Mr. Sunshine "Pilot" Review

Photo Credit: ABC

Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, while promoting his newest show Mr. Sunshine, Matthew Perry described LOST as the greatest thing ever in entertainment. Such compliments for LOST will earn one's a show a review in The Foot. I soon remembered that Jorge Garcia and Allison Janney have roles in the show so sitting down to watch the show then write about it made its way into my evening plans (and the Sixers game ended one minute before the pilot aired which is good timing). Of course, if Matthew Perry didn't compliment LOST, I would've written about the premiere of Mr. Sunshine because there are no other TV shows to write about (I won't get to see the FNL Series Finale for at least 2 or 3 months).

Critics compared Mr. Sunshine to Cougar Town in their reviews because the series is built around Matthew Perry. Apparently, Cougar Town became a stronger show when the writers focused less on Courtney Cox. In the ten minutes I watched of Cougar Town, the series resembled Scrubs without the medical setting (but that's for another blog post). Mr. Sunshine, on the other hand, doesn't have Bill Lawrence so the Scrubs comparison isn't apt. And I have no idea whether or not the show would work better without the central focus being Matthew Perry's Ben.

Ben manages The Sunshine Center, an arena which hosts hockey and basketball games as well as conventions and circuses. Ben's surrounded by quirky individuals like his boss, Crystal (Allison Janney), her son Roman (Nate Torrence) and his newest secretary Heather (who lit a man on fire). Ben's involved in a sexual relationship with the marketing director, Alice; however, his best friend/enemy Alonzo (James Lesure) is sexually involved with the same woman. Of course, Ben and Alice are merely friends-with-benefits until she wakes up alone in his apartment, unable to find her underwear. She decides she needs to enter into an actual committed relationship with Ben or the friends-with-benefits arrangement must end. Also, Ben's celebrating his birthday so his 40th birthday combined with his reluctance for a committed relationship places Ben at a crossroads. Does he want to be alone for the rest of his life or does he want to share his life with someone else?

Mr. Sunshine isn't the most original sitcom in the world. The "Pilot' episode felt like Matthew Perry and his two co-writers read a beat sheet for the stereotypical sitcom pilot, copied it, wrote a script, bribed or blackmailed the ABC executives to greenlight the pilot and then further bribed or blackmailed ABC to pick it up for the a fall or mid-season premiere.

Nothing stands out in Mr. Sunshine. Crystal's the zany, crazy border-line racist owner of the arena whose humor is derived from such border-line racism. Her subplot involves her donation to a multiethnic charity. Ben worries that she'll offend the charity and end up in the papers. During the course of the episode, Crystal works out a racist jingle while Ben sighs heavily and shrugs a what-can-i-do-she-is-quirky shrug. Meanwhile, Roman (her son) needs a job and he spends the day with Ben. Roman barely sees his mother, seems sheltered and incapable of possessing good social skills; however, a smile never leaves his face and he's seemingly comfortable no matter what conversation he's in the middle of like Alice's plea for she and Ben's friends-with-benefits set up to be something more substantial. Later, Ben recognizes Roman needs a healthy relationship with his mother after he realizes how selfish he's been with Alice's feelings.

The zany plot-of-the-week involves a circus possibly performing on ice that won't melt. Jorge Garcia guest stars as the man in charge of the ice-melting. If Ben was such a good manager of the arena, shouldn't he know that ice isn't melted in arena? Shouldn't his workers understand that the ice gets covered by wood and kept cool underneath the hard surface? I assume the writers opted to ignore such facts for the sake of comedy. The ice story, of course, concludes with one of Crystal's worst nightmares coming to life--clowns with axes. Absolutely terrible, friends and well-wishers. Absolutely terrible.

Mr. Sunshine, essentially, asks the viewers to follow the journey of Ben as he attempts to become a man who cares about other people as well as a man a woman can depend on for more than sex. Raise your hand or reply in the comments if you've seen such a main character in past sitcoms. Ben makes progress in the "Pilot" when he offers to be Alice's friends because he wants to be involved in her life. Also, while he tells Roman that he doesn't care about his non-relationship with his mother, he makes sure Roman and Crystal are together by the end of the episode.

Mr. Sunshine breaks no new ground. It's a mindless half-hour of television. The show's not terrible--it's simply mediocre. ABC promos will try to sell the show as clever, funny and the best new comedy of the season and it's not true. I dozed off during portions of the episode. Put that in your promos, ABC.