Peterman happy about 'Working' with Ed Asner

If there's something to be done on Country Music Television, Melissa Peterman has pretty much done it.

The former "Reba" co-star may not have her own music video (not yet, anyway), but she's the host of the CMT contest "The Singing Bee," and she has worked red carpets as an interviewer for many of the network's events. She adds a comedy series to her CMT credits by starring in "Working Class," debuting Friday at 8 p.m. It's the channel's first original scripted comedy.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Peterman plays a single, blue-collar parent who relocates with her children (Lachlan Buchanan, Courtney Merritt, Cameron Castaneda) to a more affluent area. Hoping to broaden the kids' horizons, and maybe her own, she soon discovers how hard it is to keep up with her new neighbors.

However, one of them - played by seven-time Emmy winner Ed Asner ("The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Lou Grant") - is a first-class crank who empathizes with her struggles. He also works with her at a grocery store, where she falls for her boss (Patrick Fabian). Broadway veteran Steve Kazee ("Monty Python's Spamalot") is a cast regular as Peterman's playboy brother.

WORKING WITH A LEGEND Peterman is especially gratified to work with Asner. "I'm a Minneapolis girl," she says, "so when 'Mary Tyler Moore' which was set there] was airing, that was a big deal for me. I mean, he's Lou Grant, and he's why my husband wanted to get a journalism degree. He's a legend, and there he was, doing scenes with me. There would be moments when that ran through my head, and I'd forget to talk."

AND REBA, TOO Country icon Reba McEntire will guest in the season's final episode. The performers basically switch their "Reba" roles, with McEntire as the current wife of the Peterman character's ex-husband.

"It was pretty great to have her there," Peterman says. "I learned everything from watching her on that series. How I wanted to lead the set, what I wanted the feeling to be, how I wanted the crew to know how much they were appreciated - it was totally her.

Her car was the first one in the lot and the last one to leave, and that was me this time."