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Working is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC 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 and an ensemble cast including Maurice Godin, Arden Myrin, Yvette Freeman, and Steve Hytner.
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| Working | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by |
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| Starring |
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| Opening theme | "Working in the Coal Mine" performed by Devo |
| Composers |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 39 (4 unaired) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 8, 1997 – January 25, 1999 |
Working took a satirical (and sometimes over-the-top) look at office life within a big corporate company. The show starred Fred Savage 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), under-appreciated secretary Hal (Sarah Knowlton), overly perky Abby Cosgrove (Arden Myrin), acerbic Delaney (Steve Hytner), and no-nonsense manager Evelyn (Yvette Freeman), 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 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, formerly Savage's costar in The Wonder Years, 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.
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, frantic work scenes from Terry Gilliam's Brazil and office scenes from Billy Wilder's The Apartment. The vocals of the theme song were removed for the USA Network broadcasts.
- Fred Savage as Matt Peyser
- Maurice Godin as Tim Deale
- Yvette Freeman as Evelyn Smalley
- Sarah Knowlton as Hal Blum (season 1)[a]
- Arden Myrin as Abby Cosgrove[a]
- Todd Waring (pilot only) and Steve Hytner as John Delaney
- Joey Slotnick (pilot only) and Dana Gould as Jimmy Clarke (season 1)
- Kate Hodge as Chris Grant (10 episodes, season 1)
- Rebecca McFarland as Val Gibson (season 2)
- Debi Mazar as Liz Tricoli (season 2)
Series overview
Season 1 (1997–98)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Andrew Tsao | Michael Davidoff & Bill Rosenthal | October 8, 1997 | 14.57[1] |
| 2 | 2 | "Close Quarters" | James Widdoes | Sy Rosen | October 15, 1997 | 9.39[2] |
| 3 | 3 | "Rumoring" | James Widdoes | Will Gluck | October 29, 1997 | 11.75[3] |
| 4 | 4 | "Quick Out of the Gate" | Fred Savage | Ben Wexler | November 5, 1997 | 11.42[4] |
| 5 | 5 | "Sexual Harassment" | James Widdoes | Phill Lewis | November 12, 1997 | 13.07[5] |
| 6 | 6 | "Lost Weekend" | James Widdoes | Mike Langworthy | November 19, 1997 | 11.38[6] |
| 7 | 7 | "Creative Matt" | James Widdoes | Steve Tompkins | December 3, 1997 | 10.86[7] |
| 8 | 8 | "Top o' the World, Ma" | Andrew Tsao | Vicki S. Horwitz & Sy Rosen | December 10, 1997 | 10.61[8] |
| 9 | 9 | "Medieval Christmas" | Andrew Tsao | Rob Cornick & Cory Jachnuk | December 17, 1997 | 11.73[9] |
| 10 | 10 | "The Breakfast" | Andrew Tsao | Michael Davidoff & Bill Rosenthal | January 7, 1998 | 13.13[10] |
| 11 | 11 | "Enemies: A Love Story" | Andrew Tsao | Will Gluck | January 14, 1998 | 11.80[11] |
| 12 | 12 | "Sam I Am" | James Widdoes | Marsha Myers | January 21, 1998 | 12.93[12] |
| 13 | 13 | "Boys Club" | Andrew Tsao | Michael Davidoff & Bill Rosenthal | January 28, 1998 | 13.48[13] |
| 14 | 14 | "Hatchet Man" | James Widdoes | Vicki S. Horwitz | February 4, 1998 | 12.76[14] |
| 15 | 15 | "Mum's the Word" | David Owen Trainor | Michael Davidoff & Bill Rosenthal | February 25, 1998 | 9.31[15] |
| 16 | 16 | "As Bad As It Gets" | Andrew Tsao | Matt Goldman & Will Gluck | March 18, 1998 | 13.79[16] |
| 17 | 17 | "Labor Pains" | Andrew Tsao | Noah Taft | March 25, 1998 | 11.40[17] |
| 18 | 18 | "The Gold Digger" | Andrew Tsao | Ben Wexler | April 1, 1998 | 10.05[18] |
| 19 | 19 | "Equality" | Robert Berlinger | Marsha Myers | April 15, 1998 | 10.15[19] |
| 20 | 20 | "The Lying Game" | Linda Day | Rob Cornick & Cory Jachnuk | April 29, 1998 | 11.03[20] |
| 21 | 21 | "Due Process" | Steve Zuckerman | Will Gluck & Matt Goldman | May 6, 1998 | 8.13[21] |
| 22 | 22 | "The Brown Noser" | Andrew Tsao | Mark Wilding & Marsha Myers | May 13, 1998 | 10.68[22] |
Season 2 (1998–99)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 1 | "Home-o-Apathy" | Andrew Tsao | Will Gluck | September 22, 1998 | 12.40[23] |
| 24 | 2 | "The Closer" | Andrew Tsao | Rob Cornick & Cory Jachnuk | September 29, 1998 | 12.35[24] |
| 25 | 3 | "Armageddon Outta Here" | Andrew Tsao | David Fury | October 27, 1998 | 10.88[25] |
| 26 | 4 | "Performance Review" | Andrew Tsao | Steve Baldikoski & Bryan Behar | November 3, 1998 | 8.70[26] |
| 27 | 5 | "Good Val Hunting" | Andrew Tsao | Noah Taft | November 10, 1998 | 11.53[27] |
| 28 | 6 | "Networking" | Andrew Tsao | Beth Fieger Falkenstein | November 17, 1998 | 10.37[28] |
| 29 | 7 | "A Boy, a Girl, and His Bird" | Andrew Tsao | Sy Rosen & Vicki S. Horwitz | December 1, 1998 | 9.41[29] |
| 30 | 8 | "The Consultant" | Andrew Tsao | Mark Wilding | December 8, 1998 | 9.05[30] |
| 31 | 9 | "Greenery" | Andrew Tsao | Will Gluck | December 18, 1998 | N/A |
| 32 | 10 | "The Christmas Party" | Andrew Tsao | Mark Wilding | December 22, 1998 | 9.25[31] |
| 33 | 11 | "Romeo and Julie" | Andrew Tsao | Noah Taft | January 11, 1999 | 5.62[32] |
| 34 | 12 | "The Retreat" | Andrew Tsao | Michael Davidoff & Bill Rosenthal | January 18, 1999 | 6.64[33] |
| 35 | 13 | "The Prodigy" | David Owen Trainor | Bryan Behar & Steve Baldikoski | January 25, 1999 | 6.73[34] |
| 36 | 14 | "Manifesto Destiny" | Andrew Tsao | Ben Wexler | Unaired | N/A |
| 37 | 15 | "The Other Executive" | Fred Savage | Marty Weiss | Unaired | N/A |
| 38 | 16 | "She Loves Me, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" | Linda Day | David Rosenberg | Unaired | N/A |
| 39 | 17 | "Sliding Doors" | Andrew Tsao | Sy Rosen & Mark Wilding | Unaired | N/A |
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Young Performer Age Ten or Under | Sara Paxton | Won | [35] |
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