Family Plots

In this premier episode, we are introduced to the employees of the Poway Bernardo Mortuary, a busy California funeral home: Shonna Smith, the head mortician; Emily Vigney, the office manager; Rick Sadler, the boos; Melissa Wissmiller, the assistant funeral director; Chuck Wissmiller, hearse driver (and father of Shonna, Emily and Melissa); John Greeney, apprentice embalmer; and David Moravee, funeral director. Shonna has only thirty minutes to get a body prepared and to the funeral. Chuck objects to Emily's joke about his diabetes and Emily freaks out, tosses her pizza on the lunchroom wall, and storms out. A circuit breaker problem shuts down the phone system. Chuck talks about his former boxing career and picks up a few of his boxing students in the mortuary's van with a corpse coming along for the ride. At the end of the day, the three sisters have a ""girls' night out"" to escape the stress of the day. Synopsis from A&E: Welcome to Poway Bernardo Mortuary, where a real-life death e

We get a glimpse of Shonna's home life as she gets her kids ready for school. Rick has a company meeting and suggests a contest for them all to quit smoking. After a final cigarette in the garage, the crew begin their smokeout challenge. Shonna gets the challenge of her professional career when she is asked to reconstruct a woman who died in a car crash with severe facial and head trauma. The deceased family arrives to view their mother's remains. The stress to make the body presentable leads to the end of the smokeout as one by one, they all return to smoking. Rick eventually wins the bet. This episode aired as a double feature with the premier episode on April 19, 2004. Synopsis from A&E: The staff of Poway Bernardo Mortuary in Southern California picks the wrong day to try to quit smoking when head embalmer Shonna gets one of the most challenging reconstruction cases of her career--a woman who died in a horrific car crash. With the family desperate to view their mother one last ti

Four bodies to get ready this morning! It's going to be a very busy day at the funeral home. And to make matters worse, Chuck oversleeps. He is late for his first appointment to pick up two bodies at the medical examiner's office. Meanwhile, back at the funeral home, everyone's tempers are on the rise. When Chuck finally returns, he has only 30 minutes to get a corpse to the airport and if he's late, the airline could refuse the ""delivery."" He makes it to the airport in time but no sooner does he return to Poway Bernardo Mortuary when they send him out again. This time, he needs to go to a nursing home to pick up a newly deceased woman. Chuck gets lost on the way but when he arrives at the nursing home, we get a great insight to Chuck's responsibilities in removing a body, and we see the gentler side to Chuck Wissmiller. Dave helps a family member make her funeral arrangements and choose a prayer card, Synopsis from A&E: Body remover and ex-boxing champ Chuck Wissmiller drives everyb

Rick, the boss, is engaged to Melissa, the oldest Wissmiller sister. Their relationship is rocky, to say the least. When they are having a bad day, the boss makes sure everyone at Poway Bernardo Mortuary is also having a bad day. Chuck made a business trip to Long Beach and wants the $9.31 he had to pay for lunch. Rick refuses to pay for his lunch and the two are at an impasse. Shonna has two bodies that have to be completely prepared, dressed, cosmetized, casketed and ready by 3:30pm. Other cases also have to be embalmed so Shonna will have to stay late to get it all accomplished. She also has an 11:00am appointment with a client and asks Melissa to fill in for her and meet with the client. Melissa Rick helps the ladies from ""Garden of Innocence,"" a volunteer group to help bury abandoned babies, to make funeral arrangements. And we find out that Rick had recently lost his 24-year-old son, Randy, after a long illness. Rick finally relents and gives Chuck the money for lunch. The follo

David meets with a family to make arrangements. Shonna goes on a cleaning spree and shows off her ""obsessive compulsive"" side. Her personal crisis. . . she runs out of Windex! The daughters' mother (and Chuck's ex) stops by to drop off Shonna's daughter, Savannah, to the mortuary. It's a very busy Saturday and Shonna is needed to meet with a family, a job she hates since she would much rather be preparing a body! But this a a very busy day, and it is only Shonna and Mellisa who are on duty. Shonna meets with the family who needs their uncle prepared, embalmed and shipped to New York. But her emotions get the best of her once she finishes making the arrangement with the family. Chuck is supposed to pick up his new car today, but thanks to his memory loss, he forgot where he left his paycheck, and is $500 short in his car payment. The car seller doesn't approve of the ""new deal."" Chuck convinces him that he is not a scammer and gets the car with the promise of returning Monday with the

Chuck (an ex-boxer) still trains young boxers at the gym. He buys a boxing bag for the mortuary employees to relieve their tension.John and Chuck install the bag in the mortuary's garage. Chuck gives Shonna a lesson in boxing. John helps a family make funeral arrangements for their baby. It turns out that John lost a child through an accident a long time ago. His son died just 4 days after his first birthday, and the event had a major influence on John's choice of a career in the business. In ""Family Boxing - Round 2,"" Chuck gives Emily a few lessons in punching the bag. Chuck then gives John a chance at the punching bag. A problem comes up in getting the needed permit for the baby's burial. It seems Emily accidentally typed the wrong year on the death certificate. Without the permit, the burial cannot take place. The staff hustles to get the permit just in time for the service. Finally, in ""Round 3"" of family boxing, Chuck trains Melissa (wearing high heels) on the bag. All is going w

Emily starts off her day by getting her son, Ramsey, ready for school. At Shonna's home, she is similarly hustling around getting her children ready. At the mortuary, four new cases have come in, which makes Chuck mumble, complaining about the work load. Meanwhile, at 9:40am, Melissa (Missy) is just getting out of bed. What's her first chore of the day?. . . kissing her cats. She looks through her extensive wardrobe to choose just the right outfit for tonight's planned ""ladies night out"" with her sisters. When Shonna calls Missy to ask her to pick up the kids from school, Missy reluctantly agrees, complaining that she would be late for her hair appointment. After getting stuck in traffic and getting lost on the way to the school, Aunt Missy finally arrives and picks up the kids. Back at Poway Bernardo Mortuary, Emily is arguing on the phone with her husband, Ron. It seems Ron called Shonna's husband, Joe, and has started trouble among the husbands regarding the sisters planned evening.

