While the world holds out for a Central Perk reunion movie, Matthew Perry continues his quest for post-Friends success on broadcast television. The 17 Again co-star's latest hope: a single-camera comedy he will act in, co-write and executive produce under the Sony Pictures TV umbrella. But how will it stack up against Monica and Joey's current television reincarnations?
Inspired by his own milestone birthday last summer, Perry's show has him starring as a "self-involved manager of a second-rate sports arena who begins to re-evaluate his life on his 40th birthday." This sounds an awful lot like the short-lived Mike O'Malley Show (A 30-year-old hockey fan re-evaluates his life after attending the wedding of a close friend), which brings up an interesting point. Who has more star power: 1999's Mike O'Malley or 2009's Matthew Perry?
Other Friends alums have found relative success in single-camera television recently. Courteney Cox's Cougar Town was picked up by ABC for an entire season last week and Matt LeBlanc is set to star in Showtime's television satire Episodes. Lisa Kudrow dabbled in premium cable single-cam back in 2005 with The Comeback, but has since put herself back on the market for Smelly Cat tribute videos. If Perry gets some traction with his semi-autobiographical comedy, he has a chance at becoming the third most culturally relevant Friend after Cox and Jennifer Aniston. David Schwimmer can write the press release.
ยท Matthew Perry develops single-camera project [Hollywood Reporter]