TBS has recently been delving into the realm of original programming with mixed results. Some of their new programming includes the recent “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” and “My Boys.” One of the better results though has been its half-hour comedy “10 Items or Less.”

The hilarious sitcom is set in a family operated grocery store called Greens and Grains. The store manager, who inherits the store from his dead father in the first episode, is Leslie Pool.

He is played by John Lehr, the mastermind behind the most of the show. His employees include Carl the maintenance man (Bob Clendenin), Buck the bagger (Greg Davis Jr.), Todd the butcher (Chris Payne Gilbert), Ingrid the courtesy counter greeter (Kristen Gronfield), Yolanda from the produce department (Roberta Valderama), and Richard the cashier (Christopher Liam Moore). Rounding out the cast is Amy, Leslie’s high school crush and manager of the huge SuperValueMart across the street. She is the definition of grocery store evil and is constantly trying to put Greens and Grains out of business.

If any of that sounds similar to “The Office” that’s because it is, sort of. Both shows are set in workplace environments and feature ridiculous characters. But more importantly, both shows share a heavy use of improvisation. “10 Items or Less” uses a loose script for scenes, and leaves the dialogue up to the actors. This can be good or bad; it all depends on your actors. In this case though, it’s a good thing.

The first episode of the show’s second season which premiers Tuesday, January 15 at 11 p.m. finds the crew of Greens and Grains preparing a brand new attraction to help get customers into the store. The attraction is a money wind tunnel. Leslie is inspired to implement this idea when he finds his father’s stash of silver dollars in the manager’s office.

There is a hilarious scene right at the beginning as they try to get the machine running and forget that the money needs to be in cash form to actually fly around in the plastic cage. The wind starts up and the silver coins just sit there. The dumbfounded looks on Leslie and Carl’s faces are priceless.

Just when they finally change the coins for some dollar bills they are robbed by a couple of men wearing pantyhose masks. The rest of the episode unfolds hilariously as the police and the press show up outside and the criminals are unmasked and someone is shot in the rear end.

The clear star of the show is John Lehr as Leslie, the na’ve and happy-go-lucky manager of the Greens and Grains grocery store. He is fooled and taken advantage of by almost everyone on the show, but he still gets in some clever jabs that are seriously laugh-out-loud funny.

Other stand-outs include Todd the butcher who is a ladies man. After being tied up by the robbers he goes into a hilarious speech about the butcher code and how one butcher cannot steal from another butcher.

“10 Items or Less” is a late night gem that will probably fade into obscurity unless it is able to find that cult audience that it needs to keep going. It can’t cost much to make since no one is really well known and the sets aren’t high in number and can’t be expensive. It can’t need much to survive, but it couldn’t hurt to watch it. If you are a fan of “The Office” or any other improv-based show, you need to get on this right away and keep it afloat. It is a hilarious little show and TBS is awesome for giving it a chance.

Luke Soin can be reached at [email protected]