Mr. Sunshine

ABC's Mr. Sunshine premiered last night. In case you missed the aggressive ad campaign, it is Matthew Perry's (Chandler from Friends) return to TV (sorry Mr. Perry, but not everybody is going to know your name).

Perry's previous TV show was Studio 60 created by Aaron Sorkin (see, people know him, because he wrote a movie about an internet company!). Matthew Perry says that he saw Sorkin on the set of that show muttering to himself while writing the script and he said he wanted to be that guy. So, he wrote a show for himself.

Sorkin must have really affected Perry, because Mr. Sunshine has the feel and the crew of a Sorkin show. It is directed by Thomas Schlamme and stars Matthew Perry, Allison Janney, Nate Torrence and James Lesure, all of whom worked with the Sorkin gang before.
There is also Andrea Anders. You may remember her from another short-lived show, Joey. [Point of interest, Anders is now the first actress to have TV-show-sex with two of the three male Friends cast members on a show that is not Friends. If you include Friends there is also Jennifer Aniston, Maggie Wheeler (who played Janice) and with the rare Joey-Chandler combo Paget Brewster (they fought over her. In fact, it was on TV last night!)]

It is unfair to judge a show by its pilot episode. So much time is spent on character and background exposition that the writers don't really have a chance to show what they can do. So far it looks like Mr. Sunshine will be a comedy of big characters (more like Arrested Development, not so much like Sorkin) who walk and talk fast. However, the main conflict of the show (Perry's character's midlife crisis) was not explored on this episode. So, we need to see how it will affect things.

As a fan of Sorkin-style TV shows and Matthew Perry I am sure Mr. Sunshine will be fun to watch. Let's hope the Gods of the TV agree.