The Ellen Show

After a friend of her mother dies, Ellen discovers that every year the inhabitants of Clark gather together for the Sunshine prize, given to the citizen who most helped the town with volunteer work and good samaritan acts. When she tries to convince Mr. Munn to give it to Dot, who's among the finalists, Ellen discovers that she's also up for the prize -- and is the favorite to win.

In order to boost Catherine's self-esteem, Ellen encourages her to accompany her to a seminar by popular motivational speaker, Percy Moss. Catherine and Ellen attend the session on self-actualization, where they both learn how to ""see it, want it and take it."" But after the seminar, they leave with vastly different opinions of Moss. Ellen sees him as a scam artist, only interested in sucking as much money from his followers as possible, while Catherine believes that he might just be the person capable of turning her life around. (CBS)

When Ellen counsels the superficial daughter of an ex-school cheerleader on the importance of being yourself and not to follow the popular cliques, she realises she was that unpopular geek in school. Ellen is feeling isolated and alone in Clark since she her move from LA. She's desparate for new friends, so when the opportunity arises to hangout with that former ex-head cheerleader from her year at school, she soon begins to feel included and popular. It's time for the High school Charity fundraiser, which is being held at the Clark Roller-rink. Tickets for tables are going fast, and although her fellow teacher friends assume Ellen will be sitting with them, Ellen has another agenda. She's been offered a seat at the Platinum Table with her new, popular friends. Of course, she instantly accepts! At the fundraiser, and Ellen's old friends have clearly become alienated. But while hanging out with her new gang, Ellen soon realizes they haven't changed at all since high school and finally

Catherine is jealous when Dot gives Ellen a family heirloom brooch. Ellen is excited about the prospect of receiving the elaborate piece of jewelry, but quickly changes her mind when she actually lays her eyes on it. Matters go from bad to worse when she accidentally loses the jeweled creation and must fess up to her mom. Meanwhile, when Mr. Munn appoints Ellen as the new driver's education teacher, she takes full advantage of the situation.

Ellen doesn't have any students to counsel, because the entire school seems to be in a good mood. So she snoops around until she finds one student that may need some help: Tug, the football team's kicker. Even though Mr. Munn forbids Ellen to bother Tug, she insists on doing so and approaches his dad, trying to fix a fragile father/son relationship. Meanwhile, Ellen's a little annoyed with the cheap products of the house, a result of Dot's economic way of life. Since she won't take money, Ellen tells Dot she won a $500 prize, which she uses to bet on the football team.

Ellen entices Catherine by telling her how much money she could potentially make by selling her delicious candy, and the Richmonds decide to go into business together with Ellen as the ""idea"" person and Catherine as the talented taffy maker. But soon Catherine realizes that all the fun has gone out of taffy making now that it has become more of a job than a hobby. Meanwhile, Ellen's fellow high school teachers are dismayed when they realize that the town of Clark doesn't even appear on a local map

Faced with what could be raccoons digging up their front lawn, Ellen calls a raccoon guy to get rid of the problem. Dot, on the other hand, thinks she can take care of the problem herself by scaring the raccoons away with her high-pitched singing. The raccoon guy decides to camp in the lawn, and Ellen discovers Rusty making the holes. Turns out he was just trying to find the time capsule he buried so the raccoon guy wouldn't find it. He made the capsule as a love proof to Ellen, his old high school crush, and just dug it out to show Ellen that he too can do crazy things for love, just like Tug, one of the students who fell for Ellen. But Ellen assures Rusty that they're nothing more than just good friends.

Vanity Fair decides to do an interview with Ellen about former dot-commers who went out of business. After everyone tells her to do something about her hair, she finally decides to fix it with Pam and bond with her a little, since they haven't started with the right foot. Ellen's new old-fashioned look doesn't please her as much as she hoped so decides to get another cut. She mistakes the pet shop stylist for the magazine hairdresser and ends up with a dog-style haircut. All that ends up serving as an example for Tina, a young girl who's having personality problems at school.

Now that Ellen has decided to stay in Clark, she has to think what she'll do with her life. Mr. Munn offers her a position as counselor at the school, but she doesn't think it's the right job for her. So she goes to a pond and tries to read the book ""Walden"", but it's way too boring for her. Later she runs into a suspended student and the two start to throw fruits at Clark's statue and get arrested. While waiting downtown, Ellen talks to the kid, and realizes she might be better in counseling than she thought. Ellen takes the job and becomes the new counselor at the school.