The BEST episodes of Martin season 1

Every episode of Martin season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Martin season 1!

Martin is a sassy sitcom centering on a radio-and-television personality named Martin Payne. The series focuses on Martin's romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina Waters, his job changes from a radio personality to a television personality, and the variety of friends Martin hangs out with along the way: the loud-mouthed and sassy Pam James and his best friends Tommy Strong and Cole Brown. Star, Martin Lawrence, also portrays of host of wild characters on the show. His neighbor Sheneneh; his mother Mama Payne; Otis the security guard; Jerome the gold-toothed player; Roscoe the snot-nosed kid who's always looking for a leg up; Bob, the white guy, King-Beef, Elroy, and many more. Martin is the center of attention, as each episode takes you from one hilarious circumstance to another. Hijinks, laughter, quick-witted banter, and lotsa love, make this series one to last forever.

Last Updated: 3/15/2024Network: FOXStatus: Ended
Share:
Checks, Lies, and Videotape
star
8.37
78 votes

#1 - Checks, Lies, and Videotape

Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 5/13/1993

Martin and Gina try to expose a crooked preacher, Reverend Leon Lonnie Love, as a fraud, after he cons thousands of dollars from his church members, including Mama Payne. To do so, they decide to have Gina lure him to her apartment so she can elicit a confession out of him and then capture it on videotape.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Your Arms Are Too Short to Box with Martin
star
8.34
79 votes

#2 - Your Arms Are Too Short to Box with Martin

Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/22/1993

Tommy's new girlfriend Shannon has an ex-lover that can't seem to let her alone. Eventually he and his gang of thugs confront Tommy and beat him up. Martin and Cole go after this angry group of little people to avenge Tommy's beating, by throwing their weight around and bullying the patrons in the little people's bar. But in the end, they almost get beaten up themselves.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Jerome's in the House
star
8.27
85 votes

#3 - Jerome's in the House

Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/1/1993

After Pam gets dumped by her boyfriend, she decides to go out on a date with somebody 'different' out of sheer desperation. She decides to go out with Jerome, the player, even though Cole is trying to ask her out.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Beauty and the Beast
star
8.24
304 votes

#4 - Beauty and the Beast

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/27/1992

Martin gets in trouble with Gina when she listens in on his radio show and hears his insensitive remarks about women. When Martin gets home, Gina calls him into the bedroom, away from his friends Tommy and Cole. Martin gets chewed out, but give her attitude. So she threatens to leave him. Martin eventually gives in. But then Gina agrees to put on an act in front of Tommy and Cole by pretending that Martin won, if he attends a fancy dinner with her that night.

Directors: Stan Lathan
Writer: John Bowman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Variety Show
star
8.22
69 votes

#5 - Variety Show

Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/29/1993

Martin is chosen by his radio station manager to be the producer of a charity variety show for Aids. But in typical Martin Payne fashion, he lets the job go to his head, acts like a tyrant on the set, and alienates everyone around him, even Gina. In the end, Martin is left to do the whole show by himself, and bombs miserably.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Break Up (1)
star
8.18
77 votes

#6 - Break Up (1)

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/11/1993

Martin and Gina fight over Gina's unusual Valentine's Day gift, and escalates out of control until they finally break up. When they try and reconcile they discover that maybe they are just too different from each other.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: John Bowman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Radio Days
star
8.16
93 votes

#7 - Radio Days

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/19/1992

Stan decides to hire a new female talk show host and place her as co-host of Martin's show, to boost the station's ratings. At first Martin feels threatened by the move and is very stand-offish. But she soon warms him up with her charm, and Martin finds that he has become very attracted to her. Even though he loves Gina, he still feels a strong attraction to Monica, and tries to resist the temptation to be with her.

Directors: Tony Singletary
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Things I Did for Love
star
8.12
175 votes

#8 - Things I Did for Love

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/10/1992

Tommy's new relationship with his new girlfriend Danice prompts Martin to take Gina out for a romantic evening at a dance club, called the Savoy club. Meanwhile, Martin makes insensitive remarks and, as a result, receives numerous calls from his listeners stating that he isn't romantic enough.

Directors: Tony Singletary
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
I'm Not Your Superwoman
star
8.11
72 votes

#9 - I'm Not Your Superwoman

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/25/1993

Martin gets the flu and he expects Gina to stay at home and take care of him. But Gina gets fed up with him acting like a baby and comparing her with his mother.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Myra J.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Break Up (3)
star
8.09
79 votes

#10 - Break Up (3)

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/18/1993

Martin and his new girlfriend Nicole realize that they both are still in love with their rgeir former lovers, and break up. Billy Dee Williams guest stars on Martin's radio show and convinces him that he'd be foolish to lose Gina. Martin barges in on Gina while she's with another man, and tries to win her back.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: John Bowman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Parents Are Coming, the Parents Are Coming
star
8.08
124 votes

#11 - The Parents Are Coming, the Parents Are Coming

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/8/1992

Gina wants Martin to meet her conservative parents but Martin's feeling nervous. Wanting to make a good first impression, he takes advice from Tommy and Cole that causes him to act like an idiot.

Directors: Chuck Vinson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Boyz 'R Us
star
8.07
165 votes

#12 - Boyz 'R Us

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/17/1992

When Martin finds out that Gina makes more money than he does, he becomes irrate and has major ego problems once the entire city of Detroit finds out. Now he has to prove to the whole city that he is really the "man" in the relationship.

