Just Shoot Me!
Encyclopedia
Just Shoot Me! is an American
television
sitcom
that aired for seven seasons on NBC
from March 4, 1997 to August 16, 2003, with 148 episodes produced. The show was created by Steven Levitan
, the show's executive producer
.
, a feminist writer, who reluctantly takes a job at the glamour magazine, owned by her father, the Donald Trump
-like Jack Gallo played by George Segal
(who in the story has a rivalry with Donald Trump). The cast includes womanizing (and usually over-sensitive) photographer Elliot DiMauro (Enrico Colantoni
), and the heavy drinking and sexually promiscuous ex-model Nina Van Horn (Wendie Malick
).
After the show's original pilot for NBC
, David Spade
was added to the cast as smart-mouthed assistant Dennis Finch. While the show had been designed as something of a vehicle for San Giacomo, it developed into more of an ensemble format. The show has also been credited as bringing a surge of renewed popularity for Segal and Malick, who had been out of the public eye for some time up until Just Shoot Me!. Every episode of the 148-episode, seven season run features all five regular cast members.
The first season also includes Chris Hogan
as Maya's roommate, Wally, who was dropped when the show quickly solidified as a workplace sitcom, making the Mary-Rhoda
dynamic obsolete. Hogan did not appear in all six episodes of the first season and was only included in a few minutes of some episodes. Brian Posehn
appears as mail clerk Kevin Liotta (Ray Liotta
's cousin) through much of the last four seasons. Rena Sofer
, the only regular added during the run of the show, plays young fashion savant Vicki Costa during the final season. Also in the final season, Simon Templeman
plays the recurring role of British rock star Simon Leeds, who has a relationship with Nina.
Notable actors appearing in a recurring or guest star capacity include Rebecca Romijn
(as supermodel Adrienne Barker, Spade's TV wife), Brian Dennehy
(as Dennis' father who gets engaged to Nina in an episode), David Cross
(as Elliot's younger brother who pretends to be mentally disabled), Rhoda Gemignani, Brooke Shields
as Nina's younger sister, Cybill Shepherd
, Stephen Root
, Steve Carell
, Tom Kenny
, Dana Carvey
, Ana Gasteyer
, Jim Wise
, Tiffani Thiessen
, Andy Dick
, Gina Gershon
, Dave Foley
, Ali Larter
, Penn Jillette
, Kevin Sorbo
, Kathy Lee Gifford, Mark Hamill
, Valerie Perrine
, George Lucas
, Amy Sedaris
, Kadeem Hardison
, Willie Garson
, Melissa Rivers
, French Stewart
, Carmen Electra
, Ray Liotta
, Snoop Dogg
, Judy Greer
and Paul Parducci
as Deke "The Dekester" Williams. Models who make guest appearances on the show include Tyra Banks
, Stephanie Romanov
, Amber Smith
, Paige Brooks
, Daphne Duplaix, Cassidy Rae
, Cheryl Tiegs
, and Rebecca Chaney.
The show is rooted in Levitan's earlier career as a writer for The Larry Sanders Show
. He had once conceived of a story about Janeane Garofalo
's character having to sit and talk with a vapid model with whom she had nothing in common. The idea went unproduced, but Levitan liked the dynamic and later used the idea to develop a pitch for NBC
. Garofalo's persona would become a template for Maya Gallo.
, and then was moved in the spring to Thursdays between Friends and Seinfeld
. After just two of these airings, the order was bumped up to a full season. When Seinfeld
left the airwaves in 1998, Just Shoot Me! was one of the contenders to take the coveted 9 p.m. Thursday slot. Frasier
instead won the slot, and Just Shoot Me was instead given Frasiers 9 p.m. Tuesday slot.
Just Shoot Me! was never given a definitive time slot during its series run. The show ended up being moved around to various slots on the NBC schedule. It still retained good ratings, though: in its fourth season, it was the top-rated show for NBC Tuesday nights and had an average rating of 6.1/16 share.
For the fifth season of the series, when Frasier underperformed in the coveted Thursday slot and NBC returned that show to Tuesdays at 9, Just Shoot Me! was moved to Thursdays at 9:30, between Will & Grace
and ER
, where ratings saw an immediate (though expected) spike and where the show would remain for two years.
The show's seventh season saw several drastic changes that inevitably led to its cancellation. Series showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio left the show at the end of the sixth season to pursue a development deal with NBC, and were replaced with Jon Pollack
(Spin City
, Home Improvement) and Judd Pillot and John Peaslee (Coach
, Anything but Love
). Also noted as a big factor was the addition of Rena Sofer
to the cast. Her addition was mandated by NBC, who had sought a successful vehicle for her for years. At the same time, NBC also gave the show one of its most difficult timeslots, Tuesdays at 8 pm. Ratings fell sharply in the first few weeks, and the show was put on hiatus by November, showing only one new episode until the following April. During this time, production resumed, but Sofer's character was written out immediately. By this point, NBC had canceled the show, and promised Levitan to run the remaining episodes twice a week until the series finale. When the first of such installments was not as successful as NBC had hoped with its "Return of Just Shoot Me!" campaign, the show was again pulled, and new episodes were burned off in the summer, the final pair of episodes airing on a Saturday in August 2003. Three more episodes, including Sofer's farewell episode, were not aired in the United States until their respective slots in syndicated airings. Levitan publicly denounced NBC's treatment of a former Must-See TV show and refused production deals for several years.
