Nobody's Watching

Program history

Plot

Characters

• Derrick: Derrick is twenty-five and plays straight man to Will's wacky naiveté. Although the two were social opposites, they bonded through watching television. He was accepted to the University of Notre Dame but went to community college instead because he was afraid to leave home. Though he was a nerd in school and a self-confessed "25-year-old single loser who works in his dad's mini-mart", Derrick has a more tough guy persona than Will and refuses to share his feelings on camera or with Will, while Will frequently goes to a "weird, overly emotional place". Both he and Will worked at Derrick's father's convenience store after graduation, but Derrick seems more adverse to that fact than Will. He is also very ambitious, saying without hesitation that he would drop Will from the project if the network thought he was not working out. His reason for this betrayal is that if he loses the sitcom deal, he is not optimistic enough to recover from the loss and try again, while the more popular, more handsome, and more charismatic Will would recover quickly and go on to do better things. Derrick and Will also have a 15-year-old game of 'made ya' look!' that Derrick is currently winning by seven looks; they spread the game to include Jill and Mandy, who fall for it every time.
• Will: Will is Derrick's best friend. The two became best friends when Will had to hang out at Derrick's house after school because his mother worked overtime at the Cracker Barrel. Will does not have a father, which Derrick tries not to mention because it seems a sensitive issue, but Will at first does not seem to have any qualms about it; he mentions his father's absence almost too casually, with phrases like, "I'd call my dad right now if I had one" and constructing his favorite game around it: "Made you look! I don't have a dad!". Later, it is revealed that famous television fathers, such as Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel Air, were Will's father figures growing up; when he first meets Alan Thicke, who played the father on Growing Pains, he accidentally calls him 'Dad'. Will is described as a "typical jock", but is anything but typical when it comes to the stereotype; he is not unintelligent but rather charmingly oblivious. Unlike Derrick, Will is also overly optimistic, overly emotional, and overly sympathetic; he is unafraid to tell Derrick how much he loves him and would rather have fun and fool around on set than concentrate on the sitcom. Jeff Tucker and Roy Ingold decide to secretly focus a portion of the sex appeal on the show on Will, because Will is so good looking. Will is a huge fan of Growing Pains, much to Derrick's annoyance. Will's primary father figure was in fact Dr. Jason Seaver.
• Jill Something: Jill was Jeff Tucker's assistant, but now works with Will and Derrick on the sitcom project. She is methodical, business-like and, like Derrick, very ambitious. Even though she is only 24, she has already been the personal assistant of two network executives in Hollywood. Even though Will and Derrick are technically her employers, she takes the dominating role on the project, much to Derrick's annoyance; Will, on the other hand, continually asks her permission to do things. Will also ignores Jill's professionalism and often urges her to fool around with him on set. Jill makes it known that she has had to work hard to be where she is because she refuses to climb the corporate ladder the easy way by exploiting her femininity, but Derrick is also quick to point out she's never formed an emotional connection with anyone while working either. He also knows that Jill secretly wants to have a boss that appreciates her, which she apparently thought Tucker did until he let her switch jobs so easily. Jill admits to Will, with whom she has made a connection, that she has never had a friend who was as close to her as Will is to Derrick but she always wished she did. It is unclear if Jill's last name really is 'Something' or if her boss just could not remember her name when introducing her.
• Mandy: Derrick's love interest and former WB giftshop employee, Mandy was fired after she insisted that men would not buy underwear that said Smallville across the front. Mandy moved to Hollywood to live with her previous boyfriend, who turned out to be an abusive carjacker, and had been living there a month when she was hired by Will and Derrick. Will met her while she was soaking wet after being caught in the lawn sprinklers and sobbing; he dubs her 'wet girl' and immediately hires her out pity. She then goes to the WB wardrobe department to get dry clothes, where Jeff Tucker has the wardrobe director dress her in revealing clothing. This revealing clothing attracts Derrick's attention, and instead of being mad at Will for hiring her, he lets her stay and begins to harbor a crush on her. Jill dislikes Mandy because Mandy claims that she has had to work hard at life and Jill makes it clear later that Mandy's stunning face and body has made life a lot easier for her. It is revealed in the third act of the pilot episode that Mandy is actually an actress planted within the reality show to create more sex appeal, though her story about the abusive boyfriend is true. It is also implied that, over the last year, Mandy has had extensive makeovers and plastic surgery to improve her previous look. Despite this, Mandy finds she really does have feelings for Derrick, but the network execs push her to kiss Will because he is better looking. It is revealed in the pilot's epilogue, that Mandy and Derrick kiss in the studio bathroom in what would have been the second episode.
• Jeff Tucker: the WB's ruthless network head, he decides to film Will and Derrick's sitcom-within-a-sitcom. He also decides to film himself and his VP Roy Ingold so the audience at home can see how networks pull the strings on reality shows. He set up Derrick and Will's show to be sponsored by Snapple, and pulls out the drink for product placement when he can. At one point, he tries to create drama on the show by telling Derrick the plug on the project will be pulled if Will does not leave and encourages Mandy to kiss Will even though she has a crush on Derrick. He relishes the power of his high position and, at one point, Derrick's rhetorical "Oh, God, thank you" is met by Tucker with a "You're welcome". Tucker is revealed on camera to have a fondness for prostitutes by Ingold. In the pilot's epilogue, Tucker reveals he has been criticized for not having a minority character of the show and he has Will and Derrick interview dozens of black men to become their 'office manager' to help with their sitcom. The character is named after Jeff Zucker, president of NBC.
• Roy Ingold: Ingold is creative VP at the WB and is Tucker's right-hand man. He secretly dislikes the callous and cold-hearted Tucker but constantly plays sidekick to him. He is uncomfortable around the television camera filming his boss and him, and Tucker is always quietly but sternly reminding him to stop staring at the camera. The character is named after Jeff Ingold, Senior Vice President of Comedy Development at NBC.

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