Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl (TV) (2004)

A made-for-TV updating of Neil Simon's classic romantic comedy stars Patricia Heaton as the divorced mom who becomes reluctant roommates with an aspiring actor (Jeff Daniels) when he sublets part of her Greenwich Village apartment. Former Broadway dancer Paula McFadden (Heaton) and her daughter, Lucy (Hallie Kate Eisenberg), return home to discover Paula's actor boyfriend has abandoned them. What's worse, he has subleased their apartment to another actor, Elliot Garfield (Daniels). This is shocking news to Paula, who thought the apartment had been prepaid for the next several months. Finding no other solution, Paula and Elliot decide to temporarily share the apartment, but the tension between the two remains palpable as Elliot's habits of playing the guitar at night, sleeping in the nude and meditating every morning begin to grate on Paula's nerves. As Paula desperately searches for a job, she finds only disappointment as she is told she is too old or too out of practice to return to dancing at this stage in her life. Meanwhile, Elliot rehearses for the title role in an off-off Broadway production of Richard III, being directed by a wacky revisionist (Cumming) who insists Elliot play Richard as a flamboyant gay man. Opening night proves to be a disaster with both audience and critics, and the show closes after only one performance. As Paula consoles the despondent actor, she begins developing feelings for him, and he for her. Just as sparks begin to fly between the two, Lucy worries that she and her mother will once again be left in the lurch. That worry is compounded when a film director (Benjamin) offers Elliot a role in a movie being shot in Seattle, a role he gladly accepts. Paula immediately assumes that this is the end of yet another relationship and that she will once again be left as a "goodbye girl." But Elliot still has one more romantic trick up his sleeve to win her trust and her love.