Watch Charles in Charge

When Jamie is offered the chance to finish high school at the 'Professional Performers School' in New York City, Walter agrees to give his permission if she finds a mature adult female to live with her. Soon after, Charles' Aunt Vanessa from New York City arrives for a visit. Vanessa and Jamie discover they enjoy each others company, so Jamie asks Vanessa to be her guardian in order to finish high school in the city. Aunt Vanessa volunteers immediately. Being a man of honor, Walter has to agree to let Jamie go, but he gives Charles the task of changing Jamie's mind since Charles and his aunt are responsible for Jamie's decision.

When Jamie and Sarah meet Charles' new girlfriend, Darlene, they are more than perplexed to see that she looks identical to Buddy's new girlfriend, Marlene, whom they met earlier at the diner. Meanwhile, Charles and Buddy are both excited about introducing each other to their new girlfriends and plan a double date for the following night. When Marlene arrives for the date, Sarah, in a panicked effort to get her out of the boys' view, has Marlene wait in the basement. After being told the whereabouts of Marlene, Jamie is stunned to answer the door and find Darlene, Marlene's apparent twin. Despite her own confusion, Jamie has Darlene wait in the kitchen. By coincidence, Charles unknowingly ends up in the basement with Buddy's girl, while Buddy meets Charles' new love in the kitchen.

Charles moves into Buddy's dorm room for a few days because the Powell's house is being fumigated. When Buddy's father Clarence (guest star Lewis Arquette) arrives with his suitcases, he explains that he has quit his job and wants to visit with his son for a while. Buddy assumes his parents have broken up because they never travel without each other. That night at the diner, Charles counsels Buddy to have a talk with his father, but Buddy confides that he and his father have never been able to communicate.

Charles buys a digital electronic organizer to put his life in order. It is to tell him what to do, when to do it and is never supposed to fail. Lillian and each of the Powell children make demands on Charles' time. He makes promises to all of them, keeping all of the information stored in the organizer and devising a schedule that supposedly enables him to handle everything that is needed of him. Eventually, Charles takes on more than he can handle and in spite of the organizer, he loses control.

Walter falls in love with Julia Myers, a WW II buff, and invites her over to the Powell home for dinner to impress her with his war memorabilia. Unfortunately, he forgot that he ordered Charles to throw them out when he cleaned the house. To remedy the situation, Walter decides to borrow some replicas from his veteran group, the John Paul Jones Society -- he has an authentic-looking bomb, a Japanese sword and flag delivered to the house. At dinner that night, Charles joins Walter in impressing Julia with the war memorabilia. But after a while, Walter starts to feel guilty about lying and confesses the truth to Julia.

Walter Powell puts Charles in charge of hiding a pearl necklace from the children's mother until her birthday, but the task becomes more difficult with the arrival of Julie Mercer, the Powell's former babysitter. When Julie upstages Charles several times in front of the Powells, he begins to lose his confidence as caretaker of the household and keeper of the pearls. Buddy mentions that it appears Julie is plotting to get her old job back by making Charles look incompetent.

Each of the Powell children has a desired use for the basement that is being remodeled. However, Jamie is convinced that fate stepped in, and she will finally have her own bedroom. Walter Powell points out that the new basement will double as a recreation room and office for their mother. Meanwhile, Charles has his hands full with his nephew Anthony Swensen who takes shortcuts to get duties accomplished. When Adam realizes that his book report on Oliver Twist is due, Anthony obtains a copy of the musical "Oliver!" suggesting Adam write a report from the video cassette. Charles finds Jamie in his bedroom listening to music with Jeff. When he throws Jeff out, Jamie tells Charles that 'fate' doesn't want Charles in their home...and neither does she!

After a week away at tennis camp, Jamie appears to have gone through a complete personality change. The family is amazed at her unusual display of affection. The Powells discover that Jamie and her friend Kimberly have fallen under the spell of Abba-Khan (guest star Charles Nelson Reilly), a guru they met at camp. Buddy, who is familiar with the guru's practices, informs Charles that Abba-Khan is a fraud who attracts young people with his teachings about love so they can give him all their money.

When "Chaz" brings his new bride Tiffany home to meet the Powell family, they are convinced that there is something drastically wrong with him. Both Lillian and Walter are shocked by the news and concerned about the future of the marriage. Suspecting that there is something physically wrong with Charles, Buddy asks Nurse Bennet to examine him and then look for ways to extricate Charles from the marriage. Meanwhile, Tiffany pays Lillian a surprise visit to inform her that she wants out of the marriage because "Chaz" refuses to let her have a life of her own. Finally, Jamie and Sarah recall that just before Charles became "Chaz" they heard him say "ow" in the laundry room, supporting the theory that he might be suffering from temporary amnesia.

When Charles is kept after class to correct papers, Buddy volunteers to take Adam to the dentist. But in his typical irresponsible fashion, Buddy forgets. Charles feels let down by his best friend once too often, and decides it is time to end their friendship. The argument is temporarily forgotten when Charles finds out that Buddy has accidentally inhaled an angel fish while cleaning out his aquarium. Lodged in his windpipe, the fish has cut off his oxygen supply, and now Buddy lies unconscious in the hospital.

When Professor Bunt goes out of town to interview with his future brother-in-law for a teaching position at Harvard, he puts Charles in charge of entertaining his visiting sister Dodo (guest star Marcia Wallace) for the evening. Because he already has a commitment to Buddy, Charles talks Walter Powell, who never dates, into taking her out. Charles and Buddy return that night only to have Walter and Dodo announce that they are getting married.

Professor Krick gives Charles his first student teaching assignment, creating a history test that two of the college's star football players can pass. If they flunk the test, they get kicked off the team, and Charles gets kicked out of college. But rather than giving them a simpler test, Charles is determined to tutor the athletes until they can pass the same test the rest of the class will be taking. In the meantime, Lillian has bought an old diner and turned it into a 50's eatery called "The Yesterday Cafe." Although it looks very authentic, right down to the menus made from actual 50's newspapers, no one shows up for the grand opening, leaving everyone with doubts about the restaurant's succeeding.

Professor Flack asks Charles to lead a study group in English Literature and grade the class mid-term papers. Charles gives one student, Muffy, an A for her off-the-wall analysis of Moby Dick, but Prof. Flack, who dislikes her, tells Charles he must change her grade to a D or get kicked out of the department.