The Class
Encyclopedia
The Class was a sitcom which originally ran on CBS from September 18, 2006 to March 5, 2007. The series followed the lives of eight very different alumni of the fictional Woodman Elementary School. The show was created by David Crane
and Jeffrey Klarik
's production company CraneKlarik in association with Warner Bros. Television
.
Despite early enthusiasm for the show, nineteen episodes, and satisfactory Nielsen ratings, CBS announced on May 15, 2007 that The Class would not be renewed for a second season.
Beyond the core eight, Crane and Klarik said the show would be populated by several other recurring characters.
Due to the overwhelming reputation of the creators, CBS, Fox
, and NBC made bids for a full 13-episode season, the latter network was also reported to have offered a 22 episode commitment, prior to seeing a pilot. Ultimately, CBS won the bidding war with an undisclosed amount.
Next to be cast, in January 2006 were Jason Ritter and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Ethan Haas and Richie Velch respectively.
In February 2006, Jon Bernthal, Heather Goldenhersh, and Andrea Anders (who, at the time was still part of the cast of Friends
spin off
Joey
, which was on hiatus) were cast as Duncan Carmello, Lina Warbler and Nicole Allen. Legendary sitcom director James Burrows was also announced to be directing the pilot.
In March 2006, Eve
co-star, Sean Maguire was cast as Kyle Lendo.
Last to be cast was Lizzy Caplan as the cynical Kat Warbler. Caplan was still part of The WB drama Related at the time. Related was cancelled due to the merger of UPN
and The WB to create The CW.
Also, during the middle of 2006, it was announced that Julie Halston, Sam Harris, and David Keith had been cast in co-starring roles.
It was later announced, that Roseanne
' s Sara Gilbert had been cast in the recurring role of Fern Velch, Richie Velch's wife.
.
As of October 9, 2006, CBS shifted the show to the 8:30 p.m. time slot, because its disappointing ratings were affecting the success of How I Met Your Mother
in its second year. The ratings then began to steadily improve, and, on Monday October 23, 2006, CBS ordered six more episodes of The Class, bringing the episode order for the first season to 19. No more episodes were picked up. The Class received a 19 episode order in place of 22 because CBS had, at the time, other shows to either finish their seasons or premiere. These shows were The New Adventures of Old Christine
and Rules of Engagement
.
The Class was the first sitcom to show a live table read session and a live rehearsal. They were shown on Monday January 15, 2007 at 11am PST and Wednesday January 17, 2007 at 1pm PST, respectively. The webcasts were available after the live feed as well.
The Class ended its first season on March 5, 2007.
. On May 15, 2007, Variety
reported, backing up Zap2It's reports, that The Class would not return for a second season. On May 16, 2007, The Class was officially cancelled at the CBS Upfront presentation, replacing it with The Big Bang Theory. On May 17, 2007, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Richie Velch) posted a message on his MySpace page relating to the cancellation, as did Sam Harris (Perry Pearl), explaining that the fate of The Class was undecided till the last minute.
Shortly after the cancellation, fans of the show launched a campaign to try to save The Class. The campaign proved to be unsuccessful. The campaign consisted of sending erasers, because of their connection to a school and education, and sending in printed off Moroccan Chicken recipes because of a memorable episode of The Class which saw Lina cooking Moroccan Chicken for Kat, Ethan, Benjamin, Palmer, Richie, Kyle, Duncan, and Nicole.
Key: "Rating" is the estimated percentage of all TVs tuned to the show, "share" is the percentage of all TVs in use that are tuned in. "18–49" is the percentage of all 18–49 year olds watching the program. "Viewers" is the estimated number of actual people watching, in millions. "Rank" is the place in which the episode ranked up against all of the shows broadcast during the week that the episode was aired.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, or occasionally early June, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
on Fox
, Deal or No Deal
on NBC, Wife Swap
on ABC
, and All of Us
on The CW. During the first few episodes The Class was up against 7th Heaven
and then Everybody Hates Chris
. The Class consistently surpassed Wife Swap, All of Us, 7th Heaven, and Everybody Hates Chris in the ratings.
. The most positive reviews were received from The Philadelphia Inquirer
. Many critics heavily praised the performances of Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Kat Warbler and Richie Velch.
lead despite being set in Philadelphia
, a city with a large black population. The creators of the show have defended this charge, saying that two of the characters, twin sisters, Lina and Kat, are adopted by Korean parents (which, by the end of the series, turned out not to have been covered by the storyline), and "...when we wrote the script, we wrote it color-blind." Television columnist Lisa de Moraes
does not believe this, saying that David Crane
has used the color-blind excuse since Friends
.
