Salesman Lee and mechanic Angel are best friends who have been out of work since the St. Louis Pontiac factory closed, so when Lee needs money for medical expenses and hears there are abundant jobs for women as pharmaceutical reps, he dons his wife's dress and *drags* Angel along for the ride. Their new coworkers are relentlessly-chipper single mom Kristin, slutty airhead Kelly, condescending Grace and boss-lady Vanessa, whom Angel instantly falls in love with. In addition to the ladies at work, the guys have to keep their secret identities from Lee's wife Connie, daughter Kat, and redneck brother-in-law Brian.
No one anticipated that this goofy sitcom would last very long, but it caused an uproar just prior to the premiere when the gay and lesbian organization GLAAD launched a ridiculous attack, claiming it "will harm transgender people." Although it was a silly comedy about macho men in drag (a combination of the well-known flop "Bosom Buddies" and a forgotten 1998 Fox show called "Ask Harriet"), the assertion was that viewers would perceive it as making fun of the plight of transsexuals seeking employment. As if -- the hoopla was merely GLAAD using the show as a springboard to rack focus onto their own issues. Further scandal erupted the day after the pilot aired when the Latino community denounced it and began protests thanks to this stupid one-liner uttered by Angel: "I'm Puerto Rican. I'll be great at selling drugs!" Talk about political-correctness running amok! ABC tried to spin the negative press (on-air ads boasted, "It started last week and people have been talking about it ever since," and "Get ready for an all-new episode of Tuesday's most buzzed about new comedy!") but the damage was done, ratings plummeted and it was canceled after the second episode. A year-and-a-half later, all 13 episodes finally aired in Finland and New Zealand... unsurprisingly, without scandal.
Admittedly, one must be able to suspend disbelief to swallow the premise and the pilot (which seems to be the only episode anyone reviewed) was not great -- but realistically, how many sitcom pilots are? Hits like "Seinfeld," "The Big Bang Theory" and "Friends" all had pretty weak openers establishing the characters/plots. Granted, "Work It" was never in that league (it probably never would have been and certainly wasn't given the opportunity), but there was some really funny stuff that Americans never had the option to see, as well as some poignant social commentary about the roles that men and women have to play. Koldyke (who looked like Herman Munster in drag) and Nolasco (who's bizarrely attractive as both a man and woman) both appeared to be having a ball trying to hide theirs, and each of their coworkers were a riot (albeit thoroughly one-dimensional). Unfortunately, the writers were never able to effectively utilize Lee's family (and the Brian character was ill-conceived from the start), but they were just beginning to find a balance as the show drew to a close.
It wasn't the greatest sitcom that ever aired but it was endearingly idiotic -- and it's a real shame that some overzealous people completely wrecked it for those of us willing to embrace such a giddily offbeat show. And as a P.S., major thanks to the Kiwis who leaked the remainder of the episodes online!