. Maya was largely portrayed as a hot-tempered, sassy journalist
who took a job at the fictional glamour fashion magazine Blush, which happened to be owned by her father Jack Gallo, in the pilot after she was fired for tampering with an anchorwoman's teleprompter
and making her cry on the air. She was a dichotomy
on several levels, with her headstrong smarts coupled against a naïveté about life and sometimes even love. Maya frowned upon men looking at women solely as objects of sexual desire, and in keeping with her feminist views, instead encouraged people to admire women for their intelligence or other attributes. Unfortunately for her, this was not a popular view for a fashion magazine and it therefore put her at odds with much of the magazine's staff thus providing much of the comedic conflict of the series.
She is sometimes mistaken for a Puerto Rican. Her birthday is January 1 (In the episode "Nina Van Grandma" her birthday is (mistakenly) placed in the summer; Jack's line is "I was in that delivery room 14 hours on the hottest day of the year..... then why did it snow today"). Maya was often shown dating
on the show. She and Elliot were a couple for quite some time, and they were briefly engaged. Among her other dates were Michael Tenzer (David Rasche
), Chris (Dean Cain
), Ray Liotta
and another man named Chris (Joe Rogan
). Although she was involved in several relationships, she was never depicted getting (legally) married in the series. She is also very skilled at pitching; when she pitched a baseball to Dennis Finch, he thinks his hand is broken. Also disclosed in the same episode, If Maya starts pitching, she can't stop (she wanted to practice softball with Finch in the rain).
, is the owner and publisher of Blush. During his daughter Maya's childhood, Jack was an absent workaholic. The relationship between the two of them develops throughout the series reaching its pinnacle when he hands the magazine over to Maya in the series finale after retiring. When extolling the virtues of an assistant to Maya, he notes that an assistant (in his case Finch) can even become one's "best friend," although the sentiment was slightly dulled by his use of the pronoun "it" to refer to the hypothetical assistant (and therefore to Finch).
Jack is four times divorced, although he was married to Maya's high school classmate Allie for the first half of the series. They have a daughter (Maya's half-sister) named Hannah who was born in the first episode, "Look Who's Coming to Blush". Jack has a running contest with Donald Trump
as to who is, among other topics, the smartest, the richest, and the best gift giver.
In "The Book of Jack", Finch refers to Jack as "Jackson Gilbert Gallo".
), portrayed by Wendie Malick
, was a cover girl in the 1970s and 1980s, and found that when she retired, people forgot her as quickly as they knew her. In a special Biography
program about her, Pat Sajak
says that no one is able to guess her name and the contestants are sent home. Due to her former status as a supermodel, she has been plagued by an obsession to party all night long and to return to work the following morning with a hangover. Her partying once caused her to die in 1986 (to which she responded, "it was only for 12 minutes, I'm obviously fine!"). Nina is considered an alcoholic partially due to her casual nip of alcohol during the day at work. She is also, if no longer an addict, extremely experienced in recreational pharmacy with a wide knowledge of (and access to) uppers, downers, mood regulators and hallucinogenic compounds (she is able to identify not only that a Chinese sweet Lemon Wacky Hello is a hallucinogen, but also its chemical make up, by taste alone). Her slow witted and even foolish demeanor create a lot of embarrassing situations for her character. She is understood to be promiscuous and possibly bisexual.
Nina is obsessed with her age and looks. In one episode, she mentioned that she had the telephone number of a plastic surgeon on speed dial, and when her age is nearly revealed over the P.A., she runs into Jack's office to destroy the P.A. so nobody will know her age. Throughout the run of the show she was vaguely in her late forties to early fifties, once blurting out that life's no fun at fifty (EP: "Sid and Nina").
In most seasons Nina constantly talks about her friend Binny. She is almost never seen but is heard about all the time. This usually leads to groans by other members of Blush who have to listen. In the episode "Bye Bye Binny", we hear that Binny dies and Nina must face the fact that she lost her only friend. At one point, she mentions that she was the one who broke up music bands such as The Eagles and the Jackson 6 (as well as having toured with Iggy Pop). Binny appears as a ghost to Nina in "Strange Bedfellows", but her face is almost never shown. The exception is a black-and-white clip, when her face was partly bandaged after a facelift.