. It was up against 30 Rock
and 'Til Death
. 30 Rock and' Til Death were both renewed for second seasons while The Class was not.
The Class was also nominated by the Art Director's Guild for Excellence in Production Design for a Multi Camera Television Series, this was for the Pilot episode, The Class Reunites. Mad TV
won the award.
In July 2007, The Class was nominated for the 59th Primetime Emmy Award
in the category of Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series, the show lost to How I Met Your Mother
.
David Crane (television)
David Crane is an American writer and producer. He is one of the creators of the TV sitcom Friends, along with his longtime friend Marta Kauffman....
and Jeffrey Klarik
Jeffrey Klarik
Jeffrey Klarik is an American writer and producer. He was a co-producer of the NBC television sitcom Mad About You. In 2002 he created the UPN series Half & Half...
's production company CraneKlarik in association with Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
.
Despite early enthusiasm for the show, nineteen episodes, and satisfactory Nielsen ratings, CBS announced on May 15, 2007 that The Class would not be renewed for a second season.
Premise
The Class revolves around a core group of eight 28-year-olds who were all in the same third-grade class 20 years ago. A former classmate brings them all together for a party to celebrate his engagement to a girl he met in the class. However, she ends up dumping him at the party as the reunited classmates get to know each other. "They have separate lives and there are few connections that exist beforehand," Klarik said. "But through the course of the series, connections are made between the characters. It's about following their individual lives -— there's no one living room where they gather."Beyond the core eight, Crane and Klarik said the show would be populated by several other recurring characters.
Starring cast
- Jason RitterJason RitterJason Morgan Ritter is an American actor, son of the late actor John Ritter and actress Nancy Morgan. Ritter is probably best known for his role as Kevin Girardi in the television series Joan of Arcadia and as Sean Walker in the NBC series The Event.-Early life:Ritter was born in Los Angeles,...
as Ethan Haas - Lizzy CaplanLizzy CaplanElizabeth Anne "Lizzy" Caplan is an American actress. In film, she is best known for her roles as Janis Ian in Mean Girls, Marlena Diamond in Cloverfield, and April in Hot Tub Time Machine...
as Kat Warbler - Heather GoldenhershHeather GoldenhershHeather Goldenhersh is an award-winning American actress. She has appeared on Broadway, on television, and in feature films....
as Lina Warbler - Jesse Tyler FergusonJesse Tyler FergusonJesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor who portrays Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. Previously he played the role of Richie Velch in the CBS sitcom The Class. He is openly gay.-Life and career:...
as Richie Velch - Jon BernthalJon BernthalJonathan E. "Jon" Bernthal is an American actor, best known for his role on the AMC television series The Walking Dead.-Early life:...
as Duncan Carmello - Andrea Anders as Nicole Allen (née Campbell)
- Sean MaguireSean MaguireSean Maguire is an English actor and singer, who rose to fame in 1988 when at the age of eleven he took on the role of "Tegs" Ratcliffe on the BBC children's drama Grange Hill, in which he remained until 1992...
as Kyle Lendo - Lucy PunchLucy PunchLucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
as Holly Ellenbogen
Recurring cast
- Julie HalstonJulie HalstonJulie Halston is an American actress and comedian.-Life and career:Halston was born Julie Abatelli in Suffolk County, New York, and raised in Commack, Long Island. She is the daughter of Julia Madeline "Dolly" , a teacher's assistant, and Rudolph "Rudy" Abatelli, who worked in tobacco sales...
as Tina Carmello - David KeithDavid KeithDavid Lemuel Keith is an American actor and director. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year – Actor for his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman.-Career:...
as Yonk Allen - Sam HarrisSam Harris (singer)Sam Harris is an American pop and musical theatre recording artist as well as a television, stage and film actor.-Singing:...
as Perry Pearl - Jaime KingJaime KingJaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
as Palmer Wyland - Sara GilbertSara GilbertSara Gilbert is an American actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner from 1988–1997 in the U.S. sitcom Roseanne.-Early life:Gilbert was born Sara Rebecca Abeles in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Barbara Crane and Harold Abeles. Her two older siblings, Melissa Gilbert and...
as Fern Velch - Cristián de la FuenteCristián de la FuenteCristián de la Fuente Sabarots is a Chilean-American actor.-Early life:De la Fuente was born in Santiago, Chile, as the only child of chemist Hugo de la Fuente and Adriana Sabarots, a homemaker of French descent...
