‘Working’ Finds Its Way to the Top

NBC’s “Working” is nearly the last of this season’s new series to arrive, but not close to being the least.

In fact, it’s among the very best, right up there with the WB network’s “Alright Already” in promising a moderately twisted howl, a sitcom in which Fred Savage--though no longer the shrimpy adolescent awkwardly coming of age in ABC’s “The Wonder Years”--exhibits some of the comedic skills that previously endeared him to viewers.

Not that “Working” looks to be as heroically wondrous as that series. Nor is Savage as memorable in his role here as a new college graduate colliding with corporate lunacy as he was as angst-burdened Kevin Arnold.

Yet the “Working” premiere is delightfully silly, its bent whimsy allotting Savage, as the lone stable character in the series, plenty of stage for his signature befuddlement when responding to the farcical co-workers encircling him.

We meet young Matt Peyser (Savage) starting his humbling first day as a faceless white-collar cog in the high-rise universe of Upton/Webber. But not anonymous for long, for almost immediately he’s promoted to management, becoming what his likably absurd, cubicle-trapped colleagues resentfully call “one of them.”

Yvette Freeman is the firm’s despotic operations manager, Arden Myrin a chipper office worker, John Hyntner an eccentric who turns office supplies into personal items (such as a paper-clip jacket) and Sarah Knowlton an overqualified secretary. Maurice Godin plays Matt’s incompetent boss.

“Working” opens stylishly and humorously, imposing an ethical crisis on Matt when he learns that he may have earned his promotion by mistake, thereby making him consider getting to the top solely on the merits of his work. It’s a crazy idea, but as they say, just crazy enough to work.

* “Working” premieres at 9:30 tonight on NBC. The network has rated it TV-PG (may not be suitable for young children).