Bernardi played the title character, Arnie Nuvo, a longtime blue-collar employee at the fictitious Continental Flange Company, who overnight was promoted to an executive position.

The story lines mainly focused on this fish-out-of-water situation, and on Arnie's sometimes-problematic relationship with his well-meaning but wealthy and eccentric boss, Hamilton Majors Jr. (Bowen).

In its first season, despite being the lead-in to The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Saturday nights and winning an Emmy nomination as best comedy series, Arnie received only fair Nielsen ratings.

For its second season, to increase its viewership, CBS made a major cast change in the show's format.

Dick Van Patten was dropped as the Nuvos' next-door neighbor, and Charles Nelson Reilly joined the cast as Randy Robinson, a TV chef who called himself "The Giddyap Gourmet", an obvious reference to The Galloping Gourmet.