as Aaron - Karley Scott Collins as Oprah Pearl
- Trent FordTrent FordTrent Ford is a British-American actor and model.-Biography:Ford was born in Akron, Ohio to a US Navy test pilot father and an English mother from Birmingham...
as Benjamin Chow
Characters
- Ethan L. Haas was in love with his fiancée, Joanne Richman (Kasey Wilson), and planned the ultimate surprise party: a reunionClass reunionA class reunion is a meeting of former classmates, typically organized at or near their former school by one of the class on or around an anniversary of their graduation. Former teachers may be invited as well...
with their third gradeThird gradeIn the United States, third grade is a year of primary education. It is the third school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 8 – 9 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs....
classmates to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the day they met. However, Joanne felt he was smothering her and left. He is a pediatrician with a golden retrieverGolden RetrieverThe Golden Retriever is a medium-sized breed of dog. They were historically developed as gundogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties. As such, they were bred to have a soft mouth to retrieve game undamaged and have an instinctive love...
, like his ex-fiancée. He met a woman named Sue who mistook Ethan for a guy named Dan (Sue and Dan were going on a blind date). When Ethan decided to tell Sue the truth about him lying about his false identity at Oprah's birthday party (after many people, including Holly Ellenbogen, Perry Pearl and Kyle Lendo, called him by his real name), she dumped him. He has developed a strong friendship with Kat ever since Ethan was dumped by Joanne, and the two spend a lot of time with each other. He was the one who found out about Kat's boyfriend, Benjamin Chow, cheating on her with a girl named Susan, from Benjamin's son, Jonah, one of Ethan's patients. As of the end of the series, Ethan discovered he has romantic feelings for Kat and the storyline ended with him trying to pursue those feelings. - Kat Warbler is Lina's cynicalCynicismCynicism , in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics . Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and...
fraternal twin sister whose sarcasticSarcasmSarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
tongue hides her kind heart. She is a freelance photographer. She helps Ethan cope after he is dumped, and despite her cynicism, she seems attracted to him. The two share a strong friendship. Her birthday is adjacent to Son of Sam's. She dated a world-famous violinist named Benjamin Chow, whom she had stalked for months, until she found that he had another girlfriend named Susan. She broke up with him when she asked him about it. Her storyline ended with her appearing to have a one night standOne Night StandOne Night Stand is an HBO stand-up series that first aired on February 15, 1989. The half-hour series aired weekly and featured stand-up comedy specials from some of the top performing comedians. The series originally comprised 55 specials over the course of its four years on HBO...
with Duncan Carmello, after she visits his houseHouseA house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
to try to find her sister Lina who was at the hospital.
- Lina Warbler wears her heart on her sleeve and remains optimisticOptimismThe Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view." The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best." Being optimistic, in the typical sense...
about love. She is Kat Warbler's fraternal twin sister. She received the telephone call about Ethan's party just as she found her boyfriend, Adam, in her bed with another woman. At the party, she hit it off with Richie, but their budding relationship has encountered significant obstacles, particularly the revelation that Richie is married, although it seems that she has forgiven him. After their first date, Richie accidentally ran over Lina's feet with his car, breaking fifty-two bones and causing her to wear casts until the episode, "The Class Has To Go To A Stupid Museum". She also got lost in a hurricane and was sent flying into a hybridHybrid electric vehicleA hybrid electric vehicle is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional...
carČarČar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
holding her umbrella, which she said made her feel like Mary PoppinsMary Poppins (character)Mary Poppins is a fictional character and the protagonist of P. L. Travers' Mary Poppins books and all of its adaptations. She is a magical nanny of unknown origins who arrives at the Banks home in Cherry Tree Lane where she is given charge of the Banks children and teaches them valuable lessons...
. Lina is also a vegetarian. She later hosts a dinner party where she makes Moroccan chicken that tastes horrible, in Richie's words, "The HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
of Chickens". Lina and Richie became informally engaged at the end of the series. - Duncan Carmello was the well-liked boy in school, who is now a contractorGeneral contractorA general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
, but still lives with his mother, Tina Carmello. He had a relationship with Nicole Allen in high school, but dumped her, a decision he now regrets. In "The Class Has A Snowday", it was revealed that he dumped her because she was "being a bitch" the night of Valentine's Day. After they spend the night of the party together, he got a job renovating her house while trying to win her back. In "The Class Springs A Leak", he had finished the renovations, prompting Nicole to decide whether or not she wants to be with Yonk or Duncan; she chose Duncan. However, when Nicole expresses doubts about the relationship as Yonk is in the hospital, he refuses to leave the relationship in limbo. His storyline ended with him appearing to have a one night standOne Night StandOne Night Stand is an HBO stand-up series that first aired on February 15, 1989. The half-hour series aired weekly and featured stand-up comedy specials from some of the top performing comedians. The series originally comprised 55 specials over the course of its four years on HBO...
with Kat Warbler. - Kyle Lendo was a popular boy in school with whom all the girls were in love. He attended High School with classmate Holly Ellenbogen and was to take her to their senior promPromIn the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of the senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students...
