New CBS workplace comedy 'DMV' is a hoot
CBS premiere week kicked off its fall lineup last night with a heaping serving of funny with the return of the final season of staple comedy The Neighborhood, followed by newcomer, DMV.
Set at a California DMV, the show, created by Dana Klein, follows offbeat characters who are navigating dealing with customers at what seems to be the most crowded and busiest DMV in the United States, while also attempting to forge friendships with one another.
Getting into a new show is always nerve-racking, especially a comedy, as it could be a super slow burn, or a drop-on-the-floor-losing-my-breath-from-the-very-first-line kind of funny.
Luckily, for DMV, it was the latter!
From the very beginning, the laughs were unstoppable until the half-hour comedy came to an end.
Other sitcoms such as Modern Family (2009), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013), and Will & Grace (1998), just to name a few, accomplished this feat, and solely based on last night's pilot, DMV is following suit.
DMV is sort of combination of workplace comedies Superstore (2015), The Office (2005), and British sitcom The Job Lot (2013) where the most basic, everyday idea of simply going to work at a department store, paper company, and job center (and now DMV) is now the most chaotic but hilariously funny thing on TV.
They've all figured out the magic formula of finding pockets in the most simplistic yet familiar experiences and inserting humor, if only for a half-hour once a week. What may start out as the most boring day, soon turns into a day (or week) filled with moments of laughter, comradery, and heart.
SNL (1991) alum, The Ladies Man (2000) and Mean Girls (2004) star Tim Meadows stars as Gregg - a former English teacher now driving examiner who is happily married to his wife Tanya because his jobs keeps him so busy they barely see each other.
Harriet Dyer, known for Love Child (2014) and Colin from Accounts (2022), plays Colette - a fellow driving examiner who has the hots for newcomer Noa (Alex Tarrant), but has the most awkward way of showing it.
Tony Cavalero, widely known as Finn of TV series School of Rock (2016), plays Vic - a former bouncer now driving instructor who eats whatever food he finds in the breakroom refrigerator and who encourages Colette to break out of her shell to talk to Noa.
Molly Kearney, a fellow SNL (2022) alumna, plays Barbara, a recently promoted DMV branch manager who so desperately wants to prove that her branch is under control and should not be shut down.
Shortland Street (2018) and NCIS: Hawai'i star Alex Tarrant stars as Noa - the newest addition to the team who is utterly oblivious to Colette's flirting.
And GiGi Zumbado, Heart Eyes (2025) and Bridge and Tunnel (2021), stars as Ceci - a young, feisty photographer at the DMV who is always on the comeup.
Audiences are buckled up and ready to go wherever this ride takes us, as DMV seems to be headed down the right track!
DMV airs on CBS Monday nights at 8:30 after The Neighborhood.
