Bob Guiney

The franchise's first deliberate swing at a personality lead. A Cleveland mortgage banker with an easy on-camera laugh takes the mansion, and the tone shifts louder and looser than the buttoned-up first three seasons. Cocktail parties feel like actual parties. The casting matches the lead's energy. The women are quicker with a joke, slower with the tears. A useful counterweight to the prestige run that preceded it, and a hint of where the franchise would later go with comedy-forward leads.