Less than Perfect is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from October 1, 2002 to June 6, 2006. The show was about a young female office employee (played by Sara Rue) and her co-workers. The show was directed by Skip Collector and Ted Wass, among others.
Overview and premise
The show, created by Terri Minsky, centered around Claude (Sara Rue), who worked at a television network and was the assistant for anchor Will Butler (Eric Roberts). Comedians Andy Dick, Will Sasso, and Sherri Shepherd played her co-workers and friends, while Zachary Levi and Andrea Parker played her enemies at work.
Much was made at the time of the show's premiere about the central character of the show being a "full figured" woman, and that the title correlated to Claude being "Less than Perfect." At the time of the show's premiere, Rue was a size 10 to 12, which is a norm or national average in the US, but is rarely depicted on television.[1] Over the course of the series, Rue lost 30 pounds (14 kg; 2.1 st).[2]
History
Less than Perfect debuted in a Tuesday evening timeslot and received steady ratings for its first two seasons. When the series was moved in its third season to a Friday-night timeslot, ratings began to fall sharply, and the show was considered to be in danger of cancellation.
TVGuide.com featured the show on a list of "Endangered Series." Ratings in the coveted 18-49 demographic were high enough, and the show was near the threshold for number of episodes needed for syndication, so a limited fourth season of 13 episodes was ordered.
After a long hiatus from ABC's schedule, the show returned as a late-season replacement for ABC with its fourth season premiere on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at 9:30 p.m.[3]
Despite the pickup, the future of the series was not assured. Cast member Zachary Levi stated many cast members were ready to move on,[4] and series lead Sara Rue had filmed a pilot for CBS starring as a woman who runs a toy company with her brother in the comedy Play Nice.
ABC confirmed on May 17, 2006 that the fourth season would be its last.[5] ABC showed only part of the fourth season as scheduled. After five of the 13 episodes aired, ABC ceased broadcasting of the show, with the last episode broadcast on June 6, 2006. However, these episodes which were not broadcast in the US have been shown in other countries.
The show joined Lifetime Television on June 1, 2009 in syndication and airs all 81 episodes including the eight episodes previously not broadcast in the US.
Characters
Main Characters
- Sara Rue - Claude Casey is a lovable female worker. She is bright with her co-workers and her con-artist enemy, Lydia. She is always the lead character and is seen in most episodes of the show.
- Sherri Shepherd - Ramona Platt is a good friend of Claude. She is sometimes bossy with her coworkers.
- Andy Dick - Owen Kronsky is sometimes a clumsy office supply manager with GNB.
- Andrea Parker - Lydia Weston is one of Claude's antagonists. She is snobby and professionally ambitious. Eventually, she has a relationship with Jeb Denton.
- Zachary Levi - Kipp Steadman Claude's other antagonist
- Eric Roberts - Will Butler (2002-2005) (Seasons 1-3, 57 episodes). A national newsanchor at GNB with many ex-wives, Will is Claude's boss.
- Will Sasso - Carl Monari (2003-2006) (Seasons 2-4, (guest starring in season 1) 40 episodes). Lives across the hall from Claude and works at GNB as the cafeteria manager.
- Patrick Warburton - Jeb Denton (2003-2006) is the boyfriend of Claude's biggest enemy, Lydia. He's a very energetic, quiet, funny, serious, and greedy. His favorite food is Crab Cakes and refers to Kipp never by name, but merely as "Secretary."
