Less Than Perfect

Less Than Perfect was a Work Com that ran from 2002 to 2006. Its main focus was Claudia "Claude" Casey (Sara Rue), a full-figured young woman who tried to navigate the perils of making a career at a fictional broadcasting company. Her friends were dorky Owen, no-nonsense Ramona and Big Guy Carl; her superior was a famous news anchor, and her enemies were jealous coworkers Kipp and Lydia.


 * Ambiguously Jewish (Kipp)
 * Benevolent Boss: Will Butler, though he's nice only to his direct assistants.
 * Big Guy (Carl)
 * Black Best Friend: Ramona. Partially subverted because she's much less nice than the protagonist and has much more of a love life.
 * Celebrity Paradox: Owen can't remember a certain combination because it's equal to the year of Eric Roberts's birthday, but he always lies about his age. Will Butler's played by Eric Roberts.
 * Coming Out Story: inverted. Owen has to tell his lesbian moms that he's straight.
 * Deadpan Snarker (Ramona)
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: Claude (sanguine), Ramona (choleric), Owen (melancholic), Carl (phlegmatic).
 * Has Two Mommies (Owen)
 * Hollywood Homely: The main cast. To the show's credit, the homeliness was almost believable, as Ramona and Claude were full-figured, Carl was big and bald, and Owen looked...well...like Andy Dick.
 * Homeschooled Kids: It's brought up numerous times that Owen was homeschooled by his parents, usually as a joke, such as Claude and Ramona being astonished that he had an actual graduation ceremony.
 * The Lancer (Ramona)
 * Missing Episode: As mentioned below, 8 out of 13 episodes of season 4 were not aired on ABC due to them abruptly cancelling the show, though the missing episodes did later air on Lifetime.
 * Nerd (Owen)
 * Nerd Glasses: Owen, as his stereotype implies, and, strangely enough, "metrosexual" Kipp. He wears contact lenses most of the time, but he still has a pair of thick round glasses.
 * Only Known By His Nickname: Jeb only ever referred to Kipp as "Secretary".
 * Patrick Warburton: played Jeb.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Claude and Carl sleep together in season 4 and become Friends with Benefits, then they develop feelings for one another and have a loving relationship for the rest of the series.
 * Retroactive Recognition: Zachary Levi went onto greater fame as the title character in Chuck.
 * Rich Bitch: Lydia, with the exception that, while she spends a lot of money to support her lifestyle, she is not rich, but actually in debt.
 * Sassy Black Woman: Ramona
 * Screwed by the Network: ABC downsized its season 4 order from 22 to 13 episodes; only 5 of those episodes aired before the show was cancelled without any sort of explanation. To make matters worse, two more episodes were scheduled to air, but both were pre-empted by NBA games.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds (Kipp and Lydia)