Maya Gallo
Played by: Laura San Giacomo
An idealistic journalist who loses her job and is forced to work for her father's magazine company. Maya is a square peg in Blush magazine's round hole and most episodes typically show her trying (and failing) to take the publication in a more enlightened direction.
- Accidental Marriage: Elliott and Maya end up briefly married after they accidentally take part in a cult's mass wedding ceremony.
- Amicable Exes: With Elliott eventually.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Maya consistently gets a lot of compliments or envious comments about her large breasts. She's largely annoyed by this, as it's often from creeps such as Finch or mixed with mockery.
- Decoy Protagonist: Originally she was set to be the main star with side characters outside of the office but the quickly realized the show was better as a ensemble workplace comedy.
- Hot Librarian: While Maya does dress fashionably, she's far more sartorially conservative than the rest of the female cast.
- Hypocrite: Maya shills her feminist ideals repeatedly, yet she dates hunks and womanisers, respectively rewarding them for getting by on their looks and objectifying women.
- May–December Romance: She dated a man her father's age, with several characters wondering if she's trying to out him as a hypocrite.
- Not So Above It All: She shows this, from falling for a guy based on appearance, to wearing a "Fairy Princess" dress for Halloween.
- Sexy Sweater Girl: Maya dresses far more conservatively than any of other female staff, yet it's been noted that she's quite buxom.
Jack Gallo
Played by: George Segal
Owner of Blush magazine. Jack typically spends his working hours coming up with harebrained schemes, rather than doing any actual work.
- The Alleged Boss: Jack has the title, yet rarely does any work himself.
- Benevolent Boss / Pointy-Haired Boss: Jack vacillates between the two. Despite his sometimes being in conflict with his employees, a flashback episode reveals that each of the main characters were hitting Rock Bottom before Jack discovered their talents and hired them and he does care for each of them.
- Comically Missing the Point: Jack and Simon order a pizza from a place that has to deliver within 4 minutes otherwise they get it for free. Jack bribes the doorman with $100 to stall the delivery guy. So basically he paid $100 for a pizza.
- Crossdresser:
- In "The Withholder", Jack has to wear a dress on the golf course after losing a bet with Donald Trump. It actually ends up helping him, as he's so focused on being embarrassed about being in a dress that he doesn't overthink his swing like he usually does and ends up having one of the best games of his life.
- In "Dial 'N' for Murder", when Jack talks to Maya about the kinds of things people are into, he mentions "a powerful executive" dressing up as Carol Channing from time to time. He even admits it's "weird, maybe, but still no reason to be hassled in the parking lot."
- Hypocrite: In "Old Boyfriends", Jack is called a hypocrite for objecting to Maya dating an older man, given his wife was in school with her.
- May–December Romance: His current wife went to school with Maya.
- Papa Wolf: With Maya. Despite being a bit of a chauvinist, he adores his daughter and shows on several occasions he is VERY protective of her.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Played with with Nina. They go way back and are both ravenous when it comes to the opposite sex, but there's never a hint they are more than just close friends (they did once hook up during a costume party, but didn't realize it at the time).
- Sitcom Archnemesis: He's got an ongoing rivalry with Donald Trump.
- Upper-Class Twit: It's a mystery how Jack got where he is today, as he does little work that doesn't rely on his clout.
Nina Van Horn
Played by: Wendie Malick
Editor at Blush magazine. Nina is an ex-fashion model with a history of sex and drugs who is aware that she's over the hill and desperately clings to her youth.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Nina is revealed to believe that the moon landing was really a hoax. Maya brings in one of the astronauts involved to tell her otherwise. She's mollified by his outrage at the idea, but then it turns out he believes in even weirder theories.
- Foil: Nina's decadent lifestyle puts her in clear contrast with Maya, who has reservations about reducing women to little more than sex objects and glorified coat-hangers.
- Fur Bikini: Nina wore a leopard skin bikini years before, and is still proud of the accidents the billboards caused.
- Lady Drunk: She loves to drink and is a frequent user of recreational drugs.
- Mrs. Robinson: Nina often sleeps with men half her age. She is a former supermodel, after all.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Played with with Jack. They go way back and are both ravenous when it comes to the opposite sex, but there's never a hint they are more than just close friends (they did once hook up during a costume party, but of course neither knew who the other was).
- Really Gets Around: Nina has had numerous partners, including, a well known TV star, an up-and-coming politician and Twiggy's boyfriend.
Elliot DiMauro
Played by: Enrico Colantoni
Fashion photographer. A snooty, neurotic man who grapples with his talents being used for shallow purposes, even though he regularly sleeps with gorgeous women.
- Accidental Marriage: Elliott and Maya end up briefly married after they accidentally take part in a cult's mass wedding ceremony.
- Amicable Exes: With Maya eventually.
- Berserk Button: Elliott doesn't react well when you criticize his work.
- The Casanova: He's slept with countless models.
- Formerly Fat: Elliott used to be picked on in high school due to his weight. When he goes back for the funeral of his teacher, he attempts to gloat over how he lost the weight and became a successful photographer for a fashion magazine. The bullies instead pick on him for becoming bald.
- Lady Killer In Love: He develops feelings for Maya. They don't last.
- Nice Guy: He's been supporting his mentally-disabled brother for years and is usually the first person Maya goes to when she wants an honest opinion Said brother is faking it.
Dennis Finch
Played by: David Spade
Jack's assistant. Dennis is a mischievous skirt-chaser devoid of any masculine traits that the rest of the office finds irritating.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Dennis is able to tell that Maya and Elliott are hooking up merely by mentally comparing a bite mark on Elliott's apple and a hickey on Maya's neck. He also uses word association to figure out that Jack is meeting with George Lucas, despite Jack only saying that he has plans.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Subverted with Finch, who happens to be unusually well-endowed, but is such a sicko that few women will give him the time of day (to the immense relief of his male co-workers).Jack: It's a story as old as time. Great product, bad sales department.
- Camp Straight: Between Finch's appearance and his cat-based hobbies, he's by far the daintiest of the main characters.
- The Casanova: Finch later becomes one, often at inopportune times.
- Casanova Wannabe: Especially during the early seasons.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Dennis may make sexual remarks and ogle any woman who walks by, but in "Miss Pretty", he loudly admits that he writes the titular advice column to prevent Maya from going on a getaway with a creep that she assumes writes for the column.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: He very nearly had sex with a lipstick lesbian through her mistaking him for a woman.
- Last-Name Basis: Most characters refer to Finch by his last name. Apart from family and girlfriends, the only person who consistently calls him Dennis is Jack.
- Mistaken for Gay: His firefighter father is loudly accepting of what he thinks is Dennis's sexual orientation, and for a long time won't listen to Dennis's denials. Only at the end of the episode does he figure out that one of his more conventionally masculine sons is Manly Gay.