, is a photographer for Blush who often dates the models. Elliot was "discovered" by Jack, who found him selling his photography on the street, which all happens before the series begins. He also dated Maya for a period of time. In one episode, when he reveals that he is not allowed to vote in an election, he reveals that he was once arrested and spent time in jail. In a season four episode, it is revealed that he had planned to propose to a former girlfriend but as he was buying flowers, he was subsequently the victim of a hit-and-run — the driver turned out to be Nina. Though Elliot was angry at Nina for ruining his chances (he and his girlfriend's relationship ended the night of the accident), upon meeting his ex later, Elliot discovered that his ex-girlfriend had three husbands who died in accidents involving boats. Elliot also has a brother (in the episode "Slow Donnie") named Donnie (played by David Cross
). When they were kids, Elliot accidentally threw a frisbee
into a tree
. Donnie climbed up the tree to get the frisbee, but slipped and fell out. From then on, his brain
had been severely damaged, so he was almost retarded. In the episode, it is Donnie's birthday
. Elliot invited Maya along and while at the party, Donnie reveals to Maya (with no-one else in the room) that he is faking to have everything done for him and so he doesn't need to pay for anything (he still lives with his parents).
. Born in Albany, New York (of Norwegian ancestry), Dennis attended Hudson River Junior College where he joined the cheerleading
team. In general, Finch has been described as “a self-centered horny pig who’d stop at nothing to get laid.” Surreptitiously, Dennis writes articles for the “Dear Miss Pretty” advice column. Dennis used to compete in figure skating
, as revealed in the season 3 episode, 'Softball'. Dennis also likes to collect action figures and ceramic kittens. He lives in an apartment, number 803, in New York City, NY (Manhattan
). He is also known to have a fear of owls from his mother's side. He works as the executive assistant of Blush owner Jack Gallo, toward whom he has a slavish devotion (he once claimed he expected to be buried with Jack) and with whom he has a virtually telepathic rapport, enabling him to foresee Gallo's every need and provide answers to even his vaguest questions (i.e. "What's that song that I like?"). He also has a seemingly mystical ability to tell when something sexual is happening or even being mentioned; for example, he was able to figure out that Maya and Elliot were in a relationship simply by mentally comparing Elliot's bite mark on an apple he was eating with a hickey on Maya's neck, as well as seemingly appearing to cross a massive distance across countries to appear in a room just as Maya was propositioned by a photographer. In season three, he marries a supermodel. Highly intelligent, as a child he was able to hack into a German bank and steal $18,000 worth of Deutsche Mark as disclosed in season 3; he also reveals in the season 2 episode "Jack's Old Partner" that he is so adept at twisting tax laws to favor him that the previous year, the IRS paid him 20 thousand dollars not to grow corn.
on a recurring basis, was the mail guy at Blush and in the show's fifth season is revealed to be a cousin of film actor Ray Liotta
. He is known for having an obsessive crush on Nina Van Horn, which often disturbed her. However, in one episode he develops a brief crush on Maya, about which she becomes disturbed after initially thinking when he was still interested in Nina that she should give him a chance. He is also revealed to be a very good operatic singer, which Jack discovers.
, was hired by Jack and worked at Blush for part of the seventh and final season.
, which produced the series also handles syndication rights to the series, and since 2008 has done so in tandem with The Program Exchange
, and distributed the series for broadcast television stations around the United States starting in September 2002; the series continues to be aired in broadcast syndication, but is aired in fewer markets than when the series was first rolled out into syndication.
Syndicated versions do not show each season's respective opening title sequences, instead using the opening titles used during the sixth and seventh seasons for all episodes; the opening titles from seasons one through five have not been seen in television airings since the NBC network run. The opening titles are also often shown at different points of the opening scene, depending on the episode, than they were shown in the original broadcasts, and occasional scenes (particularly in episodes from earlier seasons) in some episodes are edited in such a manner that a scene might end earlier than it did in the original airings, often switching to the magazine cover shots very quickly.
has released the first 3 seasons of Just Shoot Me! on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. Season three was released on February 24, 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
that aired for seven seasons on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
from March 4, 1997 to August 16, 2003, with 148 episodes produced. The show was created by Steven Levitan
Steven Levitan
Steven E. Levitan is an American director, screenwriter and producer of television comedies. He has created such TV series as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, and Modern Family....
, the show's executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
.
Description
The show follows the staff at the fictional fashion magazine Blush. The show originally centers on Maya Gallo, played by Laura San GiacomoLaura San Giacomo
Laura San Giacomo is an American actress known for playing the role of Maya Gallo on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! and Kit De Luca in the film Pretty Woman, and Cynthia in sex, lies, and videotape as well as other work on television and in films...
, a feminist writer, who reluctantly takes a job at the glamour magazine, owned by her father, the Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
-like Jack Gallo played by George Segal
George Segal
George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
(who in the story has a rivalry with Donald Trump). The cast includes womanizing (and usually over-sensitive) photographer Elliot DiMauro (Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
), and the heavy drinking and sexually promiscuous ex-model Nina Van Horn (Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On , Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! , Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier and Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland .-Early...
).
