The Beautiful Life:
Season:     1     / Episode:     1    
Pilot

Ned owns and operates a pie bakery and seems to lead a perfectly normal life. This, however, is far from the truth. Ned can, with the touch of his hand, wake people from the dead. But another touch will kill them again, for good, and if he keeps them alive for more than a minute, someone else in close proximity dies. He decides to use this ability of his to solve crimes, but it grows complicated when he gives life to his childhood crush, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, and decides to let her keep living.

Max, a hard working waitress, soon finds herself helping out Caroline, a new waitress who was once wealthy, but has been left with nothing after her father's crimes. Max invites Caroline to be her roommate, but their new friendship is put in jeopardy when Max's boyfriend hits on Caroline.

Liz Lemon is head writer for The Girlie Show, a live comedy show filmed in New York City's 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Things start to get complicated when her new boss, Jack Donaghy, insists that wild movie star Tracy Jordan join the cast.

Jim and Cheryl are the perfect middle class American couple. Happily married, living in a suburban house with two adorable (but loud) little girls and a baby boy, they really can't complain much about life - except for those couple fights that neither one can ever let go, like the time Jim shut the car door on Cheryl. This time the problem is their daughter, whom Cheryl can't leave alone on her first week at kindergarten. Jim says it's because she's a woman and decides to take Ruby himself, but he also can't leave her behind. Things heat up when Cheryl discovers that not only has he been hiding it from her, but he also changed Ruby's school without talking to her. Meanwhile, Jim and Cheryl try to help Andy make up with his girlfriend.

After a shipwreck that claims the life of his father, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen is missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. When he returns home to Starling City, his mother Moira, his younger sister Thea, and best friend Tommy welcome him home but sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal on the island. While Oliver hides the truth about the man he has become, he tries to reconcile with his former girlfriend, Laurel, for cheating on her with her sister, who also died in the shipwreck. As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly masquerades as a hooded vigilante archer by night, attempting to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory as his late father had entrusted him to do before his death. Oliver's first personal task is to take down corrupt millionaire Adam Hunt, who has scammed millions from various people in Starling City. Laurel's father, police detective Quentin Lance, is determined to arrest the vigilante. Meanwhile, Oliver's mother is revealed to have an agenda against her son, having orchestrated a kidnapping to determine what his father told him after the shipwreck.

Meredith, a former trophy wife, poses as a teacher at an upscale school in hope of meeting the students' wealthy, single fathers; a faculty member becomes suspicious.

Ted struggles to find the line between right and wrong, especially after the company decides to freeze Phil in its new cryogenics chamber.

Mia invites her sister Maddie and her boyfriend Ben to meet Casey her new boyfriend and to let them know that they are engaged. Maddie is very surprised by the news and gets jealous that her little sister is getting married before her. Maddie tries to be supportive of her little sister and let her parents Vicky and Joel be the critical ones, but, to Maddie's surprise, their parents a very supportive of Mia's quick engagement. Only for things to get even worse when Maddie finds out that Ben knows that Mia is also pregnant and that she wasn't told.

Bobby "Axe" Axelrod is a charming, charismatic 9/11 survivor who heads up Axe Capital, a hedge fund based in Connecticut. His generosity makes him a beloved member of the community - he pays the first year of tuition and board for all of the college-going children of all of his former colleagues who perished in 9/11 (the fund was formerly located in the World Trade Center) - but the Securities & Exchange Commission thinks that Axelrod is dirty. The SEC goes to Chuck Rhoades, a ruthless masochist U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, but Rhoades refuses to pursue Axelrod until he makes an error, not willing to sacrifice his perfect 81-0 record for prosecution of financial crimes. However, when Rhoades hears that Axelrod wants to buy a heritage waterside property for $63 million, he considers moving forward against Axelrod, as the purchase would widely sour him to the public. Rhoades returns home to his two children and wife, Wendy, who works as a motivational coach/psychiatrist at Axe Capital. He offers Wendy a job as human resources head at GE, as he does not want her working at Axe if he decides to pursue her boss, and despite feeling as though she is being manipulated, Wendy entertains the possibility of leaving Axe (after a loud, profane argument in front of their two small children). Angered by Rhoades' refusal to take on Axelrod, a SEC agent, Spyros, plants a reporter at a presser for Rhoades. The reporter challenges Rhoades' 'small win, no loss' mantra, and Rhoades decides to bait Axelrod into buying the house to turn public favour against him. Axelrod is visited by an old friend, Dan Margolis, whose nervous nature makes Axelrod realise that Margolis is cooperating with the FBI. Axelrod dismisses Margolis from his office without incriminating himself, and goes to his fixer, Hall, who plans for Axelrod to frame a fellow trader, Steven Birch, should the need arise. Next, Axelrod invites the SEC's planted reporter to lunch, and in a befriending move, alerts him to a shady deal that Birch completed recently. Axelrod and Rhoades finally come face-to-face at an investment conference, and their discourse is immediately adversarial, with Rhoades criticising Axelrod for milking his 9/11 survival for public worth. Axelrod decides to buy the house, but is later told by Hall that the FBI have now opened a case file on him.