Recurring Characters
- Josh Braaten - Charlie, Claude's boyfriend from the travel department. (2002-2003 & 2005, Seasons 1 & 3, 8 episodes)
- William Ragsdale - Mitch Calgrove, a producer at GNB who Claude dates (2004, Season 2, 4 episodes)
- John Eric Bentley - An assistant director who becomes a director (2002 & 2006, Seasons 1 & 4, 3 episodes)
- George Wyner - Alan Turnbach, head of GNB news (2003 & 2006, Seasons 1 & 4, 3 episodes)
- French Stewart - Gene Schmidtline, an employee at GNB (2003-2005, Seasons 2-3, 3 episodes)
- Jenny McCarthy - Dani, Will's on-and-off girlfriend (2003, Season 2, 3 episodes)
- Diana-Maria Riva - Vivian, Carl's ex-girlfriend (2004-2005, Seasons 2-3, 3 episodes)
- Joanna Tamases - Irene, a co-worker at GNB who offers Claude a job (2006, Season 4, 3 episodes)
- Valerie Harper - Judith, Owen's mom (2003-2004, Seasons 2-3, 2 episodes)
- Joanna Kerns - Judy, Owen's other mom (2003-2004, Seasons 2-3, 2 episodes)
- Michael Boatman - Ted Elliot, a director who employs Claude (2003, Seasons 1-2, 2 episodes)
- Michael Angarano - George Denton, Jeb's son (2004, Seasons 2-3, 2 episodes)
- Nicole Sullivan - Deirdre Bishop, Owen's love interest (2003, Season 1, 2 episodes)
One-off guest stars
- Martin Mull - Mr Buddy Casey, Claude's dad (2002, Season 1)
- Cindy Williams - Mrs Joan Casey, Claude's mum (2002, Season 1)
- Joanna Cassidy - Norma (2003, Season 1)
- Trista Rehn - Herself (2003, Season 1)
- Richard Ruccolo - Bobby Casey, Claude's brother (2003, Season 1)
- Barry Bostwick - Max Damarius (2003, Season 1)
- Gordon Clapp - Detective Martin (2003, Season 2)
- Pamela Anderson - Vicki Devorski (2003, Season 2)
- Bill Walton - Himself (2004, Season 2)
- Lesley Ann Warren - Diane Steadman, Kipp's mom (2004, Season 2)
- Brooke Burke - Nurse Benson (2004, Season 2)
- Jim Belushi - Eddie Smirkoff (2004, Season 2)
- John McEnroe - Himself (2004, Season 2)
- Tori Spelling - Roxanne Fiedler (2004, Season 2)
- Lucy Lawless - Tracy Fletcher (2004, Season 3)
- Richard Kind - Lance Corcoran (2004, Season 3)
- John Di Maggio - Bartender (2004, Season 3)
- David Cassidy - Vince (2005, Season 3)
- Paula Abdul - Kathleen (2005, Season 3)
- Kimberly Williams - Laura (2005, Season 3)
- Regis Philbin - Xin Xao Pi (2005, Season 3)
- Joan Rivers - Louise (2005, Season 3)
- Paul DiMeo, Tracy Hutson & Michael Moloney - Themselves, as the cast of 'Extreme makeover' (2005, Season 3)
- Star Jones - Dr Curtis (2005, Season 3)
- Christopher Knight - Waiter (2005, Season 3)
- Tony Plana - The Owl Inspector did not really have a name. Claude and Carl were refereeing him as the "Owl Specialist". He has a frustrating personality because Claude didn't want him to take away or shoot her kind owls. He only made his appearrance in "The Owl Specialist".
Episodes
- See List of Less Than Perfect episodes
International broadcasting of show
Less than Perfect is currently showing on Paramount Comedy 1 in the United Kingdom, on ATV in Austria, on Nelonen in Finland, on FOX8 (pay tv) and the Seven Network (free to air) in Australia, on MTV Russia in Russia, on Star World for the rest of Asia, on yesSTARS in Israel, on Cuatro in Spain, on Sky Italia's Fox and MTV Italia in Italy, on Kanal 5 in Denmark, on HRT and Fox Life in Croatia and Serbia, on TV-First in Belarus. The first seven episodes and episode nine of the final season of Less than Perfect aired on TV2 in New Zealand, with the remaining episodes (eight and 10 through 13) yet to be scheduled, and in the UK a new season is to be aired. The show also aired on MBC 4 to Arabic speaking viewers. In Turkey, TNT Turkey airs. And ComedyMax currently airs the show for Digiturk subscribers and Comedy Smart airs for D-Smart subscribers.
Reception
Critical
Early reviews for the show found the characterization generally stereotypical, but critics often praised the performance of Sara Rue. USA asserted that "in just two episodes, the good guys/bad guys structure and the exaggerated characterizations already are showing signs of wear," although it called Rue a "welcome addition" to TV sitcoms.[6] People magazine likewise criticized the stereotypical characters, but summarized the show as "Hardly perfect but happily Rueful."[7] However, by Season 3, USA Today said the show had "hit its stride."[8]
U.S. ratings
References
- ^ MSNBC.com
- ^ Extra.tv
- ^ Zap2It
- ^ http://channels.isp.netscape.com/celebrity/hollywoodexclusive.jsp?feature=ce_hol_01122006
- ^ Digital Spy
- ^ Bianco, Robert (October 1, 2002), "'Less Than Perfect' aptly named, but Rue is nearly flawless". USA Today.
- ^ Kelleher, Terry (October 28, 2002), "Less Than Perfect (TV program)". People. 58 (18):30
- ^ Robert Bianco (November 26, 2004), "Unwind, rewind, watch these shows". USA Today.
- ^ "Nielsen's TOP 156 Shows for 2002-03 Retrieved July 29, 2008.
- ^ "2003-2004 TV Ratings Retrieved July 29, 2008.
- ^ "2004-2005 TV Ratings Retrieved July 29, 2008.
- ^ "2005-2006 TV Ratings Retrieved July 29, 2008.
External links