At the age of 62, Chuck still loves flirting with ladies half his age. Emily wants to see her dad hooked up with the right woman. Since David met his wife, Patricia, through an online dating service, Emily enlists his help to find Ms. Right for Chuck. Shonna knows that her father needs to forget the ""looks thing"" and find a woman his own age. Rick, Shonna and David collaborate to write Chuck's online personal ad. David attends to a couple who are making arrangements for their reclusive neighbor, who died without any family. Several woman respond to the girls personal ad for their father. Emily calls one of them to set up a rendezvous. The prospect is a 51-year-old red head. They set up a dinner date for Chuck. Emily and Shonna break the news to Chuck about their plans for his blind date. They show him her photo online and he agrees (after he jokes that she is 20 years older than he would like). Everyone give Chuck advise for his upcoming date. At home, Chuck gets ready for his big nigh

The girls' mother (and Chuck's ex-wife since 1989), comes by the mortuary to lend a hand on a very busy day. Mom, Sue, bears an eerie resemblance to all three of the daughters. Shonna teaches mom how to properly answer the telephones. John meets with a Mormon family to make arrangements for their mother. According to the Mormon religion, it is customary for the family to dress the deceased. Shonna assists the family with dressing their mother. Shonna is exhausted from a very stress-filled work day and her mom comforts her. Melissa asks mom to type some obituaries but mom hasn't typed in years and makes her objections known. Shonna acts as a mediator between Chuck and Sue since there is clearly still some tension between the two of them. After work, while driving to her mother's for dinner, Shonna reflects on her relationship with her mother over the years. The three daughters arrive at mom's for a dinner of her famous Swedish meatballs. They begin looking at photos and reminisce about

After a two and a half year relationship, Rick gives Melissa an ultimatum to set a wedding date and Shonna is thrown in the middle of the conflict. David drives a body to the airport and welcomes the opportunity to get away from the tensions that are brewing back at the funeral parlor. Shonna sits down with Rick to discuss the problem between him and Missy, which is affecting everyone at the mortuary. She later calls Melissa to get her side of the story. After David arrives at the airport, he considers taking the long way back to the home. Emily is feeling ill and tells Rick she is leaving early. Rick fails to tell David that Melissa is coming in late, so by the time she arrives, David is fuming. Missy is feeling rebellious and wears her open-toed shoes; a violation of Rick's company dress code. Back at Rick's home, it is clear how obsessed he was with his former fiancee. In the same year, Rick has lost both his son and Mellisa. Rick, who is also a pilot, decides he needs to get away

Synopsis from A&E: Office Manager and youngest Wissmiller sister Emily has the mortuary's most overlooked--and often most stressful--job. Today is particularly bad because Rick takes out his recent break-up with Melissa on Emily, and the emotional demands of grieving families stretch her to the max. To make matters worse, baby brother Von is coming to town, and the family party will be held at her house that evening. Welcome to the Poway Bernardo Mortuary, where a real-life death experience awaits you!

Synopsis from A&E: Finding a date for Chuck gets harder and harder for the Wissmiller sisters as they continue their Internet matchmaking efforts for their dad. While Emily lines up a potential date, Shonna does some dating research herself--when she discovers a distinctive article of clothing during an embalming. As the day ends, Chuck nervously prepares for a date, hoping that this time love will bloom and not wither on the vine.

Synopsis from A&E: Poway Bernardo Mortuary faces one of its biggest challenges when making funeral arrangements for a Cold War naval legend--Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, former captain of the USS Pueblo. The whole team is put to the test. David makes the arrangements with the late commander's wife, and Shonna nervously prepares for one of her largest open casket viewings ever. Meanwhile, the high-profile service is to be handled by a duo working together for the first time--Chuck and David. What could possibly go wrong?

Synopsis from A&E: It's Emily's birthday, and she hasn't had a party since she was 16, so today she gets two! First, a lunch at the mortuary, where Melissa's taken charge of the menu. But Rick has plans too--he's going to bring a new woman to Emily's party after work to make Melissa jealous.

Synopsis from A&E: After a whirlwind romantic weekend, Rick brings his new girlfriend to Poway Bernardo Mortuary. Shonna and Emily are dying to meet her, but they hope that she'll arrive before their sister--and Rick's ex, Melissa--gets to work. Meanwhile, Chuck oversees a memorial service that brings back haunting memories.

Synopsis from A&E: In the season finale, an emotionally worn Rick hires a ""Life Affirmation"" expert to give the staff a seminar on how to improve their interaction with grieving families and each other. Reluctantly, the gang is forced to get to know each other more deeply than ever, and even face their own mortality. Will things ever be the same again?