Ground Floor is a 2013 TBS comedy about financial businessmen created by Bill Lawrence and Greg Malins. It follow Brody, an up-and-coming money manager, and Jenny, a working-class building supervisor, as they build a relationship.
It stars Skylar Astin as Brody Carol Moyer and Briga Heelan as Jenny Miller as well as Rory Scovel, Rene Gube, James Earl, Alexis Knapp and John C. McGinley as... other people in the building.
The show was canceled after two seasons despite solid and improving ratings.
Tropes:
- Asian and Nerdy: Threepeat is perpetually dateless and spends his alone time watching Star Trek. He once attempted to impress Mansfield by performing the Riker Maneuver and painfully failing. His parents also continue to force him to take violin lessons in spite of the fact that he's a grown man with a high paying job.
- The Cast Show Off: Skylar Astin frequently gets to show off his singing skills almost (but not quite) to the point of Once an Episode.
- Casting Gag: Okay, which genius came up with the brilliant idea of casting Anna Camp as Skylar Astin's ex-girlfriend,
or were they trying to send a message?- Episode 7 has Skylar Astin, Alexis Knapp and Anna Camp get up on stage and sing together.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Mansfield encourages his employees to be competitive and to even sell each other out to achieve their goals. He berates Brody after Brody tries to do the honorable thing and try and make sure Threepeat gets the empty office.
- Cliffhanger: The show was canceled before the main plot thread could be resolved.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Mansfield maintains absolute discipline in his office and his employees are terrified of him. His younger daughter openly rebels against his establishment beliefs, however, and he won't blow up at his employees in front of his wife.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Harvard does not trust the government one bit. He even refuses to get flu shots because of this.Harvard: "Like I'm going to let the government inject a tracking device into my body."
- Drunk with Power: Harvard puts himself in charge of the building support staff when Jenny temporarily becomes Mansfield's assistant. He immediately launches into a version of the famous Glengarry Glen Ross speech using Pop Tarts as an incentive. He's Hoist by His Own Petard soon enough, though, as everyone walks out as he's talking (taking the Pop Tarts with them) leaving him to deal with 'New Phone Day' on his own. He ends up accidentally locking himself in a cage.Harvard: "My mom was right. I'm going to die alone in a cage."
- Harvard is left in charge in the interim between Seasons 1 and 2 and can't handle the responsibility so he ends up firing most of the building's ground floor staff with the rest quitting to get away from him. Only Derrick is left by the time Jenny gets back from Paris.
- Fag Hag: Tori apparently spends a good portion of her time hanging around gay guys and has a legion of gay Twitter followers.
- Freudian Excuse: Jenny doesn't want to get married because she saw her mother go through husband after husband and believes that marriage only causes grief.
- Happily Married: Mansfield has been married 28 years and often explains to Brody that it's worth the enormous effort it takes to maintain a loving relationship that long.
- Hidden Depths: Mansfield initially comes across as an egotisticalnote banker who is intent on making as much money as possible without much care for others. But as the show goes on, it becomes clear that he dearly loves his family, appreciates employees (like Brody) who care about their clients, and thinks about his employees' well-being in his own way. He even dotes on Jenny to a certain degree and goes out of his way to make sure Brody is treating her properly.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Threepeat loaded his resume with BS accomplishments that he assumed no one would examine in any sort of detail. Unfortunately, Mansfield did just so and asks Threepeat to act as a Mandarin interpreter for a potential Chinese client. Cue Threepeat desperately trying to learn Mandarin in a day.
- In Mysterious Ways: Mansfield has demonstrated that he can predict events before they happen and can sense when expensive wine is being mixed with cheap soda 34 floors away.
- Insult Backfire: Harvard posts a video of Brody singing on the toilet onto YouTube in an attempt to humiliate him, but the video becomes a viral hit with loads of positive comments.
- Lampshade Hanging: Brody has a habit of breaking off his train of thought to comment on what he's doing at the moment.
- Like a Son to Me: Mansfield more or less states outright that he sees Brody as the son he never had, to the jealousy of Threepeat.
- Master of Your Domain: Mansfield is intent on maintaining absolute control of his environment, even his own bodily functions. Unfortunately, viruses aren't particularly receptive to his form of discipline. Also, Jenny is one of the few people who isn't completely cowed by Mansfield's bluster and is actually able to take charge when he's sick.
- Not What It Looks Like: Harvard, in a fit of jealousy over Brody's perfect present for Jenny, digs a hole in a park to try a recreate one of Jenny's happiest childhood memories and is questioned about it by a cop. Unfortunately, Harvard's answers unintentionally make him sound like a murderer trying to hide a body.Harvard: "I bought her a present and she hated it, and I got pretty upset about it. So I said to myself: 'This is the answer! Dig a hole. Make it big enough so she can get inside!' She is going to die!"
- One Hour Workweek: Mansfield only works three days a week, but it's only because he worked tirelessly to build his company up to a point where it can work with only minimal input from him. He uses his off days to spend time with his wife and daughters that he didn't have in the past.
- The maintenance staff are seen doing as little work as possible and dropping everything once they're on break. Tori even spends most of her working hours sleeping.
- Papa Wolf: Mansfield doesn't even need to be on the same floor to terrify Harvard after the younger man unknowingly goes on a date with his daughter.
- Parental Substitute: Both protagonists see Mansfield as a father figure and he looks out for both of them.
- Put on a Bus: Tori left during the hiatus because she couldn't stand Harvard's managerial style while Jenny was away.
- Prince Charming Wannabe: Harvard is convinced that Jenny will eventually realize that she is truly in love with him, ignoring the fact that she only sees him as a friend and that everyone is genuinely put off by his attempts at wooing her.
- It gets so bad that Jenny has to fake breakup with Harvard in order to convince him to turn his attention to other women, namely Lindsay.
- Sink or Swim Mentor/Trickster Mentor: Mansfield holds himself to extremely high standards and simply expects his employees to be able to keep up without any instruction. He also loves to play mind games to keep his employees competitive and constantly questioning themselves.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Harvard gets a tattoo, gets it removed, and gets it reapplied over the course of about three days. The end result is a bloody, oozing, infected (not to mention large) patch of skin on his upper arm.
- The Stoner: It's implied that Harvard is at least a little high most of the time.
- Tsundere: Mansfield is a male example towards Brody. He will go from giving Brody heartfelt advice to ripping the younger man a new one in a heartbeat.
- Twerp Sweating: Mansfield abandons his daughter's fiance in the desert to see how tough the guy is.
- Vocal Evolution: Mansfield's voice has gotten progressively huskier to the point where he's practically growling out his lines.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Brody's sucking up to Mansfield stands out in an office full of brown nosers. Threepeat is this as well, but he doesn't get anywhere near the acknowledgement that Brody does.
- What, Exactly, Is His Job?: Tori only comes into the office to sleep after spending the night clubbing and is only seen awake when she's goofing off with the rest of the maintenance staff.Jenny: "Threepeat, you know who's fluent in Mandarin is Tori."Threepeat: "Are you serious? Can you spare her for a day so she can teach me?"Jenny: "Spare her? We don't even know what she does!"