, but stood her up, later getting caught in bed with another boy he knew from Spanish class, named Michael, at an afterparty. He has a live-in boyfriend, Aaron. One of the reasons he goes to the party is to make amends. He is a first grade teacher at an elite private schoolPrivate schoolPrivate schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
, named Pembridge Academy. He enjoys watching television, especially when Holly is reporting on the news. He has become good friends with Ethan since the party for Holly's daughter Oprah, when Ethan pretended to be someone named Dan Slutski. He also plays Racket Ball with Ethan. He appeared to lose contact with Holly after the episode, "The Class Runs Into A Convenience Store". - Richard (a.k.a. Richie) Brittany Velch was a quiet kid whose life has gone downhill since third grade. His suicide attempt was interrupted by Ethan's party invitation. He and Lina hit it off at the party, but Richie accidentally ran over her feet with his car afterwards. At the hospital, an angry Kat told him to stay away and he went back to finish his suicide. He was just swallowing the pills when Kat called to tell him the first thing Lina said was she wanted to see him again. Prior to the reunion, Richie had been a researcher at a pharmaceutical company, but had lost his job after blowing the whistle on his employer and had been forced to take a job trucking toxic wasteToxic wasteToxic waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It spreads quite easily and can contaminate lakes and rivers. The term is often used interchangeably with “hazardous waste”, or discarded material that can pose a long-term risk to health or environment.Toxic waste...
to a landfillLandfillA landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
in New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. He later reunited with Duncan Carmello, who was installing wheelchairWheelchairA wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
ramps in Lina's apartment. Duncan invited him to help renovate Nicole and Yonk Allen's house, and offered him a permanent position on the completion of that job. Though (unhappily) married when he met Lina, he left his wife, something that he had been trying to work up the courage to do for years. He informally asked Lina to marry him at the end of the series, and she accepted. In High SchoolHigh schoolHigh school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
he worked at the local Radio ShackRadio shackRadio shack is a slang term for a room or structure for housing radio equipment.-History:In the early days of radio, equipment was experimental and home-built. The first radio transmitters used a noisy spark to generate radio waves and were often housed in a garage or shed. When radio was first...
and had a crush on Melanie Deacon. - Nicole Allen (formerly Nicole Campbell) is a pretty woman who was popular in high school. She was in love with Duncan, but he dumped her on Valentine's Day. She is now the unfulfilled but loving trophy wifeTrophy wifeTrophy wife is an expression used to describe a wife, usually young and attractive, who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband, who is often older and affluent.-History:The term's etymological origins are disputed...
of former pro-football player Yonk Allen. After the party, she spent the night with Duncan but went back to her husband. When Duncan visited her house and pointed out how badly the house was built since it was his first job, Nicole relayed the condition of the house to her husband Yonk who had her hire Duncan to do the renovations. She was given a strippingStripteaseA striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
polePole dancePole dance is a form of performing art, a combination of dance and gymnastics. It involves dancing and performing acrobatic tricks with a vertical pole and is an increasingly popular form of fitness and dance, practised by many enthusiasts in gyms or dedicated dance studios...
for an anniversary gift from Yonk, which only showed how little he knew about her. In "The Class Springs A Leak", Nicole decides to leave Yonk for Duncan. In the final episode, however, she expresses doubt about whether she will be able to leave Yonk after his heart attack. It is unknown whether she left Yonk or not. - Holly Ellenbogen was Kyle Lendo's prom date, but her heart was broken when he cheated on her with another guy at the afterparty of their senior prom. She is now a successful television news reporter. She is married to Perry Pearl, an interior decorator, with whom she has a daughter, Oprah Pearl. Holly goes to the party to show Kyle how happy she is and rub it in his face. Her daughter eventually is admitted to Pembridge Academy and is enrolled in Kyle's first-grade class. Holly appears to be oblivious to her husband's embodiment of a flamboyantly gay stereotype, a running joke among the other classmates. She apparently gets this trait from her mother, who is also married to an effeminate man. She has not been seen on the show since "The Class Visits A Bad Neighborhood," where she was also taken out of the opening credits, when Lucy Punch left the show due to creative changes implemented by the executive producers. However, Perry makes an appearance hosting dinner with Nicole and Duncan in "The Class Has A Snowday" and a further appearance in "The Class Goes Back To A Hospital", confirming that Holly is okay, despite many fans beliefs and the cliffhanger from her final appearance in "The Class Visits A Bad Neighborhood" where Fern Velch says she is going to "get" her over the phone after Richie, at gun point, accidentally tells her that he is dating Holly, even though he is in fact dating Lina Warbler.
