Working Class

Working Class is a 2011 CMT sitcom, the first scripted program on the schedule. (Okay, the first totally scripted program.)

Melissa Peterman (host of The Singing Bee on the same network; best known as Barbara Jean on Reba) stars as Carli Mitchell, a twice-divorced mother of three trying to make ends meet between her kids and her idiot leech of a brother. She works at Whole Parker Foods with her neighbor, Hank (Ed Asner), and her boss, Rob (Patrick Fabian), whom she has a crush on.

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The show provides examples of:

• Absentee Actor: Ed Asner's Hank, though billed as a main cast member, only appeared in about half of the episodes. Justified because it's Ed freakin' Asner.
• Actor Allusion: In episode 3, one of Carli's exes (John Schneider, but that's not the allusion) shows up with a new rich girlfriend, played by...you guessed it!...RebaMcEntire. The ep puts the two actresses in the opposite roles as their characters on Reba.
  • Back in the first episode, Carli (played by the rather tall Melissa Peterman) mentions that growing up, she acquired the nickname "Blondzilla," a nickname Barbara Jean also had on Reba.
• And Starring: Ed Asner, of course, gets that coveted spot.
• Benevolent Boss: Rob Parker, even though Carli flirts with him heavily when they first meet.
  • Carli even conspires with Rob to inflict a punishment on Scott when he messes up the store after getting a job there.
    • Even when Carli delivers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to two women who she later realized were his sister and her daughter, he sides with Carli. (The two in question were a Rich Bitch and an Alpha Bitch.)
• Bland-Name Product: Parker Foods is a Whole Foods ripoff.
• Dawson Casting: Lachlan Buchanan, who plays Scott, Carli's oldest, was 20 at the time of filming. Courtney Merritt, who plays Pam, Carli's middle child, was 21.
• Fake American: Lachlan Buchanan again...he's an Aussie.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Ryan Stiles plays a dentist; Kathy Kinney plays a lunch lady. I guess they had the producers of The Drew Carey Show on speed dial?
  • Carli later has to try and stop a fight between Delia Fisher and Bud Bundy...the latter of which was her date for the evening.
• High School Dance: "The Dance". Lifted to embarrassing highs as Carli is chaperoning.
• I Want You to Meet An Old Friend of Mine: In one memorable episode of Reba, Barbara Jean develops a crush on her preacher, who she nicknames "Reverend Yummypants." Now, the same actor plays Carli's boss, who Carli has a crush on.
  • And, of course, Reba herself.
• Large Ham: Melissa Peterman's stand-up comedy background means that Carli is going to naturally gravitate toward this, especially in a Jackie from Roseanne neurotic kind of way.
• One Head Taller: Inverted with one of Carli's dates, played by David Faustino. He's 5'3", she's 5'10". Justified for him because he just got through a messy divorce with a woman who's shorter than he is.
• Out of Order: It would appear that way. In episode 7, Rob didn't recognize Scott, despite hiring him as a stockboy the week before.
  • Melissa Peterman's Twitter intimates that they shot the episode featuring Reba last. It was the third aired episode.
• Perpetual Poverty: Bad enough for Carli to have to water down milk every so often, but not bad enough that they don't have an internet connection.
  • Although in the episode "Lunch Lady," it's implied that they moved to a better town so the kids could go to a better school, many of which do incorporate internet use (if nothing else, they might need to do online research.) Besides, internet access has gotten dirt cheap in recent years and a family of five would go through milk pretty fast.
• Whole-Episode Flashback: "Hire Education": Carli tells of how her family moved in under the guise of getting an Employee of the Month award. The flashback is actually the pilot episode.