After the show's original pilot for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, David Spade
David Spade
David Wayne Spade is an American actor, comedian and television personality who first became famous in the 1990s as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and from 1997 until 2003 when he starred as Dennis Finch on Just Shoot Me!. He also starred as C.J...
was added to the cast as smart-mouthed assistant Dennis Finch. While the show had been designed as something of a vehicle for San Giacomo, it developed into more of an ensemble format. The show has also been credited as bringing a surge of renewed popularity for Segal and Malick, who had been out of the public eye for some time up until Just Shoot Me!. Every episode of the 148-episode, seven season run features all five regular cast members.
The first season also includes Chris Hogan
Chris Hogan
Chris Hogan is an American comic actor. Hogan is most notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv, and for the character of Aubrey Pitman, one of Dick Solomon's students, on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.-Biography:Chris Hogan grew up in...
as Maya's roommate, Wally, who was dropped when the show quickly solidified as a workplace sitcom, making the Mary-Rhoda
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
dynamic obsolete. Hogan did not appear in all six episodes of the first season and was only included in a few minutes of some episodes. Brian Posehn
Brian Posehn
Brian Edmund Posehn is an American actor, voice actor, musician and comedian, known for his roles as mail clerk Kevin Liotta on NBC's Just Shoot Me!, a cast member and writer on HBO's Mr. Show, and most recently as Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.-Early life:Posehn...
appears as mail clerk Kevin Liotta (Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
's cousin) through much of the last four seasons. Rena Sofer
Rena Sofer
Rena Sherel Sofer is an American actress, primarily known for her appearances in daytime television, episodic guest appearances, and made-for-television movies...
, the only regular added during the run of the show, plays young fashion savant Vicki Costa during the final season. Also in the final season, Simon Templeman
Simon Templeman
Simon Templeman is an English voice actor known for his role as Kain in the video game series "Legacy of Kain", and as Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir in Dragon Age: Origins. He is also known as Simon Templeton. He is married to character actress Rosalind Chao with whom he has a son and daughter.- Animated...
plays the recurring role of British rock star Simon Leeds, who has a relationship with Nina.
Notable actors appearing in a recurring or guest star capacity include Rebecca Romijn
Rebecca Romijn
Rebecca Alie Romijn is an American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, and for her recurring role as Alexis Meade on the television series Ugly Betty.-Early life:...
(as supermodel Adrienne Barker, Spade's TV wife), Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
(as Dennis' father who gets engaged to Nina in an episode), David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
(as Elliot's younger brother who pretends to be mentally disabled), Rhoda Gemignani, Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
as Nina's younger sister, Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll on The L...
, Stephen Root
Stephen Root
Stephen Root is an American actor. He is best known for his comedic work on the TV sitcom NewsRadio, in the film Office Space and as the voice of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland in the animated series King of the Hill...
, Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, Tom Kenny
Tom Kenny
Thomas James "Tom" Kenny is an American actor, voice actor and comedian. He is especially known for his long-running-role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the television series of the same name, as well as the live-action character Patchy the Pirate, Gary the Snail and the French narrator based on...
, Dana Carvey
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for playing the role of Garth in the Wayne's World movies.-Early life:...
, Ana Gasteyer
Ana Gasteyer
Ana Kristina Gasteyer is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Early life:...
, Jim Wise
Jim Wise
Jim Wise is an American actor, voice actor, writer and composer. He is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Coach Tugnut in the Disney Channel Original Series Even Stevens....
, Tiffani Thiessen
Tiffani Thiessen
Tiffani Thiessen is an American actress best known for her roles as Kelly Kapowski in Saved by the Bell and as Valerie Malone in Beverly Hills, 90210. She is also known for her role on Fastlane as Wilhelmina 'Billie' Chambers...
, Andy Dick
Andy Dick
Andrew R. "Andy" Dick is an American comedian, actor, musician and television/film producer. His first regular television role was on the short-lived but highly influential Ben Stiller Show. In the mid-1990s, he had a long-running stint on NBC's NewsRadio...
, Gina Gershon
Gina Gershon
Gina L. Gershon is an American film, television and stage actress, singer and author, known for her roles in the films Cocktail , Showgirls , Bound , Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back , Face/Off , The Insider , Demonlover , Category 7: The End of the World , P.S...
, Dave Foley
Dave Foley
David Scott "Dave" Foley is a Canadian comedian, writer, director, and producer best known for his work in The Kids in the Hall, NewsRadio, A Bug's Life, and Celebrity Poker Showdown...
, Ali Larter
Ali Larter
Alison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the dual roles of Niki Sanders and Jessica Sanders on the NBC science fiction drama Heroes as well as her guest roles on several television shows in the 1990s.Larter's screen debut came in the 1999 film...
, Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette
Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, comedian, illusionist, juggler, bassist and a best-selling author known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and scientific skepticism.-Early...
, Kevin Sorbo
Kevin Sorbo
Kevin David Sorbo is an American actor best known for the roles of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.-Early life:...
, Kathy Lee Gifford, Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
, Valerie Perrine
Valerie Perrine
- Life and career :Perrine was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of Winifred , a dancer who appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities, and Kenneth Perrine, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. Owing to her father's career, Perrine lived in many locations as the family moved to different...
, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Amy Sedaris
Amy Sedaris
Amy Louise Sedaris is an American actress, author, and comedian. She is known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris...
, Kadeem Hardison
Kadeem Hardison
Kadeem Hardison is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dwayne Wayne on A Different World, a spin-off of the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show.-Childhood:...
, Willie Garson
Willie Garson
Willie Garson is an American character actor. He has appeared in over 50 movies, usually playing minor roles...
, Melissa Rivers
Melissa Rivers
Melissa Joan Rivers is an American television host, producer and the daughter of Joan Rivers.-Early life:Rivers was born Melissa Warburg Rosenberg in Manhattan on January 20, 1968; the only child of Joan Rivers and Edgar Rosenberg...
, French Stewart
French Stewart
Milton French Stewart , better known by his stage name French Stewart, is an American actor, best known for his role as Harry Solomon on the 1990s sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.-Early life:...
, Carmen Electra
Carmen Electra
Tara Leigh Patrick , professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, actress, television personality, singer, and dancer...
, Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
, Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
, Judy Greer
Judy Greer
Judy Greer is an American actress, known for portraying a string of supporting female characters, including Kitty Sanchez on the Fox series Arrested Development and Cheryl on the animated comedy series Archer...
and Paul Parducci
Paul Parducci
Paul Parducci is an American actor, film director, writer and producer. As a television and film actor he is best known for playing edgy authority figures and blue collar heroes on shows like Desperate Housewives and NYPD Blue and films like Hitman's Run. As a writer and director he displays a...
as Deke "The Dekester" Williams. Models who make guest appearances on the show include Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...
, Stephanie Romanov
Stephanie Romanov
Stephanie A. Romanov is an American model and actress, best known for playing Lilah Morgan on Angel.-Career:She first began modeling in Europe and was discovered at 15 by Elite Model Management founder, John Casablancas. Her first professional modeling job was in Europe, shooting fashion layouts...
, Amber Smith
Amber Smith
-Early life:The daughter of professional American football player Russ Smith and Carol Smith, Smith started modeling by age 16. As a teenager she traveled to Paris, France, where she worked as a model throughout Europe for four years...
, Paige Brooks
Paige Brooks
Paige Brooks is a professional actress, spokesperson, international model, dancer, and vocalist from Mobile, Alabama.After graduating with honors from preparatory school, Brooks studied at Tulane University in New Orleans where she graduated with honors with a B.A. in Communication/Broadcast...
, Daphne Duplaix, Cassidy Rae
Cassidy Rae
Cassidy Rae, born 7 June 1976 in Clermont, Florida, is a former American actress. She starred in the made-for-television movie Crowned and Dangerous with Yasmine Bleeth in 1997....
, Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...
, and Rebecca Chaney.
The show is rooted in Levitan's earlier career as a writer for The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...
. He had once conceived of a story about Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...
's character having to sit and talk with a vapid model with whom she had nothing in common. The idea went unproduced, but Levitan liked the dynamic and later used the idea to develop a pitch for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Garofalo's persona would become a template for Maya Gallo.
Series history
Early on, the series was a very competitive hit, consistently winning its time slot. The show was so popular that its first season of six episodes were all aired by NBC in a single month in March 1997. It was renewed for a 13-episode second season, fitted at 9:30 after FrasierFrasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, and then was moved in the spring to Thursdays between Friends and Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. After just two of these airings, the order was bumped up to a full season. When Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
left the airwaves in 1998, Just Shoot Me! was one of the contenders to take the coveted 9 p.m. Thursday slot. Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
instead won the slot, and Just Shoot Me was instead given Frasiers 9 p.m. Tuesday slot.
For the fifth season of the series, when Frasier underperformed in the coveted Thursday slot and NBC returned that show to Tuesdays at 9, Just Shoot Me! was moved to Thursdays at 9:30, between Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
and ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, where ratings saw an immediate (though expected) spike and where the show would remain for two years.
The show's seventh season saw several drastic changes that inevitably led to its cancellation. Series showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio left the show at the end of the sixth season to pursue a development deal with NBC, and were replaced with Jon Pollack
Jon Pollack
Jonathan Pollack is an American television producer and writer.Pollack has worked on shows such as Spin City, Just Shoot Me!, Father of the Pride, Joey, Andy Barker, P.I., Home Improvement and 30 Rock...
(Spin City
Spin City
Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike...
, Home Improvement) and Judd Pillot and John Peaslee (Coach
Coach (TV series)
Coach is an American television sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997. The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team, the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles...
, Anything but Love
Anything but Love
Anything But Love was an American television sitcom, which aired on ABC from March 7, 1989 to June 3, 1992, spanning four seasons and 56 episodes. The show starred Richard Lewis as Marty Gold and Jamie Lee Curtis as Hannah Miller, coworkers at a Chicago magazine with a mutual romantic attraction to...
). Also noted as a big factor was the addition of Rena Sofer
Rena Sofer
Rena Sherel Sofer is an American actress, primarily known for her appearances in daytime television, episodic guest appearances, and made-for-television movies...
to the cast. Her addition was mandated by NBC, who had sought a successful vehicle for her for years. At the same time, NBC also gave the show one of its most difficult timeslots, Tuesdays at 8 pm. Ratings fell sharply in the first few weeks, and the show was put on hiatus by November, showing only one new episode until the following April. During this time, production resumed, but Sofer's character was written out immediately. By this point, NBC had canceled the show, and promised Levitan to run the remaining episodes twice a week until the series finale. When the first of such installments was not as successful as NBC had hoped with its "Return of Just Shoot Me!" campaign, the show was again pulled, and new episodes were burned off in the summer, the final pair of episodes airing on a Saturday in August 2003. Three more episodes, including Sofer's farewell episode, were not aired in the United States until their respective slots in syndicated airings. Levitan publicly denounced NBC's treatment of a former Must-See TV show and refused production deals for several years.
Nielsen ratings
| Season | Episodes | Timeslot (ET) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Tuesday 9:30 Wednesday 9:30 |
March 4, 1997 | March 26, 1997 | #64 | 8.10 |
| 2 | 25 | Tuesday 9:30 Thursday 8:30 |
September 23, 1997 | May 12, 1998 | #12 | 11.66 |
| 3 | 25 | Tuesday 9:00 | September 22, 1998 | May 25, 1999 | #37 | 11.40 |
| 4 | 24 | Tuesday 8:00 Tuesday 9:30 |
September 21, 1999 | May 16, 2000 | #53 | 11.70 |
| 5 | 22 | Thursday 9:30 | October 12, 2000 | May 10, 2001 | #19 | 15.61 |
| 6 | 22 | September 27, 2001 | May 2, 2002 | #20 | 14.40 | |
| 7 | 24 (21 aired) | Tuesday 8:00 Tuesday 8:30 Saturday 8:00 Saturday 8:30 |
October 8, 2002 | August 16, 2003 | #107 | 6.39 |
Cast
- Enrico ColantoniEnrico ColantoniEnrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
– Elliot DiMauro - David SpadeDavid SpadeDavid Wayne Spade is an American actor, comedian and television personality who first became famous in the 1990s as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and from 1997 until 2003 when he starred as Dennis Finch on Just Shoot Me!. He also starred as C.J...
– Dennis Finch - George SegalGeorge SegalGeorge Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
– Jack Gallo - Laura San GiacomoLaura San GiacomoLaura San Giacomo is an American actress known for playing the role of Maya Gallo on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! and Kit De Luca in the film Pretty Woman, and Cynthia in sex, lies, and videotape as well as other work on television and in films...
– Maya Gallo - Wendie MalickWendie MalickWendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On , Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! , Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier and Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland .-Early...
– Nina Van Horn - Chris HoganChris HoganChris Hogan is an American comic actor. Hogan is most notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv, and for the character of Aubrey Pitman, one of Dick Solomon's students, on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.-Biography:Chris Hogan grew up in...
– Wally Dick (1997) - Rena SoferRena SoferRena Sherel Sofer is an American actress, primarily known for her appearances in daytime television, episodic guest appearances, and made-for-television movies...
– Vicki Costa (2002–2003)
Maya Gallo
The character of Maya Gallo was portrayed by Laura San GiacomoLaura San Giacomo
Laura San Giacomo is an American actress known for playing the role of Maya Gallo on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! and Kit De Luca in the film Pretty Woman, and Cynthia in sex, lies, and videotape as well as other work on television and in films...
. Maya was largely portrayed as a hot-tempered, sassy journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who took a job at the fictional glamour fashion magazine Blush, which happened to be owned by her father Jack Gallo, in the pilot after she was fired for tampering with an anchorwoman's teleprompter
Teleprompter
An autocue is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to the practice of using cue cards...
and making her cry on the air. She was a dichotomy
False dilemma
A false dilemma is a type of logical fallacy that involves a situation in which only two alternatives are considered, when in fact there are additional options...
on several levels, with her headstrong smarts coupled against a naïveté about life and sometimes even love. Maya frowned upon men looking at women solely as objects of sexual desire, and in keeping with her feminist views, instead encouraged people to admire women for their intelligence or other attributes. Unfortunately for her, this was not a popular view for a fashion magazine and it therefore put her at odds with much of the magazine's staff thus providing much of the comedic conflict of the series.
She is sometimes mistaken for a Puerto Rican. Her birthday is January 1 (In the episode "Nina Van Grandma" her birthday is (mistakenly) placed in the summer; Jack's line is "I was in that delivery room 14 hours on the hottest day of the year..... then why did it snow today"). Maya was often shown dating
Dating (activity)
Dating is a form of courtship consisting of social activities done by two persons with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a partner in an intimate relationship or as a spouse...
on the show. She and Elliot were a couple for quite some time, and they were briefly engaged. Among her other dates were Michael Tenzer (David Rasche
David Rasche
-Early life and career:Rasche was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His father was a minister and farmer. Rasche started in theatre, but also has appeared on numerous movies and television series. He became a member of the Chicago Second City, after John Belushi moved on to Saturday Night Live...
