Sara Rue's New Beau Less Than Perfect?

Throughout the first season of Less Than Perfect, ABC's daffy and endearing post-millennial Mary Tyler Moore Show, fans watched and winced as plucky heroine Claude (Sara Rue) made one misstep after another on the road to true love. First there was her unrequited crush on egocentric boss Will. Then her romance with Charlie from Travel went nowhere. But, executive producer Christine Zander tells TV Guide Online, Cupid's aim may be about to improve.

"We have a great episode that we'll be doing where Claude does one of those Classmates.com things," she teases. "She posts what she's been doing [working under a well-respected network anchorman] and she's a little proud of it, so she gets a little flashy and it gets responses.

"One of them," she continues, "is from the most popular guy in her high school."

Easy-on-the-eyes sitcom vet Eddie McClintock — late of A.U.S.A. and Stark Raving Mad — has landed the plum part. However, the big man on campus, it turns out, isn't livin' quite so large anymore. "He's not doing too well professionally," Zander explains. Even his biggest cheerleader has put down her pompoms. "Claude feels like his flame burned out after high school."

Nonetheless, sparks fly when the former schoolmates connect. "He comes to town, and they have a date," Zander confirms. And here's the best part: "For the first time ever, Claude is able to be charming and witty and funny in front of this guy who in high school just made her crumble." In other words, she's gonna make it after all.