When his best friend Pete Killian dies, Bill Bittinger, the egocentric talk show host of high-rated local show Buffalo Bill, wants to apply to 60 Minutes as a news anchor. To increase his chances, he pledges his director Jo-Jo White will sleep with the CBS network executive, Dan Thornwell. (Whether Jo-Jo and Dan slept together offscreen is unknown, even when she contends her refusal to Bill.) When he tells the live audience that he has elected to stay in Buffalo for his talk show, Jo-Jo opines to the crew that Bill really was not offered 60 Minutes. Bill reluctantly accepts an order from Carl to hire a new research assistant and hires the late Pete Killian's beautiful daughter, Wendy.
After his bad interview with female chef Theresa Gallardo (Elsa Raven), Bill is given a co-host, prompting him to be worried about his popularity. Much to his relief, actress and model Tamara Brooks (Simone Griffeth) has stage fright, panicking. Bill is fearful for his life when his African-American makeup artist, Newdell, confronts him over Bill's comments about him.
After enduring insults from Bill for three years, Woody quits as a stage manager and demands an apology, prompting Bill to hire Newdell as his replacement. Newdell turns out to be an incompetent stage manager. Woody, who also works for a company that manages properties, threatens to evict Bill out of the apartment. In the station's cafeteria, Bill hurts Woody by pushing a chair onto him, but then apologizes. Woody takes it as an apology for Bill's past demeanor toward him.
During his interview with actress Lauren Stockton, Bill calls Joan Seeger, the producer of the movie My Father's Blood (featuring Lauren), for an audition to be a character's father. After Bill loses the part, he rehearses a scene with a firefighter chief at the talk show to win his audience's esteem. Unfortunately, the rehearsed scene prompts the audience to praise the chief's "acting" abilities, leaving Bill disappointed. Even Woody thinks that Bill stunk and overacted.
After he was turned down by women and friends for dinner, Bill sneaks into Jo-Jo's house by a window out of desperation, surprising her after a disastrous date with Nick. After seven months of flirting with and dating her, Bill proposes marriage to Jo-Jo and sleeps with her, but then he has second thoughts. To his relief, Jo-Jo refuses to marry him, only to have her change her mind to please him. Becoming indecisive, Jo-Jo says "tails" for refusal and flips a coin that shows "tails", setting both free from marriage.
fter his talk show Buffalo Bill is cancelled in favor of M*A*S*H reruns, Bill reluctantly takes Woody's job offer to work at the car dealer, Woody's Porsche+Audi. Using the name "Rudy," he is belligerent to customers and ruins car parts. JoJo demands that station manager Karl bring the show back. Karl turns to Mr. Wilkinson, who controls the programming of the station. Wilkinson lets Karl decide, and though he is somewhat hostile to Bill, Karl reluctantly resurrects Bill's show and transfers M*A*S*H to another channel -- where it will compete against Bill's show.
Bill's estranged daughter, Melanie, divorces her cheating husband Steve and wants attention from her father. Annoyed by her constant presence, Bill ends up berating her in front of everyone at the TV station. He can't ignore her at his apartment when she uses a noisy purifier, impacting his home life. In response, Melanie declares to the crew that she is moving to Fresno, California. Nevertheless, to Bill's chagrin, Melanie accepts a job offer at the station to join the crew. Buffalo Bill plans to depict Eddie "Crazy Eddie" Finsek's (Earl Pomerantz) stunts at Niagara Falls with his barrel.
Melanie, who becomes well-liked by the crew, feels neglected by Bill. When she threatens to move into Newdell's place, Bill becomes worried. During the talk show, Melanie outs herself as Bill's estranged daughter, confronts him over issues, like leaving his ex-wife and daughter behind, and is able to reconcile with him. Crazy Eddie ends up dead during a stunt at Niagara Falls, prompting Bill to interview his widowed wife.
Bill hears from Karl that the Nielsen ratings dropped. Bill tries to find fault with the staff, but he ends up blaming himself for losing touch with other people. After going to Jo-Jo for comfort at night, he goes to the bus station, meets the janitor Charles, who is an avid viewer of Buffalo Bill, and signs an autograph for him. Bill is punched by the homeless man for refusing to give him a quarter, leaving Bill unconscious. The following day, Woody wakes him up and carries him to the station. Bill realizes that he lost his wallet.
Bill is attracted to Melanie's new friend, Angela Catumi (Rebecca Street), and wants her to play a flute on the talk show, but Karl refuses. When Bill goes against his orders, Karl interrupts the broadcast without regret. Angela breaks up with Bill, especially for his selfishness, after which Bill vengefully breaks everything in Karl's office.
Bill is stalked by the frequent female caller Clara (Peggy Feura), who claims him as her baby's father. When she trespasses the station with fake janitor clothes and walks onto the talk show, Bill shows empathy for Clara, moving the audience and the crew. However, when Karl enters the broadcast booth and is swarmed by bees, he assumes it is the fault of Clara as "Alexander Hague," a bee expert who was supposed to be the talk show's guest.
Bill insults Dr. Solomon, the toxic waste expert, at the talk show and abrupts the interview by bringing in the Burt Reynolds-lookalike. Wendy confronts Bill, encouraged by Karl and Jo-Jo, and Bill shows sympathy to her, prompting her to reconcile. The following day, Bill changes Wendy's prepared questions for another guest against her will, but Wendy is reluctant to confront him.
Having enough of makeup artist Newdell's patronization on Bill's ego, Bill tells Karl to fire Newdell. Fearing discrimination lawsuit and NAACP, Bill hires Newdell back. Before doing so, Bill confronts him about Newdell's attitude and tells him Bill's past story about taking a ride without his pants in a taxi driven by an African-American man. Newdell accepts taking his job back only to demand sharing Bill's dressing room, which he reluctantly accepts.
Kurt stands up to Bill as the studio does a tribute to Jerry Lewis.
The staff has an interview with a TV news reporter regarding their true feelings about Bill.
The station is sold to Bill's former boss who had fired him for sleeping with his wife.
For some reason, Jo-Jo is lashing out at everyone and her future with Bill may have something to do with it.
Jo-Jo's frustration increases when everyone learns about her problem.
Jo-Jo plans to boycott the Miss WBFL beauty contest.
Wendy plans a segment about the nuclear freeze initiative.
Karl gets kicked out for bringing home his work problems and a romance with Jo-Jo blossoms when she takes him in.
Bill's guests threaten him for accusing them of smuggling American computer technology into Communist countries.
Karl's son gets a job at WBFL since he idolizes Bill.
The last surviving member of the Alexandria Brothers Tap Dancers appears on the show, then dies during the big finish.
A Brazilian offers Bill a one-night stand for Christmas if he dresses like Santa Claus for the show.
The audience sees the real Bill when he accuses a Roman Catholic priest raising funds for a youth center of sexual misconduct.
Episode Hit The Road Jack, deleted scene