Ain't No Sunshine

Matthew Perry's return to the sitcom, Mr. Sunshine, debuted on ABC last Wednesday.  It rated reasonably well, helped by one of the best slots available--9:30 after Modern Family. (It replaced Cougar Town, starring another Friends alumnus, Courteney Cox.  Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc is doing Episodes while Jennifer Aniston opens in Just Go For It.)

All the networks wanted Perry in a show, but he's not just the star here.  He helped create, produce and write Mr. Sunshine, so he gets much of the credit or blame.  The situation has possibilities--a workplace comedy, but the workplace is the Sunshine Center, an arena in San Diego.  They can have sports, circuses, dog shows, whatever.  I don't recall any TV show taking advantage of such a place before.  Perry runs the arena, and has to deal with the many people under him, as well as owner Allison Janney.  In the pilot, the cynical Perry (so I guess the title is ironic) deals with turning 40 and wondering where his life is going.

Another producer on the show is Thomas Schlamme, who worked with Perry on the ill-fated Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip.  Schlamme's best known for his work on West Wing, which starred Janney.  I see he and Perry have brought aboard as regulars two actors who worked on Studio 60--Nate Torrence as Janney's bumbling son, and James Lesure as the happy employee who competes with Perry for a woman.  The love interest is Andrea Anders, who was Matt LeBlanc's love interest on Joey and, even better, the love interest (and relatively normal one compared to Portia de Rossi) on Better Off Ted.  Perry's young assistant is Portia Doubleday, who starred in Youth In Revolt. (Is "Portia" becoming a popular name?)

We also got Jorge Garcia as one of the arena's employees.  It was nice to see Hurley again, but I'm not sure if he's a regular.

The cast is fine, but the characters aren't great--they're a little too happy, or wacky, or dumb.  At least so far.  The plot didn't move much, though that's always tricky when you've got so much exposition.  I wouldn't have minded if the jokes weren't so obvious.  I don't mind going all out for comedy, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice intelligence or consistency.

It's just the pilot.  Some shows take a while to get going.  But from what I've seen so far, Mr. Sunshine isn't going to make it, and doesn't deserve to.