Spin City

In the pilot, New York's deputy mayor Michael Flaherty finds himself trying to keep the lid on an impending sanitation-workers strike and some politically incorrect remarks made by his boss.

After the public dubs him "the sexiest man in New York," Mike finds he has some trouble---in private---living up to his new title.

Mike's chances for quality time with Ashley are spoiled by his round-the-clock negotiations with the sanitation-workers union.

Mike puts his foot in his mouth during a TV interview by making offhand remarks about Ashley's reporting abilities.

A confrontation between Mayor Winston and a former mayor has grave results when the ex-official expires in the middle of the spat.

A plan to raise the mayor's approval rating goes up in smoke after one of his appointees is accused of having smoked marijuana in the '70s.

Carter vows to protest the mayor's stand on gay marriages by staging his own wedding---to Nikki.

Mike's the toast of the office when he constructs a deal with a real-estate developer that benefits an ailing retirement home.

The mayor's office is at a loss for words when it's discovered that the winner of a student essay contest is a school janitor.

There's fowl play afoot as the mayor's office and city council turn a Thanksgiving charity event into a competition.

After the mayor is hounded for not showing the police department respect, Mike decides to have him deliver the eulogy for a police canine.

When a head cold keeps the mayor from appearing on a debate show, Mike goes instead...and must face off against Ashley. Meanwhile, everyone tries to pick Carter's brain for relationship advice.

After his relationship with Ashley abruptly ends over the holidays, Mike returns to work, brave face intact. But the gang worries that he's just masking his pain.

Mike's throwing himself into his work since his breakup, so his staff encourages him to start dating again.

Mike welcomes the city council's new chief of staff with open arms. But he's soon up in arms when he realizes that she'll be keeping him on his toes.

Carter's heart skips a beat on Valentine's Day when his former love sets him straight about a few things---like the fact that he's engaged to a woman.

Mike wants the mayor's birthday gala to be an affair to remember, but rumors of another kind of affair may end the party before it begins.

In the middle of a snowstorm, Mike's dream girl from high school arrives and invites him to her hotel; and Paul unwittingly insults the mayor on live radio.

Mike gets a surprise when he finds out that the law-school student he's been dating moonlights as an exotic dancer.

Mike tries to keep a hearing-impaired activist from organizing a rally at City Hall after the Mayor's office is embarrassed twice by incidents involving deaf people.

Mike and his girlfriend decide to break up, but Mike gets a surprise when he learns that she has frozen his sperm.

The mayor is in trouble again: this time because it appears that he refused to shake the hand of the new president of a women's caucus.

The mayor moves in with Mike, following a blowup with his wife. Meanwhile, Carter takes up with designer Isaac Mizrahi, who's working on a fashion-show benefit.

The mayor's down in the dumps, and decides that a little adventure is in order, so he takes off for Miami with Paul---without telling anyone.