Directors: Tony Singletary
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Blackboard Jungle Fever
star
8.03
101 votes

#13 - Blackboard Jungle Fever

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/21/1993

Martin returns to his elementary school to participate in Career Day. He discovers his favorite 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Trinidad, is still teaching there. They decide to go out to eat and catch up on old times. They end up at his apartment where she begins making moves on him, just as Gina walks in. She tells Gina that Martin made the unwanted advance on her, and Gina runs out in anger. The next day, Martin returns to the school to confront his former teacher. She makes another move on him in the classroom, but this time Gina's watching and she's ready to defend her man!

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Credit Card Blues
star
8.02
92 votes

#14 - Credit Card Blues

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/18/1993

Martin and an old friend get arrested for committing credit card fraud. So, Gina and the gang quickly scramble to come up with bail money.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Three Men and a Mouse
star
8.02
100 votes

#15 - Three Men and a Mouse

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/12/1992

After Gina wakes up in the middle of the night, hearing noises in the kitchen, she wakes up Martin and sends him to investigate. Martin spots a mouse running under the refridgerator. The next day he contacts an 'exterminator' who Stan referred him to.

Directors: Tony Singletary
Writer: David Wyatt
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Gift Rapper
star
8.02
225 votes

#16 - The Gift Rapper

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/3/1992

Martin forgets to get Gina a gift for their first anniversary. Gina is angry. So he runs out to a lingerie shop to get her some intimate apparel. But he ends up getting her a foot stool instead. In the end, Martin learns the importance of gift giving.

Directors: Stan Lathan
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Night He Came Home
star
7.98
125 votes

#17 - The Night He Came Home

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 10/29/1992

On Halloween, Martin and his friends gather at his apartment to share scary ghost stories. But they all get scared out of their wits after they perform a seance to communicate with the dead and call forth the spirit of old man Ackerman.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Baby, It's Cole'd in Here
star
7.98
124 votes

#18 - Baby, It's Cole'd in Here

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 10/22/1992

Cole's mother interrupts Cole's evening with his girlfriend and demands back rent from her son. Following Martin's advice, Cole stands up to his mother but finds himself homeless when he is thrown out of the house. So he is forced to move in with Martin but soon drives Gina insane with his bad manners and disgusting habits. Martin informs Cole to persuade his mother to let him move back home. He comes to a mutual agreement with his mother and returns home.

Directors: Tony Singletary
Watch Now:Apple TV
Do the Fight Thing
star
7.93
92 votes

#19 - Do the Fight Thing

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/14/1993

Martin's radio listeners love it when he and Gina have an on-air argument. But Martin is against the idea when Stan wants to hire Gina permanently as co-host on the show.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Bruce Ferber
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
I Saw Gina Kissing Santa Claus
star
7.92
88 votes

#20 - I Saw Gina Kissing Santa Claus

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/17/1992

Martin reluctantly agrees to dress up as Santa Claus for Tommy's "Big Borthers'" program.

Directors: Tony Singletary
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Baby You Can Drive My Car
star
7.90
72 votes

#21 - Baby You Can Drive My Car

Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/6/1993

Everybody pools together to get a raffle ticket from Roscoe the snot-nosed kid, and wind up winning a brand new SUV. They decide to share it, by assigning each of them to drive on a different day of the week. Tommy ends up giving a ride Sheneneh, and her 2 friends, Bonquisha and Keylolo. Gina ends up fighting with Jerome, the player, trying to wash her window at an intersection, and breaking off the side view mirror. Cole ends up driving his mother, Mama Payne and a friend around, and crashing into the curb. Pam takes the car to a drive through bank window and gets hassled by Otis the security guard, who takes out his frustrations on the car. They all wind up running the vehicle into the ground and have to get rid of it.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Forever Sheneneh
star
7.90
143 votes

#22 - Forever Sheneneh

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/1/1992

When Sheneneh wins a date with Christopher "Kid" Reid on Martin's radio show, Martin soon fears that Kid's career is over. Kid arrives at Sheneneh'a apartment and learns that she is his biggest fan. Sheneneh's hospitality towards Kid makes him uneasy when she serves malt liquor and makes sexual advances at him. Ultimately, Kid flees out of the apartment and resurfaces at Martin's place where Gina convinces Kid to go back and finish the date.

Directors: Chuck Vinson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
I've Got a Secret
star
7.89
101 votes

#23 - I've Got a Secret

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/3/1992

Martin reveals a secret that Gina told him about Pam on the air which later turns into a big mess when everyone starts revealing past secrets.

Directors: Tony Singletary
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Break Up (2)
star
7.84
62 votes

#24 - Break Up (2)

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/11/1993

With Martin & Gina now broken up, Pam sets a lonely Gina up with her cousin Leon, who is a minister struggling to keep his fleshly desires under control. Meanwhile, Cole and Tommy take a despondent Martin to a nightclub hoping to cheer him up. While there, he meets a beautiful woman named Nicole, and they begin dating. By coincidence, the 2 couples happen to meet at a restaurant during dinner. Martin is extremely jealous of the fact that Gina is out with another man, and decides to 'help' him out when he begins choking on his food.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Great Payne Robbery
star
7.83
124 votes

#25 - The Great Payne Robbery

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/5/1992

When Martin's elderly neighbor's apartment is robbed, Martin holds a neighborhood crime watch meeting. But then his apartment soon becomes the next target. So he devises a plan to catch the burglar.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV