''Working'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

for two seasons from October 8, 1997 to January 25, 1999. The series was created and executive produced by Michael Davidoff and Bill Rosenthal. The series stars

Fred Savage Frederick Aaron Savage (born July 9, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series ''The Wonder Years'' (1988 to 1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as ...

and an ensemble cast including Maurice Godin,

Arden Myrin Arden VanAmringe Myrin () is an American actress and comedian. Myrin was a cast member on the Netflix series '' Insatiable'', playing the role of Regina Sinclair, and starred in the world premiere of Steve Martin's play ''Meteor Shower'' at the ...

Yvette Freeman Yvette Freeman is an American actress, singer and director. Predominantly active as a stage actress, she made her Broadway debut in 1979 in the original production of '' Ain't Misbehavin. She won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance b ...

, and Steve Hytner.

Synopsis

''Working'' took a satirical (and sometimes over-the-top) look at office life within a big corporate company. The show starred

as the naive Matt Peyser who had just graduated from college and was ready to climb the corporate ladder. His ideals are constantly challenged by his boss, Tim Deale, played by Maurice Godin. Other characters included dim-witted Jimmy (

Dana Gould Dana Gould (born August 24, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and voice artist who has been featured on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. He voiced Hi Larious in the TV series ''Father of the Pride'' (2004–2005) and the ...

), under-appreciated secretary Hal (Sarah Knowlton), overly perky Abby Cosgrove (

), acerbic Delaney ( Steve Hytner), and no-nonsense manager Evelyn (

), that Matt makes friends and work with. Due to faltering ratings, the network attempted to breathe new life into the show during the second season with some cast changes. This included writing out the characters of Jimmy and Hal. They were replaced by

Debi Mazar Deborah Anne Mazar Corcos (; born August 13, 1964) is an American actress and television personality, known for playing sharp-tongued women. She began her career with supporting roles in ''Goodfellas'' (1990), '' Little Man Tate'' (1991) and ''S ...

as the ruthless Liz and Rebecca McFarland as Val (As an in-joke, when Matt first sees Liz and Val he mistakenly calls them Jimmy and Hal). During the series run,

Danica McKellar Danica Mae McKellar (born January 3, 1975) is an American actress, mathematics writer, and education advocate. She played Winnie Cooper in the television series '' The Wonder Years'' from 1988 to 1993, and since 2010 has voiced Miss Martian in t ...

, formerly Savage's costar in ''

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy/drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super ...

'', made two guest-appearances playing a woman Savage's character meets in a bar, and of whom he says "she reminds me of a girl I grew up with!" Ratings for the series didn't improve, however, and NBC canceled ''Working'' in January 1999. 35 of the 39 episodes produced were aired.

Theme song

The show used a sound-alike version of Devo's cover of the song " Working in the Coal Mine", set over top of scenes of work, including marching workers from the film ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big ci ...

'', frantic work scenes from

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

's ''

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

'' and office scenes from

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hol ...

's ''

The Apartment ''The Apartment'' is a 1960 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond. It stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, Dav ...

''. The vocals of the theme song were removed for the USA Network broadcasts.

Cast and characters

as Matt Peyser * Maurice Godin as Tim Deale *

as Evelyn Smalley * Sarah Knowlton as Hal Blum (season 1) *

as Abby Cosgrove *

Todd Waring Todd Waring (born April 28, 1955) is an American actor, best known for replacing Tom Hanks in the roles in both the television series version of ''Nothing in Common'', as well as ''Splash, Too''. Early life Waring was born in Ballston Spa, New Y ...

(pilot only) and Steve Hytner as John Delaney *

Joey Slotnick Joseph Slotnick (born October 2, 1968) is an American film actor and voice actor. He is known for roles in ''Twister'' (1996), ''Hollow Man'' (2000), ''Elevator'' (2011), ''The Single Guy'' (1995–1997), and ''Nip/Tuck'' (2003-2006). Life and c ...

(pilot only) and

as Jimmy Clarke (season 1) *

Kate Hodge Kate Hodge is an American actress and film producer. Life and career Hodge was born in Berkeley, California, Her first starring role was as Michelle, the heroine of the 1990 horror film '' Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III''. She ...

as Chris Grant (10 episodes, season 1) *

Rebecca McFarland Rebecca McFarland (18 April 1973 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American mixed media portrait artist and actress. Early life McFarland grew up in New Orleans and attended Tulane University, where she graduated with a BA in theater. Caree ...

as Val Gibson (season 2) *

as Liz Tricoli (season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1997–98)

Season 2 (1998–99)

Awards

Notes

References

External links

* * {{epguides, id=Working, title=Working 1997 American television series debuts 1999 American television series endings 1990s American sitcoms 1990s American workplace comedy television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television