- Less Than Perfect
infobox television
show_name = Less Than Perfect
caption = The series main cast
format = Sitcom
runtime = 30 minutes
creator =Terri Minsky
starring =Sara Rue Andy Dick Sherri Shepherd Andrea Parker Zachary Levi Will Sasso (2003-2006)Eric Roberts (2002-2005)Patrick Warburton (2003-2006)
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired =October 1 , 2002
last_aired =August 1 , 2006
num_seasons = 4
num_episodes = 81 (8 unaired)
imdb_id = 0320052
tv_com_id = 9286|"Less Than Perfect" was an American
sitcom that begun airing on ABC onOctober 1 , 2002 and ended onAugust 1 ,2006 . The show was about a young female office employee (played bySara Rue ) and her co-workers. The show was directed by Skip Collector andTed 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 ). ComediansAndy Dick ,Will Sasso , andSherri Shepherd played her co-workers and friends, whileZachary Levi andAndrea 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 America in real life, but is rarely depicted on television. [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5991977/ MSNBC.com] ] Over the course of the series, Rue lost 30 pounds. [ [http://extratv.warnerbros.com/v2/news/0805/24/3/text.html Extra.tv] ]
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. [ [http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-commanderinchief-lessthanperfectreturn,0,6470354.story?coll=zap-tv-headlines Zap2It] ]Despite the pickup, the future of the series was not assured. Cast member Zachary Levi stated many cast members were ready to move on, [ [http://channels.isp.netscape.com/celebrity/hollywoodexclusive.jsp?feature=ce_hol_01122006 Netscape.com] ] 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. [ [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds33121.html Digital Spy] ] 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 onJune 6 ,2006 . However, these episodes which remain unaired in the United States have been aired internationally.International broadcasting of show
"Less Than Perfect" is currently showing on
Paramount Comedy 1 in theUnited Kingdom , on ATV inAustria , onNelonen inFinland , onFOX8 (pay tv) and theSeven Network (free to air) inAustralia , onMTV Russia inRussia , onStar World for the rest ofAsia , on yesSTARS inIsrael , on Cuatro inSpain , onSky Italia 'sFOX and MTV Italia inItaly , onKanal 5 inDenmark , on HRT andFox Life inCroatia andSerbia . The first seven episodes and episode nine of the final season of "Less Than Perfect" aired on TV2 inNew 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 onMBC 4 toArabic speaking viewers. InTurkey ,TNT Turkey airs. AndComedyMax currently airs the show forDigiturk subscribers andComedy Smart airs forD-Smart subscribers.Life after cancellation
No DVD release has been announced yet.
Characters
Main Characters
*
Sara Rue - Claude Casey (2002-2006) (Seasons 1-4, 81 episodes)
*Sherri Shepherd - Ramona Platt (2002-2006) (Seasons 1-4, 81 episodes)
*Andy Dick - Owen Kronsky (2002-2006) (Season 1-4, 81 episodes)
*Andrea Parker - Lydia Weston (2002-2006) (Seasons 1-4, 81 episodes)
*Zachary Levi - Kipp Steadman (2002-2006) (Seasons 1-4, 81 episodes)
*Will Sasso - Carl Monari (2003-2006) (Seasons 2-4, (guest starring in season 1) 40 episodes)
*Patrick Warburton - Jeb Denton (2003-2006) (Seasons 2-4, 38 episodes)
*Eric Roberts - Will Butler (2002-2005) (Seasons 1-3, 57 episodes)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)
*James 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 - Owl Inspector (Unaired episode, Season 4)Episodes
:"See
List of Less Than Perfect episodes "U.S. ratings
References
External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320052/ Less Than Perfect's] entry in [http://www.imdb.com IMDb]
* [http://www.jumptheshark.com/forum/perfect/1178 Jump The Shark - Less Than Perfect]
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