Go On is a great way to remember Matthew Perry
Reflecting on Matthew Perry's career, the NBC sitcom Go On is an underrated gem
Aux Features Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry knew that he’d be remembered, first and foremost, as Chandler from Friends after he died. That’s because Friends is obviously a rarified sitcom, not just a long-running series but an enduring one, still discovered and enjoyed by new audiences today. But it’s also because Perry never fully launched a second act after that beloved ’90s hit. His post-Friends career is littered with projects that never quite stuck the landing, from Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip to The Odd Couple. Still, there’s good stuff—even great stuff—for new audiences to enjoy from those years, particularly an underrated NBC gem canceled 10 years ago called Go On, which is available for purchase Prime Video.
Go On starred Perry as Ryan King, a sports radio host who deals with the loss of his wife by joining a grief group attended by a host of lovable weirdos. The supporting cast is a regular murderer’s row: John Cho, Laura Benanti, Brett Gelman, Tyler James Williams, Julie White, Suzy Nakamura, Sarah Baker, Seth Morris, Bill Cobbs, and Tonita Castro. Led by showrunner Scott Silveri (an alum of the Friends writers room), the writing is clever, funny, and often moving.
And it’s all anchored by Perry’s performance, his confident ability to lead this merry band of grieving goofballs and make the more absurd aspects feel grounded and true. Ryan falls comfortably within Perry’s sweet spot, the snarky, sarcastic guy who people can’t help but be drawn to despite his prickly exterior. But Ryan isn’t a carbon copy of Chandler by any stretch. There’s a gravity to the role that partially comes from Perry being older, from his leading the ensemble rather than being a part of it, from the unique circumstances of the character, and Perry’s innate ability to weave comedy and pathos and pull real emotion from the audience.
In some ways, Go On is actually a better representation of Matthew Perry than anything else in his repertoire, including Friends. Perry didn’t have much experience grieving, but “I have a ton of experience of sitting in circles and talking about my problems—I’ve been doing that for a long, long time, so I didn’t have to do much research,” he told NBC Washington in 2012, referencing his addiction issues. “But the interesting thing—and you would only know this is if you were in such circles—but that common bond creates a lot of laughter. A lot of jokes, a lot of funny, a lot of laughing.” Perry believed in the 12-step program for healing and felt his character would, too: “That kind of belief usually comes out of a sense of need. And he realizes at the end of the pilot that he needs that.”
In that regard, Go On and the character of Ryan King is born from the combination of Perry’s unique talent as well as his life experiences, which to that point included the spectacular highs of success and the deep lows of his battle with addiction. That’s a lot of baggage for a sitcom that supposedly not that many people ever saw, but it’s evident in Perry’s performance. The show is wonderfully warm as a reluctant Ryan thaws toward the goofballs in his grief group and embraces healing and moving forward. Sometimes it’s sad, sometimes it’s joyful, sometimes it’s comforting. It’s offbeat and silly, and all the things a good show should be, even when it was still finding its footing in the first season. The shame is that it didn’t get the chance to evolve past those first 22 episodes.
Perry said that he wanted a legacy beyond Friends, one that acknowledged that he’d truly helped people. Without diminishing the very real work he did to do outreach to other addicts, Go On is an example of that ethos. It’s a series about imperfect people encouraging each other to keep moving forward; it’s about asking for help and receiving it, and how powerful that can be. It’s about building a community that loves and supports and challenges you and makes you better. It’s about wanting to be better and achieving that a little at a time. It’s also a show about Matthew Perry being hilarious, and what better way is there to remember him than that? If you’re looking for a way to celebrate his life beyond Friends, try Go On: it’s flawed and funny and wonderful, just like he was.
61 Comments
I remember watching the pilot for this. If it’s on any of the services, it does seem like something worth watching.
Not sure who produced this and has ownership, but it’d be nice of Peacock to make it available on their service, if possible.
Yeah it’s strange it’s not there? I remember enjoying this show, but I’m not about to buy it to give it a rewatch.
It’s on The Roku Channel for free.
Can you get that if you don’t have a Roku? Just a regular smart TV?
Not sure if there’s an app for whatever platform you’re using, but you can definitely watch it on their website.https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/7a9ae084c9745dbca5d572faaa75f0fb
Thanks!
You can download the Roku Channel app and it will show up on there. It’s also on Vudu for free. Both will have ads in between.
Thanks! I do already have the Vudu app I believe.
The only thing I remember about this show is everyone called it “Goon.” I’m not saying the show would have made it with a better name, but maybe I am saying that.
I mentioned this show yesterday on this very site as my favorite thing he’s ever done.
Studio 60 hurt my feelings. I was a total West Wing head and was so eager for it.
But what I do take from it is that Perry took to Sorkin’s dialogue like a duck takes to water. He really had the chops to do other stuff besides comedy. (For that matter, Steven Weber, another likable actor playing goofballs, was absolutely brilliant in Studio 60)
Perry had a brief run on The West Wing when Sorkin was still there, and he did a good job on that show as well.I am, all things considered, a comparative defender of Studio 60, but arguably one of Sorkin’s biggest mistakes with that show was failing to lean in to its biggest strength, which was just Perry and Bradley Whitford in a room bickering with each other. That really should have been the core of the show.
I loved Goon.
I wholeheartedly enjoyed this show and was really disappointed when it was cancelled.