Recurring characters
- Tina Carmello: Duncan's mother. She means well but can sometimes be a bit overbearing. She did show understanding when Nicole came by to be with Duncan and she left them alone. She frequently appears at unexpected times, particularly when she is revealed to be eavesdroppingEavesdroppingEavesdropping is the act of secretly listening to the private conversation of others without their consent, as defined by Black's Law Dictionary...
while Duncan is having a telephone conversation, Duncan having been unaware that his mother was also on the line. Apparently, according to Duncan, she steals. - Yonk Allen: A legendary University of Tennessee and Philadelphia EaglesPhiladelphia EaglesThe Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
football player and barbecueBarbecueBarbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
grillGrill (cooking)A barbecue grill is a device for cooking food by applying heat directly from below. There are several varieties of such grills, with most falling into one of two categories: gas-fueled and charcoal. There is a great debate over the merits of charcoal or gas for use as the cooking method between...
(of which it turns out one in every fifty blow up) spokesmanSpokesmanA spokesperson or spokesman or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and...
. Seems to put his personal achievements, including playing in the Super BowlSuper BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, getting money for endorsing barbecue grills and having dinner at the White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, ahead of Nicole and be oblivious to her feelings. He is aware of his wife and Duncan's former relationship, and while uncomfortable, uses Duncan to get insights into his wife's psyche. Nicole is his third wife, the name of his first wife is unknown, while his second wife was a woman named Eileen with whom he is still in contact and for whom has previously mistaken Nicole. He has at least two daughters from previous marriages, one who is attractive and one who inherited his build and her mother's personality, she is named Penny Allen. He is also good friends with Jerry RiceJerry RiceJerry Lee Rice is a retired American football wide receiver. He is generally regarded as the greatest wide receiver of all time and one of the greatest players in National Football League history...
. In the end of "The Class Rides a Bull" episode, he has a heart attack when he finishes riding the bull after having lunch with Duncan and Richie, who suggested that they would ride the bull while Nicole was packing her things to move out. He undergoes a quintuple bypass surgeryCoronary artery bypass surgeryCoronary artery bypass surgery, also coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease...
. It is unknown if he is still alive. - Perry Pearl: Holly's husband, a highly effeminateEffeminacyEffeminacy describes traits in a human male, that are more often associated with traditional feminine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or gender roles rather than masculine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or roles....
man. Although Kyle and Aaron find him to be an amusing stereotype of a "gay" personality—he is very excitable, is the family gourmand, regularly instructs his wife on how to dress, and failed to hire puppeteers for his daughter's birthday party so he would have an excuse to put on his own sock-puppet musical review—he is a practising heterosexual. He appears to have a platonic boycrush on Aaron. Perry is an interior decorator, and was hired by Nicole Allen to redecorate her home. - Palmer Wyland: Ethan's ex-girlfriend. She went to art school with Kat, who strongly dislikes her. Palmer used to have a crush on Kat. She is also a photographer and usually takes pictures of fruit in costumes, which annoys Kat. She is known to be not so smart and her relationship with Ethan is more sexual than serious. They recently broke up.
- Fern Velch: Richie's ex-wife. She works as a cleaning lady in Lina's office. She was his first (and only) girlfriend in college. Richie has recently left her after years of unhappiness, to which she responded with a death threat to Holly Ellenbogen (for whom she thought Richie was leaving her). It was revealed in the episode "The Class Hits It" that Richie had only ever slept with Fern, and she literally booed him during intercourse. She also complained that it was like a damp, old man was dying on her.
- Aaron: Kyle's partner. Holly has difficulty understanding him, supposedly due to his heavy Hispanic accentAccent (linguistics)In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
(though in reality it is not very strong). He is not fond of Holly, but he tolerates her for Kyle's sake. He is a software engineer for an internet security company. Also, sometime after "The Class Hits It" he travels to ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and returns at the end of "The Class Goes Back To The Hospital". - Oprah Liza Pearl: Holly and Perry's daughter, whom Perry named after Oprah WinfreyOprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
and Liza MinnelliLiza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
. Her babysitter's name is Samantha. She has a birthday in the episode "The Class Celebrates a Birthday". She attends Pembridge Academy, where her teacher is Kyle Lendo. - Benjamin Chow: Kat's ex-boyfriend. Is an internationally known English violinist and was once stalked by Kat (he forgave her after he found out). He cheated on his girlfriend Susan with Kat. Benjamin also has a son named Jonah, who is a patient of Ethan's.
