The hour-long comedy drama starred Tom Cavanagh as the title character Ed Stevens, Julie Bowen as his love interest Carol Vessey, Josh Randall as his best friend Dr. Mike Burton, Jana Marie Hupp as Mike's wife Nancy, Lesley Boone as their friend Molly Hudson, and Justin Long as awkward high-school student Warren Cheswick.

The show revolves around Ed Stevens, a hotshot New York lawyer who, on the same day he is fired from his job (for drafting a contract with a misplaced comma that ended up costing his firm $1.6 million), comes home to discover his wife having an affair with a mailman that she claims she met at Starbucks.

The series has featured a number of guest stars, including, Janeane Garofalo, Marianne Hagan, Eddie Bracken, Joanna Going, Suzanne Shepherd, M. Emmet Walsh, Philip Bosco, Charles S. Dutton, John Goodman, Adam Wylie, Curtis Armstrong, Stephen Root, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Elliott, Vincent Pastore, Keir Dullea, Josh Duhamel, Danny DeVito, Jim Parsons, Tim Matheson, John Krasinski, Taye Diggs, Molly Shannon, Chris Isaak, James Barbour, Christopher Lloyd, Burt Reynolds, and Mädchen Amick.

[3] The pilot also contained some notable casting choices, with Donal Logue portraying Phil and Janeane Garofalo guest-starring as Ed's ex-wife Liz.

[citation needed] The opening credits theme song for the majority of the show's run was "Next Year" by Foo Fighters,[6] except during the entire second season when Clem Snide's "Moment in the Sun" was used.

The site's consensus states: Tom Cavanagh's Ed is ready to try a little tenderness in this sweet-natured romantic comedy that will leave most viewers with a giddy sugar high.

[9] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker described it as "the best new show of the season...possess[ing] all the bright romantic magic and tart humor of a first-rate screwball film comedy," with particular praise for the performances of Cavanagh and Bowen.