Malibu, CA

- Season 1

(1998)

After their divorced mother takes a job in Saudi Arabia, fraternal twins Scott and Jason Collins move from New York to Malibu to be with their father Peter, who runs a restaurant there called the Lighthouse. Both boys are immediately attracted to their neighbor Samantha and just as quickly start competing for her attention. Samantha's best friend Jennifer, or "Stads" as she's better known, starts developing a crush on Jason. Samantha is trying to stop Murray Updyke's rich father from drilling for oil near the beach, and to impress her, the boys plan to hold a ...

Condo developers plan to get rid of the Surf Shack, Murray's favorite place. Samantha thinks something should be done about it, and of course the brothers are always ready to help if it will impress her. They try to scam the developers by posing as corporate raiders but it doesn't work. Murray's dad tells him he will by the Shack, but only if Murray will give up surfing. Finally, the boys talk their father into buying it and putting Murray in charge. Also, Stads has to fight off the amorous advances of a guy whom she rescued from drowning.

The Lighthouse is losing business to another restaurant, the Aloha, and Peter can't figure out why, since their food is terrible. He takes his sons to the restaurant to see what the attraction is. They quickly find out: it's the floor show featuring the sexy "Coconut-a-Go-Go Girls." They also find out that Murray has been there 21 nights in a row. Business is so bad for the Lighthouse that Peter may default on a loan. Murray offers to use some of his trust fund money to help out.

Scott is restoring a 1965 Mustang and Samantha is spending a lot of time helping him with it, causing concern for Jason and Stads. To stop Scott and Sam from going to a car show in Santa Barbara, Stads and Jason make it look like the Mustang was stolen. Scott and Sam get wind of the plot, however, and turn the joke on them. When it turns out that Samantha can't go to the car show, Jason and Stads share a relieved laugh and then a kiss.

Samantha is chosen by fashion photographer Devon for a photo shoot but Jason believes that he's just hitting on her. Sam breaks a date with Scott for a session with Devon. Scott watches as the photographer puts the moves on other girls. Samantha is supposed to go with Devon to Paris. At the shoot, he tries to make his move on her, but Scott arrives with a rose in hand in time to rescue her. Samantha forgets about the trip to Paris.

Jason and Stads are dating but Jason is embarrassed by always being outdone by Stads in athletics, etc. A robbery is attempted at the Lighthouse while the couple are there. The lights go out and Stads knocks out the robber. When the confusion settles down, Stads gives Jason credit for subduing the thief. Jason begins to brag about his supposed heroics, embellishing the story with more and more fiction. Scott suspects what happened and asks Stads about it. During Jason's most outrageous press interview, Stads blurts out the truth. Also, Scott and Samantha are tired of ...

Scott and Samantha are getting serious about each other and are planning a getaway to Catalina, but before it happens, Scott's old girlfriend Megan shows up. The spark is still there between the two, since Scott's move to California was the only reason for their breakup. He tries to hide Megan from Samantha, but Sam sees the two of them kissing and breaks off the relationship with Scott.

Jason and Scott enter a bowling tournament against the reigning Malibu Lanes champ Louie. Jason raises the stakes by making a bet with Louie for $300: Scott's tip money. Before the showdown, Scott injures his wrist. Stads is ready to replace him but the bowling alley has a "men only" policy for the tournament. Stads disguises herself as a boy and under the name "Earl," she helps Jason win the championship. At the awards ceremony, the owner's daughter Melanie develops a crush on "Earl." Stads reveals her identity and she and Jason are disqualified.

Scott and Jason are desperate to make some money after they mess up supply orders at the restaurant. To do this, they put their own home shopping show on the public access channel. Murray, who has been painting signs, accidentally appears on camera in a paint-spattered plastic coat and immediately the show starts receiving calls for the same kind of garment. Bloomingdale's calls with an order for "Murray Wear."

Jason is jealous of Stads' hunky lifeguard partner Kip. Scott advises him to flirt with Traycee to make Stads jealous. Samantha advises Stads to do likewise with Kip. Jason and Stads argue while shopping for costumes for a party and the two break up. Samantha and Scott feel guilty about what they've done and try to maneuver the couple back together at the party, but mistakes happen and the two costumed brothers end up dancing with each other. In the meantime, Murray has moved into the Collins house while Peter is away, and his intense cooking and cleaning are about to...

Scott recognizes actress Jessie Sinclair at the Lighthouse, but he agrees to keep the news quiet. He invites her to his home and Jessie enjoys the freedom she feels there. Jason and Stads come by and wonder who Jessie is. After they sneak a peak in her wallet, they are determined to get a picture of her, which a local tabloid will pay $5000 for. They secretly snap a photo of Jessie and Scott, but the tabloid editor won't pay up until he gets some dirt to print about Scott.

Jason and Stads have a big fight over his gift to her, tickets to a concert that he is anxious to go to. Samantha advises Jason to buy another gift for Stads and the two of them set out for Beverly Hills to buy a necklace. On the way a big storm rolls in, causing a mudslide. Samantha and Jason are unable to get out of the car. Stads' intuition tells her that there is trouble and she alerts a rescue patrol. Trapped in the car, Jason and Samantha talk about their feelings for each other.

