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John DiResta, a real-life New York City transit cop turned stand-up comedian, stars in "DiResta," an appealing new comedy that depicts many of the former subway cop's "stranger than fiction" experiences as a family man with big dreams and goals struggling to make a living while walking the underground beat.

In the series, the acerbic yet big hearted career cop runs the gamut between his New York subway patrol, his police headquarters and his rented suburban home. Unexpectedly, it's often the latter that provides the most surprises for this contemporary everyman.

Popular Leila Kenzle ("Mad About You") stars as Kate, John DiResta's headstrong wife, who even after years of a loving marriage, still manages to confound her husband. The couple has two endearing and mischievous children, five-year-old daughter Anna and two-year-old son Dakota, a source of constant worry to their doting father. Another household member, whom the DiRestas have virtually adopted, is the landlord's son Tully, a career student who occupies the basement apartment. Kate relates well to the attractive Tully, much to John's annoyance as he sees him only as a sheltered youth, with nothing but a bunch of useless degrees.

It's often the trivial things that occur in his own home - rather than the dark underbelly of the subway - that get DiResta up in arms. Although he doesn't know it, John DiResta is a goodwill ambassador for the police department. He's a popular fixture on the job, entertaining an assortment of characters in both the subway system and at his precinct headquarters where he resists authority and innocently rewrites the rules.

He wrangles regularly with his supercilious boss, Sergeant Kazmerek, while dodging Liz, his sister-in-law and fellow cop, lest she report his brash behavior back to his wife. DiResta makes a daily visit with Cal, an erstwhile musician who works at a nearby diner and serves up both lunch and good advice to the self-deprecating civil servant who often thinks it's just "him against the world."

Starring are John DiResta as himself; Leila Kenzle as Kate DiResta; Joe Guzaido as Sergeant Kazmerek; Sandra Purpuro as Liz; David Batiste as Cal; Karle Warren as Anna; Erik Palladino as Tully; and twins Ruairi and Sean Kenna as Dakota.

Matt Goldman ("Working," "Ellen") is the executive producer. "DiResta" is filmed before an audience at Paramount Studios and is a production of Paramount Network Television.

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Photos and text Copyright 1998 United Paramount Network

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