Down to Earth

Ethel's earned her wings, but she skips out on the festivities to be with her family. Jay Jay is convinced that Santa's real, so he waits up to meet him. Richard tries to trick the local videostore out of their copy of ""It's a Wonderful Life;"" Lissy reveals that she can't sing.

Duane agrees to a blind date with Candy's recently-dumped sister, Taffee, unaware that she's a biker chick. The date seems disastrous until the goodnight kiss. Duane soon dons leather and is head-over-heels in love with Taffee -- until her ex, Rocco, gets wind of the situation and decides to break Duane's face.

When Lissy has a celebration for her Guatemalan foster child's birthday, Jay Jay decides that he wants to ""adopt"" an orphan too. Adoption, however, is more literal in Jay Jay's case... a donkey soon arrives at the door. As if a jackass in the house isn't bad enough, Richard is allergic to animals.

After taking a hit on the head (from Ethel's protest sign), Lissy is able to tell the future -- and the future looks bright for nearly everyone. Richard's rapid-growth fertilizer grows a tree overnight; Jay Jay gets the winning hit in a ball game and Candy gets out of a traffic ticket. But then there's Duane, who has a blind date with a model... a date that Lissy becomes convinced will be a total disaster.

It's Duane's 17th birthday, and he expects a car. But the car that he recieves is not the one he anticipated -- a 1955 Ford, complete with a ghost of the previous owner. In order for the ghost to dissipate, Duane must sincerly thank his father for the car... which isn't an easy task, considering the fact that Duane hates his gift.

Lizzy invites Illyitch, a russian foreign exchange student, over to the Preston's. Duane isn't happy about having a communist in the house. Illyitch enters, accompanied by Krankov, a bodyguard/high-diplomat, who shortly leaves. Ethel is exposed for knowing to speak Russian. Illyitch likes Lizzy, and vice-versa. They look at pictures together, and he's quite in the prom pictures. Illyitch lets the family know he wants to defect in a game of cherades. Not wanting to create an international incident, got on the phone, and put on hold. Krankov returns and just before the door opens, Ethel ""snaps"" Illyitch into the kitchen. They stall and try not to give themselves away. Illyitch talks about being home-sick, and Lizzy explains defecting to him, and doesn't want to leave his country forever, just for an extra week to go to prom. They tell this to Krankov and he says no, but Ethel convinces him. They go to prom, and Illyitch looks so happy.

Jay Jay's dealing with an unruly bully at school, so Ethel teaches him kung-fu. But J.J. gets full of himself and begins bullying the bully -- until he's put in his place by Candy's neice. Meanwhile, Duane teaches Lissy a ""method"" for winning over the boy she wants to date.

Jay Jay's been having nightmares that there's a monster in his toybox. After several sleepless nights, J.J. misses his science test, dashing Richard's dreams of his son becoming ""a world famous scientist."" After seeking some (useless) advice from Mr. Lester, Ethel joins J.J. in his dream and forces him to confront the monster -- which isn't quite as scary as J.J. initially thought.

Richard impersonates an art critic in order to discourage their new neighbor Candy's enthusiasm for garbage art.

Ethel is forced to hire Phil, Mr. Luster's lazy brother-in-law, as a handyman.

When Ethel's assignment to the Preston family is deemed a success, she is ordered back to heaven -- until she convinces her superior angel otherwise.

Duane accidentally breaks a vase while playing football in the house. Richard sees that his son's attempting to make money, so he invites him to come to work at Preston Reality. But a misunderstanding leads to Duane selling the family's house. So it's up to Ethel and Mr. Divine to prove to the buyers that their dream home is really haunted.

Richard thinks he is getting old, so Ethel hatches an outrageous exercise and diet scheme that convinces him to stop worrying about it.

When Richard spends the morning being a general crab, Ethel suggests that he needs to make changes in his life and go out and date. So when Richard arrives home with a smile on his face and announces that he's in love with someone he sees every day, Ethel thinks Richard has fallen in love with her. Further complications ensue when the entire family makes preparations for Cousin Delia's wedding, which Ethel knows nothing about.

Duane becomes a megalomaniac when he runs for class president.

When Richard brings a client home for dinner, Ethel realizes that she was the man's housekeeper when he was a little boy in the 1920's. To complicate matters, Lissy needs a chaperone for her school's 1920's-theme dance, and Alistair agrees to chaperone... with Ethel as his date. Ethel starts having genuine feelings for Alistair, so Mr. Divine intervenes and tells her that she must break it off.

When the Prestons are stuck inside due to bad weather, Ethel comes up with games to have fun.

Ethel is sent Down to Earth to help the Preston's family, as a maid. Richard is skeptical of hiring her, but she talks him into it, which is something she seems to be very good at. She's is confused in the kitchen, making a mess on her first day. J.J. comes in and helps her out. He asks why she doesn't know this. She can't tell him she's an angel, the words. So she shows him in cherades, and 'snaps' herself into the fridge for proof, and J.J. agrees to keeping it a secret. Richard comes in a little later, and the kitchen is a still disaster, but Ethel's able to calm him down and keep her job. The family is in complete chaos, as has been the usual since Margret, Richard's wife, died. Ethel has just enough time to clean up before eveyone goes to bed. She sits alone in her room and celebrates it alone.