The boys throw a birthday party for their father, even though his car broke down and he's not in attendance. The party is going along just fine without him when who should show up but Michele, the boys' mother, back from Saudi Arabia. Michele lets her sons know that she doesn't care for what she's seen of Malibu. Jason and Scott are worried that she will ship them back to New York. They concoct a scheme to make her change her opinion. Michele has no intention of taking the boys away, but when she and Peter find out about the planned deception, they devise a little ...

Murray decides to run for mayor of Malibu to save a 500-year-old tree stump that's slated for removal for road construction. His opponent is Dennis Haskins, the actor who played Mr. Belding in Saved by the Bell (1989). When Scott and Jason hear that Murray's father has given him a $20,000 campaign contribution, they quickly volunteer to be his campaign managers.

After his breakup with Stads, Jason is striking out with women while Scott is having great success with girls he's met through the internet. Jason thinks the girls must all be geeks until he gets a look at a picture of Scott's intended date Jocelyn. Jason replaces Jocelyn's picture with one of a muscle woman. Scott is surprised when he sees the picture and Jason advises him to stand her up.

Murray is attracted to a sunbather on the beach named Amber. To help him out, Jason lets her know that Murray is a trust fund baby. Amber is suddenly wild about Murray. She takes his credit cards, goes on a shopping spree and within hours has maxed out his cards. To expose Amber as a phony, Scott poses as a rich nerd.

Peter promotes Scott to a position over Jason at the restaurant. In their sibling rivalry, the boys make a $200 bet over who is the better ladies' man. To do this they appear on Traycee's new cable show which is similar to "The Dating Game." Murray also is on the same panel as the boys. Both brothers try to cheat by getting inside information on the female contestants, but it doesn't work. Jason and Scott get into a fight onstage and are disqualified, as Murray wins the date and a trip to Hawaii. Also, Stads dons a "fat suit" to do an undercover article for the ...

Jason likes a girl he meets on the beach named Holly, but she has a boyfriend. Murray gets a gig doing surf reports for a radio station, but accidentally gets promoted to "The Dude of Love," who gives advice on romance. Holly thinks that the Dude has all the answers, and Jason sees this as a way to get her to break up with her boyfriend. He gets Samantha to call into the show pretending to be in the same situation as Holly.

Jason is hurt and offended when his father snaps at him at work, suggesting no one else would hire him. He leaves the Lighthouse gets a new job at a Malibu health club. Jason is looking forward to working around pretty girls all day, but his boss Bertha gives him tough, unglamorous tasks to do. Back at the Lighthouse, Peter and Scott are shorthanded while preparing for an important visit by a food critic.

Laura, a graphic designer, is hired to design new menus for the Lighthouse, and the boys notice that their father has more than a professional interest in her. Jason tutors his father on how to turn a business dinner into a romantic one. Before Peter can go out with Laura, she asks Jason for a date. To avoid this, when she arrives at the restaurant, Jason fakes a toothache. An attractive woman who happens to be a dentist is on hand, and Peter now becomes interested in her.

Stads is interning at a local TV station and everyone else seems to want to get in on the act. Traycee tries out for weather girl and Jason enters the jingle-writing contest. Scott confides to Stads that he's always wanted to be a sportscaster, so she gets him an audition. The night before the audition, Jason keeps Scott up all night listening to his jingles, resulting in Scott looking and acting like a zombie the next day. He finishes his audition by falling asleep.

The boys have forgotten to buy their mother a birthday present, so they decide to make her a videotape all about their lives in Malibu. Told in flashback, Murray, Samantha and Stads come up with plenty of memories, but all of them are bad. It's up to Peter to point out some of the positive things that have happened in Malibu.

Peter gives Jason and Scott the responsibility of hiring a new cook while he's away, and they choose a beautiful, statuesque blonde, whose cooking is awful. Murray's old surfing buddy Webfoot Wilson shows up in Malibu and Murray is glad to see him. However, Stads and Samantha witness Webfoot stealing money from the till of Murray's Surf Shack and they wonder how they should tell him.

The boys' favorite uncle, Charlie, is coming to visit, but he isn't as happy about it as they are. The Marine Corps is pushing him to retire and take a teaching position at a military school. Concerned with his depression, Jason and Scott convince him to stay in town a while longer, ostensibly to help their dad, who they say has been drinking and gambling. But Charlie ends up whipping the boys into shape instead, turning their Malibu lives into a Marine boot camp. Later Charlie meets Murray, who tells him about the glories of surfing. Charlie tries it and soon becomes...

Scott and Jason accidentally destroy their father's $2000 watch. To raise money to replace it, they convince Murray to hold a "Casino Night" on his father's yacht while he's out of town. The event is a moneymaking success but when Murray hears that Mr. Updyke is returning sooner than expected, he panics and runs the boat into a reef, sinking it.

Scott and Stads are training together for a triathlon. Murray asks Jason if he will be jealous of their closeness during this time. Jason says no but he soon is jealous anyway. He enters the triathlon himself to keep an eye on the two, but can't keep up the rigorous training. Jason and Stads spend some time together and old feelings are reignited as they kiss. Also, Traycee slips on the Lighthouse's wet floor (ignoring a "Wet Floor" sign) in order to get on a commercial for a lawyer who specializes in personal injury lawsuits.