Life is still "Almost Perfect" for Nancy Travis, but it's not quite so perfect for Kevin Kilner anymore.
She remains the star of the CBS sitcom as it heads into its second season. He's been dropped from the cast.Which means some changes are in store for the relatively low-rated series, which spent its first season showing how Kim (Travis) balanced her career as a successful television producer with her relationship with boyfriend Mike (Kil-ner).
"I think we felt that the relationship - although it was a really good, strong part of the show - was basically limiting us," said executive producer Ken Levine. "It was very tough to come up with stories, quite frankly. Because it seemed that she had a great job, she had a great boyfriend. The only real problem, other than neurotic problems, was - how do you juggle the two?"
Making Kim a single woman trying to work and find a relationship "will liberate us a bit, and open the door to more stories and some more fun," Levine said.
Of course, it wasn't like Levine and executive producer Robin Schiff and David Isaacs were just sitting around one day when they decided to dump the character of Mike. Confirming widespread reports, Schiff admitted the idea "did initially come from the network."
But they refuted reports that CBS made dropping the character a requirement for "Almost Perfect" to get a second season on the network.
"It was never put that way," Levine said.
"It was a suggestion," Schiff insisted.
And, according to the executive producers, it was a suggestion that came at a time when they were struggling with where to take the show in a second season. They knew they wanted to keep the work element of the show - Kim and her three male co-writers on the fictional TV police drama "Blue Justice" - but they weren't sure how to keep the stories going.
"We had all started thinking, gee, we're gong to have to do something next year that's different from what we were doing this year," Schiff said. "And we didn't want to get them married right away. So we knew, the three of us as a unit, we were going to have to try to find some new way to tell stories to free us up a bit.
"At the same time CBS felt that the most successful part of the show was primarily Nancy Travis. And Nancy Travis with the three guys, who we felt - as did the network - got strong and better over time."
And keeping all those elements together was proving difficult.
"When we did do shows centered in the writers' room, how do you get Mike into those stories?" Levine said. "And like I said, we just felt in some cases a little handcuffed."
"Now we'll be dealing with a show still about a high-powered professional woman who wants a relationship, who wants love in her life and just spent a year in the wrong relationship," Schiff said. "A woman in her early 30s without a lot of time, and why wasn't this the right guy?"
Schiff, Levine and Isaacs are looking for ways to integrate the three fictional writers into the stories more but not spend all their time in the writers' room. They want to get them to interact more with the cast and the crew of the fictional TV series.
They're also looking at creating a new character - a female friend for Kim who might end up being the bartender at the restaurant where Kim frequently hangs out.
As the sole centerpiece of the series now, Travis said she doesn't really see it as a huge shift in the show's focus.
"I don't feel like the premise of the show has really changed that much," Travis said. "I think it's still about a woman trying to balance work and a relationship, and whether she's in a relationship or seeking a relationship, it's pretty much the same idea to me."
YOU'RE FIRED: So, how exactly do you fire someone from a television series? Not by mail - by phone.
"We told him," Isaacs said. "And we were in different cities at the time, which in a way made it easier.
"We were originally in the same city, but we left," Isaacs joked.
"We called him and said point blank that we felt we needed to change, and he was fantastic," Isaacs said. "Kevin is just a class guy. The first thing he said to us was, `How can I help out?' "
(Kilner will return for the season premiere of "Almost Perfect" to wrap up his character's storyline.)
WHAT A WAY TO GO: So, how will Kilner's character be written out?
"A gruesome murder," Travis quipped.
"Gruesome but funny," Levine added.
Actually, Kilner is going to return for an episode that has Gary (Chip Zien) preparing to remarry his ex-wife.
"And Gary is very excited about it, except that he has a theory that all couples are only five sentences from a break-up at any time - given the right five sentences," Isaacs said. "And so, through the course of that episode (Kim and Mike) will break up, Gary will break up and Rob will break up with his girlfriend."
"So by the end of the wedding everybody is going to be single again," Schiff added.
It may sound a bit outlandish, but the story was inspired by a real-life conversation Schiff had with someone she knows.
"The five-sentences thing, quite honestly, came from a friend of mine," Schiff said. "I was talking to him to him and I said, `And how are you and your wife getting along?' And he said, `Well, much better now that we don't really talk about anything openly.'
"And then he said, `But I pretty much believe all couples are five sentences away from breaking up at any time.' "
At the time, Schiff, Levine and Isaacs were talking about how to handle the breakup episode of "Almost Perfect."
"I came into the office and said, `I think we've got a hook!' " Schiff said.
ART IMITATES LIFE: In real life, "Almost Perfect" has always struggled in the ratings. This fall, it's going to move to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS, where it will go up against ABC's "Grace Under Fire" and NBC's "NewsRadio."
As for the fictional show-within-a-show on "Almost Perfect," there are also going to be some scheduling problems for "Blue Justice."
"They're really on the ropes because they're opposite `ER.' And even though the network expected them to get killed, they're getting killed even worse than was expected," Schiff said. "And if they don't bring the show up at least a point somehow, they're going to get canceled.
"Nothing we can really relate to at all."
At the same time, Kim gets fixed up on a blind date with "a drip" - a guy she's not attracted to at all.
"But she finds out he has a Nielsen (ratings) box. And he used to watch `Blue Justice,' but now that it's opposite `ER' he watches `ER.' " Schiff said. "So she starts going over every Thursday at o'clock to get him to watch it. And of course, it goes up a point."
Stay tuned . . .