Maya Gallo (Laura San Giacomo): As the series begins, Maya is fired from her job as a TV news writer for sabotaging a whiny anchorwoman on the air, despite the fact that the woman had it coming. News of this incident spreads, and Maya finds herself still jobless three months later. As a last resort, she is forced to ask for a job at her father Jack's magazine Blush, a glossy Cosmo-like publication with even less redeeming moral and social value.

In the first season, the show revolved around her. Each episode had at least one scene set in her apartment, where we would usually hear her talk about what happened at the office, and what she was feeling at the moment. This changed in the second season, when the focus was shifted to the entire office. Maya remained the central character, but the show was no longer specifically about her.

Maya is a devoted, serious-minded person, but has a strong sentimental side. She is strong in her beliefs, and fights for what's important to her, but she remains an essentially warm-hearted person. Her personality finds her frequently at odds with her father, and usually it is she who is right