''Worst Week'' 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 premiered on CBS on September 22, 2008. The series was based on the British sitcom '' The Worst Week of My Life''. It was adapted for American audiences by Fox under the title ''Worst Week of My Life'', but a series didn't materialize after the pilot was filmed. The series aired on CBS Mondays at 9:30pm ET/PT, following ''

Two and a Half Men ''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, t ...

''. The premiere attracted 11 million viewers but lost a third of its lead-in audience. Ratings dropped to a low of 8.4 million viewers with the sixth episode, but then began to climb steadily, reaching a high of 12.12 million viewers with the eleventh episode before declining again. On May 20, 2009, CBS cancelled the series after one season and the series finale aired on June 6, 2009.

Cast

Main characters

Kyle Bornheimer Kyle Edward Bornheimer (born September 10, 1975) is an American actor and comedian known for his roles on the sitcoms '' Worst Week'', ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', '' Casual'', and '' Playing House''. Life and career Bornheimer was born in Mishawaka ...

as Sam Briggs * Erinn Hayes as Melanie "Mel" Clayton-Briggs *

Nancy Lenehan Nancy Lenehan (born April 26, 1953) is an American actress who has appeared in film and television since the 1980s. She is best known for Audrey in ''Grace Under Fire'' (1993-1998), Kay Hickey in ''My Name Is Earl'' (2005-2008), and Angela in ' ...

as Angela Clayton *

Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American television and film actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in ''Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), as ...

as Dick Clayton

Recurring characters

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series '' Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The L ...

as Adam * Jessica St. Clair as Sarah *

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong (, ; born July 13, 1969) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, producer, writer and licensed physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the ...

as Phil *Parris Mosteller as Scotty *

Brooke Nevin Brooke Candice Nevin (born December 22, 1982) is a Canadian actress, best known for portraying Rachel on the science fiction series ''Animorphs'' (1998–1999) and as Julianne "Jules" Simms (2011–2012) on ''Breakout Kings''. She also played So ...

as Chloe Clayton * RonReaco Lee as David Clayton *

Hayes McArthur Hayes MacArthur (born April 16, 1977) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He starred in the TBS comedy series ''Angie Tribeca''. Early life MacArthur was born in Chicago to Bruce and Shelley MacArthur. His stepfather is businessman ...

as Chad *

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries ''Wa ...

as Paul Briggs *

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

as June Clayton *

Phillip Baker Hall Philip Baker Hall (September 10, 1931 – June 12, 2022) was an American character actor. Hall is known for his collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson, including '' Hard Eight'' (1996), ''Boogie Nights'' (1997) and ''Magnolia'' (1999). He als ...

as Reverend Lowell

Episodes

Critical reception

Verne Gay of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'' graded it A and said it "may be the best new comedy on network TV this season." Less enthusiastic was Tim Goodman of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'', who said, "Though there are plenty of hard-earned (some might say forced) laughs here and Bornheimer is a real find, you can't help but wonder how they'll keep up the pace. After all, the British series ran for only two seasons and had a mere seven episodes each season...So how is CBS going to stretch this into 22 episodes without stretching it too thin?...In many ways, ''Worst Week'' seems incapable of being made into an American version (there were previous attempts that failed), because not only does the title not make sense, but not having a payoff for all the freaky, not-so-karmic woes Sam endures will be frustrating to the viewing audience . . . tis a series that may end up being on a short leash." Linda Stasi of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' called it "one of the worst new shows of the week" and added, "Only a man (or a couple of them) could get paid big bucks in Hollywood to come up with such a lame-o rip-off and perpetuate the fantasy that gorgeous women can't help but to love out-of-shape guys who do everything wrong."

Home media

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released a DVD of the complete series.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Worst Week 2000s American single-camera sitcoms 2008 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings Television shows set in Virginia Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Universal Television American television series based on British television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by Hat Trick Productions