifer. Gary explains the situation, and the decision they reach is to make it the most romantic anniversary ever. Then Marny will feel like crap, crap!

Emily re-emerges with a photo of Jennifer on her laptop, and Chris gives in, and lets Nick look. Nick, it turns out, has dated Jennifer before. This rattles Chris, but he swears that it doesn’t matter, and invites them all over for a barbeque so everyone can meet his new lady.

He heads home, surprised to see his son Ernie in the living room. His ex-wife, Sheila, has let herself into the apartment and used the shower, because it’s near her popular gym and she didn’t want to see her dentist naked. She asks about Jennifer, having read his e-mails on his computer, and declares she must pass judgment on any woman who would be around Ernie.

On the Gary front, he’s gone all-out, decorating his home with candles and flowers, playing romantic music, and greeting his wife with champagne. He presents her with earrings that he claims he picked up three months ago, while planning this surprise. When Marny realizes that she’s forgotten her anniversary she is horrified, and promises to make it up to her man.

Nick and Emily, purchasing wine for the upcoming barbeque, happen to run into Chris and Jennifer. Nick expects it to be weird, and it is—but not in the way he’s expecting. Jennifer has no idea who he is. She can’t remember him at all. His large ego is wounded.

“Poor girl. She is obviously devastated,” cracks his wife gleefully.

Gary, meanwhile, is reaping the benefits of a guilty wife. As she massages him, the door opens, and their new 50-inch television is delivered. Gary is delighted by how well his evil plan worked out.

Things take a turn for the worse, however, when the gang gathers for their dinner, and Marney gets a call from the credit card company about suspicious activity. She finds out that Gary made all his purchases the day of their anniversary, not three months in advance, and when she finds out what happened she storms out furiously.

Nick can’t seem to let it go that Jennifer doesn’t remember him, so his old green Vespa comes up, and suddenly she remembers. She remembers the cheesy first date they went on—at the turtle pond, and on the carousel. Emily blanches, her special memory ruined, and storms out as well.

Jennifer and Chris don’t mind—finally, they get some alone time. That is until Sheila shows up again. Luckily, she approves of Jennifer.

Nick, trying to make it up to Emily, takes his family back to the carousel where he took Emily long ago. He tries to get the security guard, Phil, to tell Emily what Nick told Phil that day, but Phil has no idea who Nick is.

What Nick told him, he explains to his wife, is that he was planning to marry Emily. She is placated, and Nick bribes Phil for old times’ sake, and the family rides the carousel, content once more.