Sitcoms were pretty basic before we arrived in the 1970s. If you overlook all of the supernatural stuff during the Sixties, like Witches and Genies, Martians and Monsters, the standard storylines of these programs were generally pedestrian, aside from the Special FX. What I mean is, the storylines that were happening to these mystical beings could have been happening to people without those abilities and the plots would have been almost the same, or even identical to things happening to 1950s sitcom characters!
It was when the 1970s began that the sitcom had a kind of irrevocable shift. Suddenly it wasn't that people had magic powers so much as they were just... different. And their circumstances weren't neat and convenient anymore, either. You might even say it was the antithesis to those '60s shows. It was time for television to grow up a little and start examining reality. That's where a show like this comes in.
The "Department" of the title was a Manhattan unemployment office run by Joe Calucci, played by James Coco. Right away, the audience understands there won't be any "blinking" or "twitching" to correct the problems these characters have! All of the people in and around the office have challenges to deal with and Calucci has to deal with them all as part of his job.
Let's be clear: the people working in the office were far more strange than any of the people seeking their help to find a job. In fact, Joe himself was likely the most problematic character of the bunch with all of his nervousness, short-temperedness, capricious demands and passive-aggressive threats of violence. Joe also was developing a crush on his secretary Shirley, played by Candice Azzara, which, had this show been set today, might have resulted in some form of sexual harassment lawsuit! On top of that, all of Shirley's peccadilloes only seemed to attract Joe to her more, even as some of them were things like petty theft, likely a fireable offense.
For a show from 1973, it was a diverse cast as both clients and co-workers were of differing racial backgrounds, which gave the show some authenticity for its NYC setting.
Some people like to compare this series to the British Department store comedy of the era, "Are You Being Served?" But I believe a closer parallel was ABC's adaptation of Lanford Wilson's stage play "Hot l Baltimore." That series, with its twisted characters, unique storylines and untethered ethics seemed to mirror this one much more directly.
"Calucci's Department" had two major problems that simply couldn't be resolved. The first is that the audience needed to relate, somehow, to the characters and their situations, and most people couldn't relate to this disparate group and their unusual personality traits. And, let's face it... if you were dealing with an unemployment office in your real life, you probably weren't watching a sitcom about it!
The other issue was that "Calucci's Department" ran opposite another show which had more relatable characters that was already an established hit which debuted the previous season: "Sanford and Son." So this program only made it to December before the cast, sadly, had to go to their own, real-life, unemployment offices.
