Employee of the Year 

Crystal decides to hold a contest to determine the Employee of the Year, but unbeknownst to the staff, a winner has already been pre-determined. Meanwhile, as Ben contends with catering to ... See full summary »

Director:

Beth McCarthy-Miller (as Beth McCarthy Miller)

Writers:

Matthew Perry (creator), Alex Barnow (creator)

Stars:

Matthew Perry, Andrea Anders, James Lesure

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Perry	...	Ben Donovan
Andrea Anders	...	Alice
James Lesure	...	Alonzo
Nate Torrence	...	Roman Cohen
Allison Janney	...	Crystal Cohen
Nick Jonas	...	Eli Cutler
Portia Doubleday	...	Heather
David Pressman	...	The Mascot
Kathy Najimy	...	Myrna
Carl McDowell	...	Trevon
Christopher Shea	...	Stage Manager
Jim Hoffmaster	...	Lighting Guy
William Jacob Olson	...	Blind Kid
Johnny Skourtis	...	Food Service Guy
Lili Simmons	...	Hot Teenage Girl

Storyline

Crystal decides to hold a contest to determine the Employee of the Year, but unbeknownst to the staff, a winner has already been pre-determined. Meanwhile, as Ben contends with catering to Eli's needs, he must also keep the rest of the employees from being distracted by the fake contest and get the arena ready in time for Eli's performance.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 February 2011 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kapital Entertainment

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The blind kid who says, "Hey, we can hear ya know." is Jake Olson, a real blind kid who was featured on ESPN's My Wish (2010) and got to spend time on the sidelines with Pete Carroll at USC Trojans NCAAF (2009) and Seattle Seahawks (2010).

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Connections

References Brothers & Sisters (2006)

User Reviews

Very nearly a sunshiney day

Matthew Perry walks around the sports arena in a bad mood. He bumps into someone else. Funny thing happen, he moves on. Imagine this repeated and you've got a standard Mr Sunshine episode.

And because Perry is funny and his character fits him like a glove you forgive the flaws and enjoy the show. For the most part. Because at times Mr Sunshine feels a bit like the doomed 'Friends' spin- off 'Joey', where the action was all on the head of a former 'friend' and the other characters never got a look in.

There is a conscious attempt to avoid this though in this episode, and Allison Janney steals every scene she is in. The writers also are developing the character of Heather (played beautifully by Portia Doubleday) and that's great to see.

I liked that Perry's character wasn't as grumpy here. He was more focused on helping others. The 'man's crusade to become a better person' was never the reason this show failed.

The sub-plot involving Andrea Anders and James Lesure's characters is the only low in an otherwise good episode. Was it really necessary for her to steal Frisbee's from blind children? Matthew Perry has previously said (and since shown us with his play 'The End of Longing') that his humour is darker than people would expect, and this episode's B plot highlights that.

Overall, a good episode, but when you watch the show more than once you start to see the flaws.