- Penny Allen: Yonk's daughter and Nicole's stepdaughter. Her biological mother is Yonk's first wife. She has been described as having Yonk's build and her mother's personality. Yonk nicknames her "ShrekShrek (character)Shrek is a fictional character from the children's book Shrek! and the Shrek films. He is the main protagonist of both the book and the films...
" and Duncan nicknames her "The Creature." She doesn't appreciate waiting for food.
Conception
The idea for The Class came about when show creators David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik were cleaning their basement and they found a box of David Crane's school photographs of him with his third grade class. The pair wondered what the third graders were like now and if they were happy with their lives or not.Due to the overwhelming reputation of the creators, CBS, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, and NBC made bids for a full 13-episode season, the latter network was also reported to have offered a 22 episode commitment, prior to seeing a pilot. Ultimately, CBS won the bidding war with an undisclosed amount.
Casting
In December 2005, English actress Lucy Punch was the first lead to be cast for the show.Next to be cast, in January 2006 were Jason Ritter and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Ethan Haas and Richie Velch respectively.
In February 2006, Jon Bernthal, Heather Goldenhersh, and Andrea Anders (who, at the time was still part of the cast of Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
spin off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
Joey
Joey (TV series)
Joey is an American sitcom, which stars Matt LeBlanc reprising his role as Joey Tribbiani from the sitcom Friends. It premiered on the NBC television network, on September 9, 2004, in the former time slot of its parent series, Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m...
, which was on hiatus) were cast as Duncan Carmello, Lina Warbler and Nicole Allen. Legendary sitcom director James Burrows was also announced to be directing the pilot.
In March 2006, Eve
Eve (TV series)
Eve is an American sitcom starring Eve, Jason Winston George, Ali Landry, Natalie Desselle-Reid, Brian Hooks and Sean Maguire. That aired on the UPN network from September 15, 2003 to May 11, 2006, with 66 episodes produced spanning 3 seasons...
co-star, Sean Maguire was cast as Kyle Lendo.
Last to be cast was Lizzy Caplan as the cynical Kat Warbler. Caplan was still part of The WB drama Related at the time. Related was cancelled due to the merger of UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
and The WB to create The CW.
Also, during the middle of 2006, it was announced that Julie Halston, Sam Harris, and David Keith had been cast in co-starring roles.
It was later announced, that Roseanne
Roseanne (TV series)
Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...
Broadcast history
The Class premiered at 8:00 p.m. on September 18, 2006 on CBS, after being picked up by CBS before they had even seen the pilot episode, The Class Reunites, possibly due to the reputation of its creators, one of which created Friends, the other, a producer of Mad About YouMad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
.
As of October 9, 2006, CBS shifted the show to the 8:30 p.m. time slot, because its disappointing ratings were affecting the success of How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
in its second year. The ratings then began to steadily improve, and, on Monday October 23, 2006, CBS ordered six more episodes of The Class, bringing the episode order for the first season to 19. No more episodes were picked up. The Class received a 19 episode order in place of 22 because CBS had, at the time, other shows to either finish their seasons or premiere. These shows were The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine is an American comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus which ran for five seasons on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010...
and Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement (TV series)
Rules of Engagement is a sitcom that debuted on CBS on February 5, 2007, as a midseason replacement, immediately following Two and a Half Men, in the time slot that was occupied by now-cancelled The New Adventures of Old Christine...
.
The Class was the first sitcom to show a live table read session and a live rehearsal. They were shown on Monday January 15, 2007 at 11am PST and Wednesday January 17, 2007 at 1pm PST, respectively. The webcasts were available after the live feed as well.
The Class ended its first season on March 5, 2007.
Cancellation
On May 11, 2007, Zap2It reported that The Class had been cancelled and it was rumored to be replaced by The New Adventures of Old ChristineThe New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine is an American comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus which ran for five seasons on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010...
. On May 15, 2007, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported, backing up Zap2It's reports, that The Class would not return for a second season. On May 16, 2007, The Class was officially cancelled at the CBS Upfront presentation, replacing it with The Big Bang Theory. On May 17, 2007, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Richie Velch) posted a message on his MySpace page relating to the cancellation, as did Sam Harris (Perry Pearl), explaining that the fate of The Class was undecided till the last minute.