), Chris (Dean Cain
Dean Cain
Dean Cain is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.-Early life:...
), Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
and another man named Chris (Joe Rogan
Joe Rogan
Joseph James "Joe" Rogan is an American comedian, video blogger, actor, writer, podcaster, and martial artist. He is best known for his work on NewsRadio, his work as color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and his hosting work on Fear Factor.-Acting:In 1994, Rogan co-starred on...
). Although she was involved in several relationships, she was never depicted getting (legally) married in the series. She is also very skilled at pitching; when she pitched a baseball to Dennis Finch, he thinks his hand is broken. Also disclosed in the same episode, If Maya starts pitching, she can't stop (she wanted to practice softball with Finch in the rain).
Jack Gallo
The character of Jack Gallo, portrayed by George SegalGeorge Segal
George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
, is the owner and publisher of Blush. During his daughter Maya's childhood, Jack was an absent workaholic. The relationship between the two of them develops throughout the series reaching its pinnacle when he hands the magazine over to Maya in the series finale after retiring. When extolling the virtues of an assistant to Maya, he notes that an assistant (in his case Finch) can even become one's "best friend," although the sentiment was slightly dulled by his use of the pronoun "it" to refer to the hypothetical assistant (and therefore to Finch).
Jack is four times divorced, although he was married to Maya's high school classmate Allie for the first half of the series. They have a daughter (Maya's half-sister) named Hannah who was born in the first episode, "Look Who's Coming to Blush". Jack has a running contest with Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
as to who is, among other topics, the smartest, the richest, and the best gift giver.
In "The Book of Jack", Finch refers to Jack as "Jackson Gilbert Gallo".
Nina Van Horn
The comical character of Nina Van Horn (born Claire Noodleman in Colby, KansasColby, Kansas
Colby is a city in and the county seat of Thomas County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,387.-History:...
), portrayed by Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On , Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! , Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier and Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland .-Early...
, was a cover girl in the 1970s and 1980s, and found that when she retired, people forgot her as quickly as they knew her. In a special Biography
Biography (TV series)
Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987...
program about her, Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak is a television personality, former weatherman, actor and talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show Wheel of Fortune.-Early life:...
says that no one is able to guess her name and the contestants are sent home. Due to her former status as a supermodel, she has been plagued by an obsession to party all night long and to return to work the following morning with a hangover. Her partying once caused her to die in 1986 (to which she responded, "it was only for 12 minutes, I'm obviously fine!"). Nina is considered an alcoholic partially due to her casual nip of alcohol during the day at work. She is also, if no longer an addict, extremely experienced in recreational pharmacy with a wide knowledge of (and access to) uppers, downers, mood regulators and hallucinogenic compounds (she is able to identify not only that a Chinese sweet Lemon Wacky Hello is a hallucinogen, but also its chemical make up, by taste alone). Her slow witted and even foolish demeanor create a lot of embarrassing situations for her character. She is understood to be promiscuous and possibly bisexual.
Nina is obsessed with her age and looks. In one episode, she mentioned that she had the telephone number of a plastic surgeon on speed dial, and when her age is nearly revealed over the P.A., she runs into Jack's office to destroy the P.A. so nobody will know her age. Throughout the run of the show she was vaguely in her late forties to early fifties, once blurting out that life's no fun at fifty (EP: "Sid and Nina").
In most seasons Nina constantly talks about her friend Binny. She is almost never seen but is heard about all the time. This usually leads to groans by other members of Blush who have to listen. In the episode "Bye Bye Binny", we hear that Binny dies and Nina must face the fact that she lost her only friend. At one point, she mentions that she was the one who broke up music bands such as The Eagles and the Jackson 6 (as well as having toured with Iggy Pop). Binny appears as a ghost to Nina in "Strange Bedfellows", but her face is almost never shown. The exception is a black-and-white clip, when her face was partly bandaged after a facelift.
Elliot DiMauro
The character of Elliot DiMauro, portrayed by Enrico ColantoniEnrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
, is a photographer for Blush who often dates the models. Elliot was "discovered" by Jack, who found him selling his photography on the street, which all happens before the series begins. He also dated Maya for a period of time. In one episode, when he reveals that he is not allowed to vote in an election, he reveals that he was once arrested and spent time in jail. In a season four episode, it is revealed that he had planned to propose to a former girlfriend but as he was buying flowers, he was subsequently the victim of a hit-and-run — the driver turned out to be Nina. Though Elliot was angry at Nina for ruining his chances (he and his girlfriend's relationship ended the night of the accident), upon meeting his ex later, Elliot discovered that his ex-girlfriend had three husbands who died in accidents involving boats. Elliot also has a brother (in the episode "Slow Donnie") named Donnie (played by David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
). When they were kids, Elliot accidentally threw a frisbee
Frisbee
A flying disc is a disc-shaped glider that is generally plastic and roughly in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating....
into a tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
. Donnie climbed up the tree to get the frisbee, but slipped and fell out. From then on, his brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
had been severely damaged, so he was almost retarded. In the episode, it is Donnie's birthday
Birthday
A birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
. Elliot invited Maya along and while at the party, Donnie reveals to Maya (with no-one else in the room) that he is faking to have everything done for him and so he doesn't need to pay for anything (he still lives with his parents).
