''10 Items or Less'' is an American

comedy series Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first Television in the United ...

created by

Nancy Hower Nancy Hower is an American actress, director, screenwriter and producer. Early life Nancy Hower grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and is one of nine children. She appeared onstage for the first time as a senior in high school. Upon graduating ...

, Robert Hickey, and

John Lehr John Lehr (born November 25, 1965) is an American film and television actor and comedian. Personal life Lehr was born on November 25, 1965, in Overland Park, Kansas. He went to high school at Shawnee Mission West High. He graduated from Northw ...

. Partly scripted and partly

improvised Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, the show starred Lehr as a less-than-successful businessman who returned home to run Greens & Grains, the family-owned supermarket, upon the death of his father. The series debuted on TBS on November 27, 2006. During its first season, it aired Monday nights at 11 p.m. ET/ PT. The second and third seasons aired on Tuesday nights at 11 p.m. ET/ PT. In November 2009, a blog posting stated the show had been cancelled and would not be picked up for the fourth season. In 2015, the series was made available on

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snac ...

Summary

The series stars

as a failed

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

businessman who moves back to his hometown of

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

to take over the family supermarket following the death of his father. The show is set in the fictional supermarket known as Greens & Grains, located at 5th Street and Tiberius.

Characters

* Leslie Pool (

) – the owner and manager of Greens & Grains. Leslie brings his oblivious yet lovable management style to the Greens & Grains grocery store he inherits after his father's death. * Amy Anderson (

Jennifer Elise Cox Jennifer Elise Cox is an American actress known for her satirical portrayal of Jan Brady in ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' and ''A Very Brady Sequel''. Life and career Cox was born in New York City, where she played in two operas, ''Don Giovanni'' an ...

) – The first and second season manager of Super Value Mart, the G&G's number one competitor from across the street. Amy went to high school with Leslie. * Mercy P. Jones (

Kim Coles Kim LaShaunda Coles (born January 11, 1962) is an American actress, comedian and game show host. Coles is known for her roles as a cast member on ''In Living Color'' for the first season (1990-1991) and as Synclaire James-Jones on television sitco ...

) – The third season manager of Super Value Mart. She is ultra-competitive, and trying to put the G&G's out-of-business at all cost. * Ingrid Wakowski (

Kirsten Gronfield Kirsten Gronfield (born November 29, 1977) is an American improv comedy actress. Career Gronfield trained with the famed improv company Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in ...

) – Ingrid is the quirky, soft-spoken customer service representative who lives for Renaissance festivals. * Yolanda Nelson ( Roberta Valderrama) – The straight talking dominant force behind the produce department. * Todd Sykes (

Chris Payne Gilbert Chris Payne Gilbert is an American actor. He is best known for his television role as Todd on the TBS sitcom '' 10 Items or Less'' (2006–2009). He also appeared in episodes of television series ''Dexter'', ''Burn Notice'', ''Moonlight'', '' ...

) – Todd, the butcher who hopes to be a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

driver. * Carl Dawson (

Bob Clendenin Robert Treman Clendenin (born April 14, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Dr. Tom Gazelian in ABC comedy series ''Cougar Town'' and Dr. Paul Zeltzer in the comedy series '' Scrubs''. Education Clendenin graduated from C ...

) – Carl is the sweet doofus stockboy with a huge crush on Yolanda. * Richard Mednick (Christopher Liam Moore) – Richard is a dignified cashier who dreams of becoming a professional

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. * Buchwald "Buck" Washington (Greg Davis Jr.) – Buck is a checkout

bagger Bagger, packer, sacker or bag boy (US) is an unofficial title given to a courtesy clerk at a grocery store. Job profile The primary duties of a bagger revolve around putting groceries into a shopping bag and then into a shopping cart. Upon r ...

who is looking towards the future of becoming a doctor by attending

night school A night school is an adult learning school that holds classes in the evening or at night to accommodate people who work during the day. A community college or university may hold night school classes that admit undergraduates. Italy The Scuola ...

Production

A detailed script was written for each episode outlining the overall story arc. However, the script was not shown to the actors; instead they were provided with a loose outline of the plot, often finding out about it as they filmed. All dialogue in the show is

spontaneously by the actors on the set. A typical 22-minute episode was edited-down from roughly 30 hours of raw improvised dialogue and scenes. John Lehr has described their production style as "similar to Spinal Tap." At one point during the first season the actors demanded to see the script, but upon receiving it they decided as a group that they did not want to see the scripts again in the future. The series is filmed in a real grocery store called "Jon's" in

Reseda, California Reseda is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1912, and its central business district started developing in 1915. The neighborhood was devoted to agriculture for many years. Earthquakes ...

(formerly

Vons Vons is a Southern California and Southern Nevada supermarket chain owned by Albertsons. It is headquartered in Fullerton, California, and operates stores under the Vons and Pavilions banners. It was owned by Safeway Inc. and headquartered in Ar ...

), often with actual customers used as extras.

Episodes

Season 1 (2006)

Season 2 (2008)

Season 3 (2009)

Home media

References

External links

Official website
Archive.org of 10itemsorlesstv site
Official website
Archive.org of TBS site
Official website
Archive.org of Greens 'n' Grains grocery store site * {{DEFAULTSORT:10 Items Or Less (Tv Series) 2006 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings 2000s American mockumentary television series 2000s American single-camera sitcoms 2000s American workplace comedy television series English-language television shows TBS (American TV channel) original programming Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Montgomery County, Ohio Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television series set in shops