While waiting for one of her teenagers at the Department of Motor Vehicles, writer/producer Dana Klein looked around the waiting room, noticed caution tape on the water fountain, and realized, “This is really the perfect setting for a workplace comedy.â€
Enter “DMV,†the only new situation comedy on broadcast television this year.

Ready to see you at the "DMV," from left: Molly Kearney as Barbara, Gigi Zumbado as Jocelyn, Tony Cavaleiro as Vic, Alex Tarrant as Noa, Harriet Dyer as Colette, Tim Meadows as Gregg.Ìý
In the office, “the most dreaded place in America,†Klein says, employees in all departments commiserate, complain and connect. “The beauty is in the small moments, the tiny victories and in our characters’ relationships with each other.â€
Those employees include the driving examiners, desk clerks, the middle managers and outside superiors who keep thinking there’s a cheaper way to run the business.
Registering cars, taking ID photos and assessing driving are just part of the daily grind. “These workers are doing all of that with about 200 people ready to scream at them all day, every day,†says Executive Producer Matt Kuhn. “Our show explores the other side of the plexiglass.â€
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Like “Superstore,†“The Office†and, more recently, “The Paper,†these workplace comedies highlight the everyday events that color most everyone’s lives. “It all comes from a place of care, even if it’s sometimes misguided care,†Kuhn says.

Harriet Dyer tries to get out of a restroom through the window on "DMV."
Harriet Dyer, who plays one of the driving examiners, got her license at the Hollywood DMV. An Australian (and star of “Colin from Accountsâ€), she was 30 when she applied in her new country.
“I was scared to go,†she admits. “I could drive. I had been driving my adult life and the (assessor) was in such a bad mood. It was so ‘DMV.’ At the end she said, ‘Well, you got 12 errors,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, (expletive).’†When she got inside, Dyer learned that that was enough to pass. The test giver “was so unhappy that I passed. That was like the meanest way of saying that I passed.’â€

ÌýGigi Zumbado as Ceci.Ìý
Gigi Zumbado, who plays the DMV’s photographer, went with her father to get his California license months before she knew there was going to be a series. “We were sitting at the downtown L.A. DMV and it was insane,†she says. “My dad looks over at me and just goes, ‘This is a really good place for character study.’â€
Zumbado failed the first time she applied for her permit. “I cried. The second time, I had a bet with my friends in high school.†Whoever had the worst picture won. She asked her dad to help her win the bet and, sure enough, he did. Zumbado’s father asked the officials to ignore her bad smile. “Everybody makes fun of her for it,†he said. “Don’t say anything when she smiles for her photo. She just doesn’t know how to smile great.â€
Zumbado made a face, got the picture and won the bet. “I had the ugliest learner’s permit for one year and then, after that, I looked very hot for my license picture.â€
Others in the cast remember driving teachers they had. Tony Cavalero had one who would buy cigarettes for underage drivers. Molly Kearney, who plays the branch’s manager, had an instructor who drank six Mountain Dews in a session.

A driving examiner (Harriet Dyer) gets caught in a restroom window while the new manager (Molly Kearney) tries to save her branch from shutdown on "DMV."
“I remember she picked me upÌýone day and she’s like, ‘I’ve had a day. The last kid in here hit a deer. It was terrible. You don’t mind if I drink some Mountain Dew?’â€
Alex Tarrant, who’s from New Zealand, has yet to take his American driving test. “I’m scared, too, so if anyone has any tips, let me know, please.â€
The series, which premieres in October on CBS, will feature guest stars as drivers, officials and outsiders. Already, Mark Feuerstein and Randall Park have been cast.
Dyer, who writes, stars in and produces “Colin from Accounts,†says it’s great to concentrate on acting with “DMV†and not worry about the other aspects of production.
“I certain have a lot more respect for the writing when I’m on the set of ‘DMV,’†she says. “It’s weirdly more freeing because all I have to do is say the lines that they have picked. It’s a nice thing to doÌý— be someone else’s actor.â€