''Worst Week'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

television series that premiered on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

on September 22, 2008. The series was based on the British sitcom '' The Worst Week of My Life''. It was adapted for American audiences by

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

under the title ''Worst Week of My Life'', but a series didn't materialize after the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

was filmed. The series aired on

Mondays at 9:30pm ET/PT, following ''

Two and a Half Men Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn that aired on CBS for 12 seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. The series originally starred Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper, a hedonis ...

''. The premiere attracted 11 million viewers but lost a third of its lead-in audience. Ratings dropped to a low of 8.4 million viewers with the sixth episode, but then began to climb steadily, reaching a high of 12.12 million viewers with the eleventh episode before declining again. On May 20, 2009, CBS cancelled the series after one season and the series finale aired on June 6, 2009.

Cast

Main characters

* Kyle Bornheimer as Samuel "Sam" Briggs * Erinn Hayes as Melanie "Mel" Clayton-Briggs *

Nancy Lenehan Nancy Lenehan (born April 26, 1953) is an American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1980 action comedy film ''Smokey and the Bandit II'' and later had supporting roles in films '' She's Having a Baby'' (1988), '' Pleasantvi ...

as Angela Clayton *

Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in '' Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) and '' That '90s Show' ...

as Richard "Dick" Clayton

Recurring characters

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for the FX (TV channel), FX comedy series ''The League'' (2009–2015), creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'' (20 ...

as Adam * Jessica St. Clair as Sarah *

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...

as Phil * Parris Mosteller as Scotty * Brooke Nevin as Chloe Clayton *

RonReaco Lee RonReaco Lee (born August 27, 1977) is an American television and film actor best known for his roles as Tyreke Scott on the ABC/The WB sitcom '' Sister, Sister'', and as Jamal Woodson on the BET romantic comedy '' Let's Stay Together''. From 2 ...

as David Clayton * Hayes McArthur as Chad *

Fred Willard Frederick Charles Willard Jr. (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984), ''Waiting for Guffman'' (1996), ''Be ...

as Paul Briggs *

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, in some 60 films, and in approximately 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in the ...

as June Clayton * Phillip Baker Hall as Reverend Lowell

Episodes

Critical reception

Verne Gay of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' graded it A and said it "may be the best new comedy on network TV this season." Less enthusiastic was Tim Goodman of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', who said, "Though there are plenty of hard-earned (some might say forced) laughs here and Bornheimer is a real find, you can't help but wonder how they'll keep up the pace. After all, the British series ran for only two seasons and had a mere seven episodes each season...So how is CBS going to stretch this into 22 episodes without stretching it too thin?...In many ways, ''Worst Week'' seems incapable of being made into an American version (there were previous attempts that failed), because not only does the title not make sense, but not having a payoff for all the freaky, not-so-karmic woes Sam endures will be frustrating to the viewing audience . . . tis a series that may end up being on a short leash." Linda Stasi of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' called it "one of the worst new shows of the week" and added, "Only a man (or a couple of them) could get paid big bucks in Hollywood to come up with such a lame-o rip-off and perpetuate the fantasy that gorgeous women can't help but to love out-of-shape guys who do everything wrong."

Home media

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released a DVD of the complete series.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Worst Week 2000s American single-camera sitcoms 2008 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings Television shows set in Virginia Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Universal Television American television series based on British television series CBS sitcoms American English-language television shows Television series by Hat Trick Productions