Dear John

- Season 1

(1988)

John comes home to find out his wife left him. After a few days, his sister suggests he go to a meeting of a support group for the widowed, divorced, and single.

The group has a party. Ralph is excited but doesn't show up. John and Kate are concerned. They find Ralph at home crying over the Curse of Tutankhamun.

Andrew Garberg comes to John claiming to be his son.

The group leaves John alone at a bar and he's approach by 23 year old hairdresser Karen. They met before but he can't remember her. She may be too much for him but that's the least of it.

John's ex-wife Wendy wants him to stop having his weekend visits with their despondent son Matthew.

John's former best friend Mike gets dumped by John's ex-wife Wendy. Mike gets invited to the group by Louise while pretending to be Bill.

Kate is volunteering for Eleanor Guthrie running for congress. Louise, John, and Ralph join her. Kirk invites himself to the party.

John is looking forward to spending Christmas in his apartment with his young son, only to find out at the last minute that the boy is going to Disneyland instead. So John winds up spending Christmas in his apartment with his elderly neighbor, Mrs. Lumenski.

John and Kate spend the night together. And awake up in each other's arms embarrassed.

John's ex-wife Wendy wants him to lie about their divorce to get their son Matthew into a Catholic school.

The support group arranges for Ricky to play a concert in a small venue to boost his sagging morale over a faded career but Ricky is mortified to be outclassed when Freddie and the Dreamers perform.

Kirk starts an awkward relation with an overly fawning young Japanese woman who stumbles into the support group while looking for English class at the center and John is often inconvenienced to translate.

Tony Larkin joins the group.

When Louise's stomach begins to expand, the group is curious who the father is and why he isn't helping her. She tells them that he doesn't yet know. She decides to tell him and he proposes. But she is not sure she wants to marry him.

John's married friend Gary has his eye on Kate. He joins the group pretending to be a widower.

John reconnects with old flame Yvonne but the 30 years separation has left her an older grandmother. The memories don't match the reality.

Pregnant Louise is away getting some bed rest. Ralph is afraid to go to a dance and too shy to meet Barbara, a teacher at the community center.

Kate tells the group her sister is coming for a visit and she tells them that she always makes a play for every guy she's with. And when they tell Kate she's being paranoid, she decides to prove by introducing Kirk as her beau and to see if she makes a move. And when she doesn't, John takes her home with him. And when he talks about how he and Kate went out once, she comes on to him.

John clashes with his ex-wife over visitation issues with their son Matthew. To maximize the time they have, John takes him to a cabin in the woods. When an epic snowfall traps them in, it looks as though he doesn't plan to return him.

A woman who just broke up with her husband joins the group. She tells them that they broke up because she found out he's a cross dresser. She tells them that they have an amicable relationship, that they go out together though he's in drag. And when people ask what they are they say they're sisters. And that they're meeting at the bar near the center after the meeting. John who wasn't able to attend goes to the bar and meets with a woman named Margo who says she's there to meet her sister who's at a support group at the center.

John's work friend Ken comes to him about his failing marriage. John mistakenly lets slip some of Ken's lies to his wife. John's date falls through. Everything is going wrong. At a party, Louise sets John up with Liz.

John brings Gloria to the group. It's six months since her husband died. Kirk's callousness actually helps and they start going out. Surprisingly, Gloria has Kirk all bound up.