Shortly after the cancellation, fans of the show launched a campaign to try to save The Class. The campaign proved to be unsuccessful. The campaign consisted of sending erasers, because of their connection to a school and education, and sending in printed off Moroccan Chicken recipes because of a memorable episode of The Class which saw Lina cooking Moroccan Chicken for Kat, Ethan, Benjamin, Palmer, Richie, Kyle, Duncan, and Nicole.
Standard ratings
| Episode # | Title | Air date | Rating | Share | 18–49 | Viewers | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Class Reunites" | September 18, 2006 | 6.9 | 11 | 3.7 | 10.60 | #42 |
| 2 | "The Class Visits a Hospital" | September 25, 2006 | 5.7 | 9 | 2.8 | 8.51 | #48 |
| 3 | "The Class Learns About Hurricanes" | October 2, 2006 | 5.5 | 9 | 2.8 | 8.00 | #55 |
| 4 | "The Class Blows The Whistle" | October 9, 2006 | 6.5 | 10 | 3.7 | 10.05 | #44 |
| 5 | "The Class Gets Frozen Yogurt" | October 16, 2006 | 5.6 | 8 | 3.1 | 8.70 | #51 |
| 6 | "The Class Goes Trick-or-Treating" | October 23, 2006 | 5.5 | 8 | 2.9 | 8.12 | #55 |
| 7 | "The Class Goes To a Bar" | November 6, 2006 | 4.9 | 7 | 2.9 | 7.70 | #58 |
| 8 | "The Class Celebrates a Birthday" | November 13, 2006 | 5.5 | 8 | 3.0 | 8.52 | #51 |
| 9 | "The Class Gives Thanks" | November 20, 2006 | 5.4 | 8 | 2.9 | 8.32 | #50 |
| 10 | "The Class Runs Into a Convenience Store" | November 27, 2006 | 5.5 | 8 | 3.1 | 8.71 | #47 |
| 11 | "The Class Celebrates an Anniversary" | December 11, 2006 | 5.5 | 8 | 3.1 | 8.74 | |
| 12 | "The Class Visits a Bad Neighbourhood" | January 8, 2007 | 5.1 | 7 | 2.9 | 7.76 | #53 |
| 13 | "The Class Hits It" | January 15, 2007 | 4.5 | 6 | 2.7 | 7.07 | #52 |
| 14 | "The Class Has To Go To a Stupid Museum" | January 22, 2007 | 5.7 | 8 | 3.2 | 8.99 | #29 |
| 15 | "The Class Eats Moroccan Chicken" | February 5, 2007 | 6.2 | 9 | 3.6 | 9.72 | #40 |
| 16 | "The Class Has a Snow Day" | February 12, 2007 | 5.9 | 9 | 3.3 | 8.97 | #45 |
| 17 | "The Class Springs a Leak" | February 19, 2007 | 5.5 | 8 | 3.3 | 8.80 | #39 |
| 18 | "The Class Rides a Bull" | February 26, 2007 | 5.7 | 9 | 3.5 | 8.90 | #44 |
| 19 | "The Class Goes Back To The Hospital" | March 5, 2007 | 5.8 | 9 | 3.2 | 8.77 | #34 |
Key: "Rating" is the estimated percentage of all TVs tuned to the show, "share" is the percentage of all TVs in use that are tuned in. "18–49" is the percentage of all 18–49 year olds watching the program. "Viewers" is the estimated number of actual people watching, in millions. "Rank" is the place in which the episode ranked up against all of the shows broadcast during the week that the episode was aired.
Seasonal ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of The Class on CBS:Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, or occasionally early June, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Series premiere | Series finale | TV season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
18–49 Rating/Share (rank) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 18, 2006 – October 2, 2006) Monday 8:30 P.M.(October 9, 2006 – March 5, 2007) |
September 18, 2006 | March 5, 2007 | 2006–2007 2006-07 United States network television schedule The following article details the developing fall prime time schedules for the United States six major English language broadcast networks. Following are lists of what programs have been either renewed or canceled by their networks, the new programs picked up by the networks, and a schedule grid... |
#65 | 8.4 | 3.0/8 (#61) |
Ratings competition
The Class aired against Prison BreakPrison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
on NBC, Wife Swap
Wife Swap
Wife Swap is a reality television program, originally produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert. It was first broadcast in 2003 on the UK's Channel 4. Since 2004, a US version has also been broadcast on the ABC network...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, and All of Us
All of Us
All of Us is an American sitcom that premiered on the now-defunct UPN network in the United States on September 16, 2003, where it aired for its first three seasons. October 1, 2006, the show moved to The CW, a new network formed by the merger of UPN and The WB All of Us is an American sitcom that...
on The CW. During the first few episodes The Class was up against 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...
and then Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris is an African American television period sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock , while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York . The show is set from 1982 to 1987; however, Rock himself was a teenager during years...