Dennis Finch
The character of Dennis Finch, often referred to as simply "Finch", was portrayed by David SpadeDavid Spade
David Wayne Spade is an American actor, comedian and television personality who first became famous in the 1990s as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and from 1997 until 2003 when he starred as Dennis Finch on Just Shoot Me!. He also starred as C.J...
. Born in Albany, New York (of Norwegian ancestry), Dennis attended Hudson River Junior College where he joined the cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
team. In general, Finch has been described as “a self-centered horny pig who’d stop at nothing to get laid.” Surreptitiously, Dennis writes articles for the “Dear Miss Pretty” advice column. Dennis used to compete in figure skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
, as revealed in the season 3 episode, 'Softball'. Dennis also likes to collect action figures and ceramic kittens. He lives in an apartment, number 803, in New York City, NY (Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
). He is also known to have a fear of owls from his mother's side. He works as the executive assistant of Blush owner Jack Gallo, toward whom he has a slavish devotion (he once claimed he expected to be buried with Jack) and with whom he has a virtually telepathic rapport, enabling him to foresee Gallo's every need and provide answers to even his vaguest questions (i.e. "What's that song that I like?"). He also has a seemingly mystical ability to tell when something sexual is happening or even being mentioned; for example, he was able to figure out that Maya and Elliot were in a relationship simply by mentally comparing Elliot's bite mark on an apple he was eating with a hickey on Maya's neck, as well as seemingly appearing to cross a massive distance across countries to appear in a room just as Maya was propositioned by a photographer. In season three, he marries a supermodel. Highly intelligent, as a child he was able to hack into a German bank and steal $18,000 worth of Deutsche Mark as disclosed in season 3; he also reveals in the season 2 episode "Jack's Old Partner" that he is so adept at twisting tax laws to favor him that the previous year, the IRS paid him 20 thousand dollars not to grow corn.
Kevin Liotta
The character of Kevin Liotta, portrayed by Brian PosehnBrian Posehn
Brian Edmund Posehn is an American actor, voice actor, musician and comedian, known for his roles as mail clerk Kevin Liotta on NBC's Just Shoot Me!, a cast member and writer on HBO's Mr. Show, and most recently as Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.-Early life:Posehn...
on a recurring basis, was the mail guy at Blush and in the show's fifth season is revealed to be a cousin of film actor Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
. He is known for having an obsessive crush on Nina Van Horn, which often disturbed her. However, in one episode he develops a brief crush on Maya, about which she becomes disturbed after initially thinking when he was still interested in Nina that she should give him a chance. He is also revealed to be a very good operatic singer, which Jack discovers.
Vicki Costa
The character of Vicki Costa, portrayed by Rena SoferRena Sofer
Rena Sherel Sofer is an American actress, primarily known for her appearances in daytime television, episodic guest appearances, and made-for-television movies...
, was hired by Jack and worked at Blush for part of the seventh and final season.
Wally Dick
Wally is Maya's roommate in Season 1, but was discarded when the writing staff thought it would be better to follow Blush magazine instead of Maya's life at home and at work.Writing staff
- Steven Levitan
- Marsh McCall
- Stephen Engel
- Andy Gordon & Eileen Conn
- Tom Martin
- Sivert Glarum & Michael Jamin
- Jack Burditt
- Don Woodard & Tom Maxwell
- Moses Port & David Guarascio
- Susan Dickes
- Tom Saunders & Kell Cahoon
- Jeff Lowell
- Bill Steinkellner
- Brian Reich
Syndication
Sony Pictures TelevisionSony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
, which produced the series also handles syndication rights to the series, and since 2008 has done so in tandem with The Program Exchange
The Program Exchange
The Program Exchange is a syndicator of television programs. It was originally founded as Program Syndication Services Inc. in 1973 and later launched the DFS Program Exchange in 1979, which became the DFS-Dorland Program Exchange from 1986 to 1987...
, and distributed the series for broadcast television stations around the United States starting in September 2002; the series continues to be aired in broadcast syndication, but is aired in fewer markets than when the series was first rolled out into syndication.
Syndicated versions do not show each season's respective opening title sequences, instead using the opening titles used during the sixth and seventh seasons for all episodes; the opening titles from seasons one through five have not been seen in television airings since the NBC network run. The opening titles are also often shown at different points of the opening scene, depending on the episode, than they were shown in the original broadcasts, and occasional scenes (particularly in episodes from earlier seasons) in some episodes are edited in such a manner that a scene might end earlier than it did in the original airings, often switching to the magazine cover shots very quickly.
DVD releases
Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
has released the first 3 seasons of Just Shoot Me! on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. Season three was released on February 24, 2009.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete 1st & 2nd Seasons | 31 | June 8, 2004 |
| The Complete 3rd Season | 25 | February 24, 2009 |