8 Simple Rules

- Season 3

(2005)

The summer is over and Kerry has "grown" in Europe and wants to break up with Kyle. Bridget is the student body president and revels in her power. Rory starts high school with trepidation. Gibbs offers Cate a job.

Cate decides to do "something special" for herself, but it angers the girls. Something is bugging Kerry. Gramps tries to resist the urge to restart smoking. Everybody's pretty miserable.

Rory is being bullied in school - (un)fortunately Gramps and C.J. offer him advice. The girls are not happy to hear that Cate will become their school nurse since they both have a secret mom won't like.

C.J. decides to try speed dating. Kerry's winning art project about the objectification of women will be displayed at the mall. Will this be the *one* time she gets the people's attention instead of Bridget?

Rory is enamored with Marnie the Slurpie Girl and knows she'd like to see OutKast live. But he hasn't got a driver. Nor tickets like her sisters. *Then* he gets left with the keys and wrecks the mini-van. Surely he is doomed? Right?

The Halloween Dance is near. Since Bridget is the president, it's her duty to organize it - and since she's no good at it, the vice president seeks to replace her. C.J. has bad 1979 Dance memories but will be the 2004 head of security.

Bridget falls for the tennis coach, Scott, and so does Cate, whom Scott asks out. Cate declines because they work at the same place, but can she resist her urges? Rory finds out a secret while making a school project about Gramps.

Rory won't reveal who beat him up. CJ fails to get him painkillers. The girls get fake IDs; and Bridget gives their number to a cop. They fear Cate answers his call. CJ fears the pharmacy calls. Cate fears Scott calls. Who answers whose call?

The Hennessys' garage has burnt on the Thanksgiving and the insurance company man is investigating the cause. C.J. had a turkey fryer in there, but is it absolutely sure that it started the fire?

Bridget gets an audition for a car commercial, but gets rejected. This causes Bridget to lose her confidence in herself. Jim goes to reprimand the project leader who, to Cate's shock, turns out to be the love of his life.

C.J. doesn't wan't to share the room with Jim anymore, so Jim agrees to move to the "scary" attic if C.J. manages to spend one night alone there. A scout from Princetown is coming to see Bridget play tennis and Kerry becomes very upset at the very thought of Bridget possibly getting a scholarship to Princeton. But Bridget is about to flunk maths which would mean she won't get to play when the scout arrives...

C.J. plans to leave for Las Vegas to spend Christmas there because his parents always spent their holiday at some exotic location while he was "dumped" to some nanny. Cate shows C.J. a Christmas photo from when she was 10 years old and succeeds in changing his mind. Cate makes the mistake of promising that the family celebrates this Christmas exactly like in the photo - and C.J. wants all the details duplicated... Rory surprises everyone with the revelation that he has a rich girlfriend. But what kind of Christmas present can he give to a girl who has everything?

Bridget has injured her leg in a bathroom accident, but tells everyone that Kerry pushed her down the stairs. Principal Gibbs informs C.J. that he can start working as a substitute teacher. Cate learns that C.J. wrote a recommendation letter in her name and forged her signature. In his defense, C.J. claims that he's doing exactly what Cate wanted: something worthwhile with his life. But when he catches Rory for cheating, will he be able to turn Rory in to Gibbs, who has zero tolerance against cheating?

Rory has reached the age of regular self-pleasuring. A stunning younger woman is hanging around with principal Gibb. He introduces her as his "friend" Cheryl, but she is much more intimate with him than that. Cate is jealous. Gibb asks C.J. to let Cheryl attend his classes in preparation for her upcoming final exams to get a GED certificate. Gibb wants to make sure Cate is not uncomfortable about him dating Cheryl. Cheryl, meanwhile, asks "personal tutoring" from C.J. - in the privacy of her home... What will C.J. do? And Rory gets caught with his pants down - ...

Cate is gathering the courage to e-mail an old boyfriend Matt. Jim remembers telling Cate to stay away from the guy. Then C.J. takes the liberty of sending the e-mail. Soon after that, Cate declares that she's taking some time off from taking care of everything and locks herself inside her room. Suddenly, there is a knock on her window. It's Matt (played, thanks to brilliant casting, by none other than Katey Sagal's old cast-mate Ed O'Neill from Married with Children)!

Cate finds a note in Kerry's pants that were with the laundry. It's an e-mail from Bruno Cunningham. And the only Bruno Cate is aware of is the guy to whom Kerry lost her virginity and who then broke her heart. Cate confides in Bridget, who's shocked to learn that Kerry is keeping in touch with Bruno - without telling her! Cate is afraid Kerry will get hurt again and wants to ask her if she's going to meet Bruno again, but Bridget convinces her that she should give Kerry some privacy. Then she herself goes to ask Kerry if there is anything going on. But Bruno is ...

Cate clashes with one of the opposing team's mothers at Kerry's volley bowl team match and gets a warning, meaning that if Kerry's team's fans cause another incident, her team forfeits the playoffs. So Kerry forbids her from attending.

After Cate watches Freaky Friday, she find herself in Bridget's body, while Bridget is in her body, Grandpa Jim and C.J. have swapped bodies, and Rory has swapped with his hamster.

C.J. asks the girls' math teacher, the Japanese Mrs. Krupp, out - and she accepts. To everyones surprise, their date goes well and they start seeing each other. Then Cheryl turns up, claiming that she missed C.J. and suddenly he is in the most unlikely of situations: having to choose between two women on a Valentine's Day.

A novel development takes place: Kerry is jealous of Bridget. C.J.'s biological father comes to see him for the first time ever.

It's Prom Night. Bridget learns that the planned after party has been canceled. She then mentions at home that she's decided to throw the after party at a hotel and asks her mom to book a room, but Cate forbids her to even take part in any after party. Kerry has published a pro-lesbian article in the school paper, gets asked to the prom by a lesbian girl. Kerry thinks their appearance together would make a statement, but does not realize that the girl is attracted to her. Rory gets asked to the prom by a girl with somewhat questionable reputation - a fact with which ...

Rory has a crush on the new exchange student and wants to go shopping for new clothes. He does no longer want his mother's company, only her credit card. Bridget can't allow Rory's poor choices in clothing because it would reflect poorly on her, so she decides to give Rory a changeover. Meanwhile, C.J. has earned access to the teachers lounge. Unfortunately C.J. gets on the bad side of Mr. Edwards by first calling him "Mr. Ed" and then breaking his coffee cup. The man uses prison inmate style tactics to intimidate C.J. and kick him out of the lounge. Granpa tells C.J....

Granpa takes the children and C.J. ice fishing. Meanwhile, Cate goes on a dinner date with principal Gibb. Since the house is empty and it's Friday, Cate invites Gibb to watch Arabian Lawrence with her. The next morning Cate awakes on the sofa with Gibb on top of her... just before grandpa returns home early with the kids.

In the series closer, it's the schools ditch day. While Bridget plots to do the ultimate prank, Cate is plotting how to keep her relationship with Principal Gibb under wraps so she won't worry her kids. Kerry is anti-ditch day, and tries to make ditch day a normal day of learning, to what turns out to be a complete bust. When Kerry puts on the prank in her sister's place, she ends up realizing she really has been a goody-two-shoes. Cate also realizes that it's really not that big of a deal that she's dating the principal, and her kids just want what's best for her.