Jamie Reagan graduates from the Police Academy and joins NYPD the same day a nine-year-old Latina girl is abducted walking home from school. Frank addresses the press about the case, and Danny is questioned about his interrogation tactics.

Walter White, a 50-year old chemistry teacher, secretly begins making crystal methamphetamine to support his family when he finds out that he has terminal lung cancer. He teams up with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, who is a meth dealer. Jesse is trying to sell the meth but the dealers snatch him and make him show them the lab. Walter knows they intend to kill him so he poisons them while showing them his recipe.

Tightly-wound captain Ray Holt takes over Brooklyn's 99th precinct, which includes Jake Peralta, a talented but carefree detective who's used to doing whatever he wants.

At the 74th Precinct in South Brooklyn, a typical day begins with a sudden bloodbath when a deranged gunman, named Dawshawn Hopkins, opens fire on policeman and random civilians outside the station, killing and wounding several before being wounded in the gunfight and taken into custody where he dies from his wounds. Because of the nature and race-related killings (the shooter is black and all the victims were white) prompts the killer's civil activist/black racist sister, Mavis, to team up with a local fanatic civil rights preacher, Basil Matheson, to insist that an investigation be launched to find out who "murdered" her brother. Patrol Sergeant Francis Donovan, tries to keep the situation together while consulting Officer Ann-Marie Kersey who's detective fiancee was one of the victims. Unknown to everyone, Donovan is revealed to be an informant for the hated Internal Affairs Bureau over some past issues involving his father. Phil Roussakoff is a new transfer and he is partnered with Jimmy Doyle to find a sniper who intervened during the shootout. At the same time, Doyle, who lives with his younger sister Kathleen and brother Terry, is overjoyed with Terry announces that he's joining the police academy to follow in his brother's and their late father's footsteps. Kevin Patrick, another officer who was shot in the back during the opening shootout, is comforted by Jimmy Doyle at the hospital when it appears that he might end up paralyzed below the waist. Elsewhere, Officer Jake Lowery deals with his difficult job and his troubled home life involving his contemptuous, highly strung-out wife Yvonne. Officer Nona Valentine is also affected by events as well as her former boyfriend, traffic cop Clement Johnson, while rookie newcomer Hector Villaneuva is assisted by Donovan during his first week on the job.

Tired of her life as a chorus girl in Las Vegas, Michelle Simms reluctantly agrees to marry the kindly Hubbell Flowers, who loves her dearly and promises to give her a better life. He brings her to his small hometown, where she is not exactly greeted with open arms. Hubbell's overbearing mother, Fanny, is appalled by the news of their marriage and frowns upon the idea of Michelle's moving in with them. Fanny hosts a wedding reception, where Michelle interacts with the colorful locals, who all seem to despise her. The only people Michelle makes a good impression on are Fanny's ballet students, who are impressed with Michelle's real dance experience. Boo takes Michelle's advice on auditioning to heart and feels inspired to try out for a prestigious local performance. Out of nowhere, Michelle's unstable new life is rocked even further when Hubbell suddenly dies in a car accident.