Mr. Sunshine

Returning to television as the star of ABC's "Mr. Sunshine," Matthew Perry faces two formidable challenges: First, he must out-grow, live-down, or crawl out of his intimate association with Chandler, his legendary "Friends" persona. Second, Perry and co-star Allison Janney must inspire their audience to forget "Mr. Sunshine" replaces Courtney Cox's hit "Cougar Town." Perry and Jenny benefit from writers' and producers' wonderfully quirky visions of their characters and unusual situation. Perry plays Ben, a character potentially as memorable as Chandler but with far greater depth and much richer melancholy mid-life undertones. Operations Manager of The Sunshine Center, a run-down San Diego arena, home of the circus and lingerie football, Ben learns on his fortieth birthday that his girlfriend is leaving him because he is so thoroughly self-involved he has no love left over for anyone else. Jenny plays Crystal, the arena's pill-popping owner who could become America's next favourite villain on the strength of her thinly veiled racism and despise of children, except that Jenny's consummate skill as an actress redeems her. One Los Angeles reviewer wisely concludes, "["Mr. Sunshine"] isn't perfect; and it won't change the landscape of comedic television right away, even though it's part of a game-changing three-hour comedy block for ABC. But it is taking all of the important steps in the right direction." If "Mr. Sunshine" seems a little wobbly at first, viewers should remember "Cougar Town's" first-episode identity crisis, allowing lots of latitude for Perry's and "Mr. Sunshine's" rapid evolution.

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