. The Class consistently surpassed Wife Swap, All of Us, 7th Heaven, and Everybody Hates Chris in the ratings.
Critical reaction
The Class received generally mixed reviews, receiving a rating of 59 from MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. The most positive reviews were received from The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
. Many critics heavily praised the performances of Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Kat Warbler and Richie Velch.
Critical comments
| Publisher | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| |
|||
| The Philadelphia Inquirer | The best sitcom this year, and one of the best in a lot of years. | ||
| USA Today USA Today USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003... |
Juggling such a large ensemble won't be easy, and the producers have to guard against crowding too many stories together at the cost of depth and development.... If they can get the balance right, though, Class should be an ideal fit for CBS' successful Monday lineup. | ||
| Orlando Sentinel Orlando Sentinel The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008... |
Not since Friends Friends Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television... has a comedy been blessed with so many appealing performers matched to sharply drawn characters. |
||
| Hollywood Reporter | In addition to some screwball comedy, it also has a lot of heart. | ||
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:... |
Cute but not cloying, funny but not overflowing with gratuitous sex jokes, The Class earns a B+, which easily puts it in contention for valedictorian among fall 2006's freshman comedies. | ||
| |
|||
| Boston Globe | The Class will never be smart, or clever, or original, but it does have a chance of becoming inoffensive and diverting. | ||
| Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle Post-Intelligencer The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area... |
Hang out for a while... and you may quickly realize why you didn't stay in touch with most of your fellow third-graders. People like these suck the life out of you. | ||
| Kansas City Star | The punchlines fell flat more often than not. | ||
| Time | Almost none of |
||
| San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,... |
The best that The Class can muster is a kind of cookie-cutter familiarity (also known as lameness) that gets prodded by the laugh track to make everyone at home feel like a good time is being had. It's not. | ||
| Washington Post | The Class has very little. Considerably worse than being classless, however, is being laughless, at least if you happen to be a sitcom, and The Class does, albeit one that's about as rib-tickling as a migraine. | ||
Race
The show has been criticized because it does not contain a single non-whiteWhite people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
lead despite being set in Philadelphia
Demographics of Philadelphia
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,517,550 people, 590,071 households, and 352,272 families residing in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The population density was 4,337.3/km²...
, a city with a large black population. The creators of the show have defended this charge, saying that two of the characters, twin sisters, Lina and Kat, are adopted by Korean parents (which, by the end of the series, turned out not to have been covered by the storyline), and "...when we wrote the script, we wrote it color-blind." Television columnist Lisa de Moraes
Lisa de Moraes
Lisa de Moraes is an American television columnist. Her writings, titled "The TV Column," appear regularly in the Style section of The Washington Post....
does not believe this, saying that David Crane
David Crane (television)
David Crane is an American writer and producer. He is one of the creators of the TV sitcom Friends, along with his longtime friend Marta Kauffman....
has used the color-blind excuse since Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
.
Awards
The Class won the Favorite New TV Comedy Award at the 33rd People's Choice Awards33rd People's Choice Awards
The 33rd People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2006, were held on January 9, 2007 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California...
. It was up against 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
and 'Til Death
'Til Death
’Til Death is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive-producers...
. 30 Rock and
The Class was also nominated by the Art Director's Guild for Excellence in Production Design for a Multi Camera Television Series, this was for the Pilot episode, The Class Reunites. Mad TV
Mad TV
Mad TV may refer to:*MADtv, an American sketch comedy television series based on Mad magazine*Mad TV , a 1991 German television station management simulation game*MAD TV , a Greek music channel-See also:...
won the award.
In July 2007, The Class was nominated for the 59th Primetime Emmy Award
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
in the category of Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series, the show lost to How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
.
Won
- People's Choice Award — Favorite New TV Comedy: Also Nominated: 30 Rock30 Rock30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
, 'Til Death'Til Death’Til Death is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive-producers...
Nominated
- Art Directors GuildArt Directors GuildThe Art Directors Guild is an American labor union and branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees representing almost 2,000 motion picture and television professionals....
— Excellence in Production Design for a Multi Camera Television Series: for the episode "The Class Reunites" - Emmy Award59th Primetime Emmy AwardsThe 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
— Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series: for the episode "The Class Reunites"
External links
- TV Series Finale – An article on show's future as of March 3, 2007