Plot[edit]

Ben Barnes is the youngest son and central character. As a marriage counselor and the only non-physician,^[1] the rest of his family sees him as a lesser doctor. His wife left him in the pilot episode.^[3]


Ben's father, Stewart Barnes, is a gastroenterologist who is happy to be free from the influence of his ex-wife, Lydia Barnes (Stockard Channing in her third sitcom starring role following Stockard Channing in Just Friends and The Stockard Channing Show), a status-conscious cardiologist and mother of their three children.^[4]


Ben's brother, Oliver Barnes, is a self-centered plastic surgeon and committed womanizer. Their sister, Regina Barnes, is a lesbian E.R. doctor, who like Oliver, is infatuated with attractive women.^[5][6] Crystal, Stewart's girlfriend and receptionist, is a source of frustration and awkwardness for all except Stewart.^[1] Tilly was a late addition to the cast and is not seen much in the pilot.^[7]