Maya Gallo

Infobox character


caption= Laura San Giacomo as Maya Gallo
name = "Maya Gallo"
first = "Back Issues"
born = January 1, 1962
last = ""
gender = Female
occupation = Reporter
family = Jack Gallo (father) Eve Gallo (mother) Hannah Gallo (sister) Allie Gallo (former stepmother)
portrayer = Laura San Giacomo
creator = Steven Levitan

Maya Gallo was a fictional character on the former NBC sitcom "Just Shoot Me!", where she was played by Laura San Giacomo. Originally, Maya was intended to be the show's main character, but the series instead began to more prominently feature David Spade's character Dennis Finch, although San Giacomo's name remained first in the credits.

Characteristics

Maya was largely portrayed as a hot-tempered, sassy journalist who took a job at the fictional glamour fashion magazine "Blush", which happened to be owned by her father Jack Gallo, in the pilot after she was fired for tampering with an anchorwoman's TelePrompTer and making her cry. She was a dichotomy on several levels, with her headstrong smarts coupled against a naïveté about life and sometimes even love. Keeping with her neo-feminist views, Maya frowned upon men looking at women as objects of sexual desire, instead encouraging people to admire females for their intelligence. Unfortunately for her, this was not a popular view for a fashion magazine and it therefore put her at odds with much of the magazine's staff.

Despite this, there have been several instances in which Maya was alluded to be nude or engaging in sexual intercourse and there was one instance in which she purposely stuck her chest out and partially unbuttoned her blouse in an effort to distract Dennis Finch, an admitted admirer of her bosom. In spite of her attempts to deemphasize her large breasts, Maya was occasionally on the receiving end of "boob jokes" on the show, especially from Finch and Nina Van Horn. Whenever a joke in regards to her bustline was made, Maya usually wouldn't dignify the remark with a verbal response, although she would often appear visibly flustered.

She is sometimes mistaken for a Puerto Rican.

Maya was often shown dating on the show. There have been implications that her and Elliot as a possible couple, she was also briefly engaged to him. Among her other dates were Michael Tenzer (David Rasche), Chris (Dean Cain), Ray Liotta (Ray Liotta) and another man named Chris (Joe Rogan). Although she was involved in several relationships, she was never depicted getting married in the series.

Storylines

Perhaps Maya's most significant storyline on the show was her on-again, off-again romantic relationship with photographer Elliot DiMauro. Despite his womanizing tendencies, Elliot always treated Maya with respect and his relationship with her never seemed to be sexually motivated. After being drawn out through several episodes, the relationship came to a conclusion in a two-part episode in season five, where Elliot took Maya out to a lavish restaurant. Elliot asked her to marry him after he gave her Maya's mother's wedding ring, which was passed down from her father Jack Gallo. An emotional Maya said "yes," but within moments of her approval, Elliot had second thoughts about what he was getting himself into and he suddenly fainted. Elliott was quickly transported to a local hospital and Maya, still in her evening gown, came to the hospital as well. She became angry when the doctor told her that he had a mere panic attack. Maya gave him the ring back and called off the engagement. Elliott didn't want his relationship with Maya to end and he proposed to her the next day at work. Maya again said "yes," but Elliot had yet another panic attack. Soon after, Maya came to the realization that they weren't meant to be together as a couple and she ended her romantic relationship with him. She also kicked him out of their apartment.

Her most drawn-out storyline on the program was her shaky relationship with her father Jack Gallo. It was strung out throughout the entire duration of the show. Maya wasn't particularly thrilled with her father's relationships with women, mostly because his female companions were usually her age. Also, they didn't have much of a relationship when she was a child because he was too busy working - it continued to bother her into adulthood and she'd frequently let him know about it.