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Working Stiffs

1979 · 1 season · 30m per episode · Comedy

Working Stiffs is a short-lived 1979 American television series which starred James Belushi and Michael Keaton as brothers Ernie and Mike O'Rourke. The pair were janitors who aspired to work their way up in the field of business. The brothers worked in an office building owned by their Uncle Harry. Ernie and Mike also were roommates in an apartment over a cafe where they befriended the owner Mitch and waitress Nikki. Each episode featured slapstick and physical comedy. Penny Marshall directed the pilot. Includes an early appearance of Paul Reubens as Heimlich the delivery boy at the cafe. The series aired on CBS. It competed against the highly-rated shows NBC's CHiPs and ABC's The Ropers in its timeslot. Nine episodes were produced but after four episodes aired, the series was canceled. After Belushi and Keaton became major film stars in the 1980s, six episodes of the show were released on home video. Reruns have also aired on A&E Network, Comedy Central and TV Land. The syndication package included the previously unaired episodes.

Seasons

• Season 1 — 9 episodes (September 22, 1979)

Cast

• Jim Belushi as Ernie O'Rourke
• Michael Keaton as Mike O'Rourke
• Allan Arbus as Mitch Hannigan
• Val Bisoglio as Al Steckler
• Lorna Patterson as Nikki Evashevsky

Details

Created by

Harry Colomby, Marc Sotkin, Arthur Silver, David W. Duclon and Bob Brunner

First aired

September 15, 1979

Episodes

9

Genres

Comedy

Network

CBS

Status

Ended

TMDB score

5.3 / 10 from 3 votes