For a struggling Friend,a new shot

It seemed like a tangent at first.

It seemed like a tangent at first. Matthew Perry,sitting in his publicists conference room to talk about his new ABC sitcom,Mr. Sunshine, dived into an explanation of why he believes Groundhog Day is one of the greatest films of all time,destined to be as revered as Its a Wonderful Life.

I really like the tract that man goes through, he said,talking about the arc of Bill Murrays character in the film,a self-absorbed television personality forced to live the same day over and over. The first thing he does is try and take advantage of the situation for his selfish needs, Perry said. But that all becomes so miserable to him that he ultimately tries to kill himselfin a comedy,by the way. Then he realises that he cant move on without improving himself and caring about other people.

Ive had a little bit of that in my life, he said,acknowledging in a phrase all the very public struggles that accompanied the worldwide success of Friends: the sudden onset of fame and fortune when he was in his mid-20s,the substance abuse,the rehab and the realization that,no matter what he did,the magnitude of that success was not likely to come again.

After seven years of an up-and-down feature-film career and short-lived television projects,Mr. Sunshine,represents Perrys best chance at forging a signature post-Friends project. Perry is not just the star,hes a writer and executive producer intensely involved in the day-to-day business of the show. And it comes at a time when all his former co-stars seem to have found their niches: Jennifer Aniston in feature film romantic comedies; David Schwimmer as a director; Lisa Kudrow as a producer of the NBC series Who Do You Think You Are?; Courteney Cox as the star and a producer of Cougar Town on ABC; and,most recently,Matt LeBlanc reinventing himself on Episodes on Showtime.

Created by Perry,now 41,and the writing team of Marc Firek and Alex Barnow,Mr. Sunshine is a darker-than-usual network comedy about a San Diego sports arena manager Perry who turns 40 and faces the unpleasant truth that,though hes a nice guy,he has cut himself off from meaningful commitments and friendships.

There is plenty of wackiness in Mr. Sunshine,and its considerably lighter than Perrys last attempt at creating a comedy vehicle for himself,a 2008 pilot for Showtime called The End of Steve,in which he played a bitter,egomaniacal daytime talk show host. It was a very darkunairable reallyshow, he said. Showtime turned it down,leaving Perry,who had never written a pilot before,to consider where hed gone wrong. I was bummed by it, he added. I licked my wounds. I didnt know what to do.

His movie career,despite some box-office success like The Whole Nine Yards,had never truly taken off. So six months after the Showtime pilot was rejected,he decided to try tv again,reading dozens of scripts to find potential collaborators. He made a point of soliciting input from network executives and production partners,including his longtime friend and former network executive Jamie Tarses,whod known him since his days on Friends and is an executive producer on Mr. Sunshine.

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This is Matthew telling a story from the perspective of someone who has finally started the journey to figuring things out,how to live a more enlightened life, she said

Rehabilitation including a 2001 stint to deal with addiction to painkillersand recovery had something to do with that. I think had there not been recovery issues in my life,I wouldnt ever have thought along these lines, he said,treading carefully.

Perrys character may be the focal point of the show,but the biggest laughs are often left for others. This is not an accident; he said hes happiest watching scenes hes not in,rewriting jokes on the fly,guiding other performers.

He doesnt make rules for himself anymore. After Friends,he went out of his way to take only dramatic parts.I said,OK.,Im just going to be drama guy now, he recalled. To quote James Taylor,The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. Im enjoying the passage of time more now than I ever have. JOE RHODES