Last week’s was the last scheduled episode of ABC’s sitcom Mr. Sunshine. Though 13 episodes were produced, ABC only aired nine. Starring Matthew Perry, the series took over the Wednesday night timeslot from Cougar Town, which stars another Friends alum, Courteney Cox. How did Perry’s new series perform? Does it have a sunny future or will it be cancelled before it gets a second season?
Mr. Sunshine revolves around Ben Donovan (Perry), the Manager of Operations at San Diego’s Sunshine Center sports arena. His stressful job isn’t made any easier by his crazy boss (Allison Janney), his sleeping with his marketing director (Andrea Anders), his a crazy new assistant (Portia Doubleday), his best friend (James Lesure) or his boss’ less-than-skilled son (Nate Torrence).
After weeks of promotion, the sitcom started off quite strong with a 3.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 10.52 million viewers. Unfortunately, the TV series lost 30% of its audience demo in week two, a pretty good indication that many didn’t like what they saw in the pilot. Week three lost another 15%. Future episodes went up and down a bit but week five dropped a whopping 25% and and the demo number dropped another 33% in week eight. That was a series low of a 1.4 rating.
The nine episodes that have aired averaged a 2.2 rating in the demo and 6.02 million viewers. It’s ABC’s lowest-rated sitcom and, had it stayed on the air any longer, the ratings surely would have kept dropping. It sometimes airs opposite American Idol but so do the other ABC sitcoms and they perform much better.
Based on the ratings, it looks fairly certain that ABC will cancel Mr. Sunshine after one season. ABC sometimes gives a second chance to TV series that have struggled but still show promise. Though Mr. Sunshine has an impressive cast, the show’s been on an overall downward trend from the beginning.
At the January TCA press tour, ABC’s president Paul Lee indicated he was interested in scheduling another night of comedy next season. If that happens, they may decide to renew Mr. Sunshine for a small second season and combine the remaining four unaired episodes with the new ones. ABC has done something similar in the past.
What do you think? Will Mr. Sunshine be cancelled or renewed? Would you like to see it return?
Image courtesy ABC.
loved it! Of course, I’d watch anything with Matthew Perry in it, and having Andrea Anders too was a huge bonus. Really hope they keep it!!
dang i liked it
I’ve been a huge Matthew Perry fan since I first saw him early on in the Friends series. I expected good things from this series and although it started off slow in the first few episodes, by the 4th episode, I finally started to feel a connection between the characters and it started to get funny. I enjoyed the last few episodes and was surprised it was “pulled” so soon. I really hope ABC brings it back and gives it a chance, I think it could blossom into a fairly good series. I know networks don’t so that anymore and… Read more »
My boyfriend and I thoroughly enjoy sitting down and watching Mr. Sunshine together. We find it hilarious and entertaining. It’s one show we can actually agree on watching together. BRING IT BACK!!! That episode where he licks the girls face was absolutely hysterical!
I Love Matthew Perry!!! Bring the show back!
I enjoyed it! Smart cast, funny. Not predictable. I missed it enough to google and try and figure out what happened to it.
I’d like to see it given another chance. Who can stand a chance starting during March Madness?
I liked this show. Matthew Perry was my favorite on Friends, so I was very excited to see him starring in this show! I would love to see it come back!
ABC has an unfortunate habit of canceling shows before they have a chance to develop, either story wise or audience wise. With the recent lack of creativity at NBC, with its constant airing of pointless reality shows, I have turned t0 checking out and watching ABC shows in hopes of better quality alternatives. And interestingly enough, I think the programming has particularly improved in the comedy area, but often just as I come to enjoy a show, they decide to cancel it within the first few episodes. What is the point in bothering to become involved and excited about a… Read more »
i love it love love it
Great show—smart,well written, a little goofy and very funny. It never had a chance!!
renew…..great show!
I loved this show!!! I would love to see it come back!
I thought Mr. Sunshine was the best show on Wednesday night! Wednesday night and Thursday Night and Friday night except for that new CIA show that did not get aired this week suck. On Saturday nights the networks some time re-air show from the week, I like that! ABC should buy that spy show NBC cancelled and throw it on one of these nights. ABC should put the rest of the Mr. Sunshine episodes on Demand, a lot of people watch ABC shows on Demand
the show was devoid of laughs. it doesn’t surprise me at all that it’s gone. i seriously wanted it to be good, though. matthew perry is a great actor, but even that can’t overcome terrible writing.
This was the only show on network TV I watched since…jeez I don’t know when. I liked it.