In better AV Club days, there was a recuring joke in the reviews about this show being called Goon. Still, I think I watched nearly every episode of it, and really enjoyed it.
Hired Goons?
That comes originally from an SNL skit with Ryan Lochte being too dumb to realize the show had two words in the title.
I remember watching it and liking it, and being disappointed it was canceled – but I remember liking his previous show “Mr. Sunshine” better. Matthew Perry and a sassy Alison Janney? Sign me up.
Also – I’ve been watching Abbot Elementary lately and thinking that Mr. Eddie looked sooo familiar but I couldn’t quite place him. He was in Go On! Just a teenager but he looks almost exactly the same still.
Most people know the actor who plays Mr Eddie from his days as the lead of Everybody Hates Chris
Interesting – never caught that one.
?
It’s free to watch on the Roku Channel!https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/fac703d16fb953578bdef631aa5988f2/go-on
Thank you! I forgot about this show but remember enjoying. I think I will give it rewatch.
Well, that’s good. I mean, who purchases digital copies of sitcom episodes these days. Arguably no one.
I think Im the only one
Keep the dream alive!
Alright, it’s time to put a hiatus on all of this dying business. Folks, just hold off on your dying for awhile and we’ll all be good, ok?(What? That’s going to work as well as China’s ban on suicides?)
You’re right, but my bookie just gave me 10-1 on Pacino being next. You think I should hold out and see if he’ll give me better odds on Walken?
John Cho is a pretty reasonable offer, I wonder if this will be like Selfie where I question why he isn’t a bigger TV star.
Yeah, I’m annoyed that Cho still hasn’t really taken off yet–you could even say his career has stalled out a bit after the Cowboy Bebop debacle.
John has been been a very reliable actor for quite some time now (Harold and Kumar will turn 20 next year!) while not quite being a household name.However, the guy is now in his early 50s. It’s safe to say he’s not about to break through to the mainstream, but he’ll probably continue having a successful career just slightly out of the spotlight as long as he wants it.
You never know, there are more parts for asian actors every day than there were back when even Harold and Kumar came out, they might need hot asian dad in more films or something, shit, Ke Huy Quan just broke out again, Jackie Earle Hayley rebroke out some years ago, it happens
Karen Gillan and John Cho met earlier this year to talk about a Selfie movie if they can get the film rights from the WB. I hope they’ll be able to negotiate after the strike.
Why isn’t Selfie streaming or available for purchase anywhere
Maybe Warner Bros will put it on their free streaming channel WBTV that they’re are still working on (no release date yet).
I am watching Fools Rush In as a memorial and also 1997 Salma Hayek is worth watching again.
I am watching Fools Rush In as a memorial and also 1997 Salma Hayek is worth watching again.
I actually like the Odd Couple reboot. Strong cast
I had forgotten about this show but remember really liking it back in the day and being disappointed that it didn’t come back for a second season. It was probably my favorite of the post-Friends projects by any of those actors (though I’m surely forgetting something that one of them did).
On the plus side, 22 episodes is like 2.2 streaming seasons worth of episodes. Looking forward to watching…
The first two seasons of a streaming show, you mean. Season 3 is 8 eps long, Season 4 is 6, Season 5 is 8 eps again but split into two halves of 4 eps streamed six months’ apart. Of course, this is all supposing it doesn’t get cancelled after those first two seasons.
Excellent show, shame it didn’t run longer. Stellar supporting cast, and Perry’s performance was genuinely, deeply moving.
I liked it. It was also my first exposure to Brett Gelman and Laura Benanti.
I knew Gelman from Another Period, but Go On really cemented him as one to watch for.
Oh yeah, when I saw him in Another Period, I immediately recognized him.
Mrs. F. and I wished it had lasted long enough to get Gelman’s character’s back story.
Oh, 100%. It was either going to be super-tragic, or possibly something that most of us would not have thought twice about except for his own internal issues.
Benati is phenomenal in everything.
The iBrain!
Loved GO On and I am sure I am echoing what others said on here but I think it may have been his best work. I was so pissed it got cancelled. It had a lot going for it, and a Matthew Perry that we all could take seriously.
I actually watched this show weekly back in the day. It was one of the many, MANY shows I liked that was canceled after one season.Of course, back then, that meant we still got 22 episodes.
That’s up to 3 seasons now!
This show is basically “Grief Community”, but I remember watching a few episodes and I thought it was pretty good.
I’ve never heard of this show before, but watching that trailer I have to say I enjoyed the “March Sadness” bit. It had something of the same energy as the Lightning Round from ‘Friends’, the funniest thing that show ever did.
Matthew Perry was NOT a great actor. He was NOT a great comedian. He was fine. He did the work. He struggled and he toiled. And he got wonderfully lucky when he stumbled across his gig in “Friends”.But he seemed like a loving, generous, flawed human being who had a rough time of it in this life; and for that I am sad that he didn’t get a little more time to work it all out.Though I never met him, I will miss his presence on this wobbly, shitty globe.(FWIW: I thought he did a great turn as Joe Quincy.)
It’s also free on Vudu!I been remember enjoying it when it aired and been rewatching it, it’s really good.Everyone is good in it but Perry really anchors the show. Gets to show more range than he did in Friends and he does it naturally and charming.
It truly is a shame perry did not have a better management team He was amazing in the west wing and all his guest star work but his choice of projects to star in were mediocre at best
I don’t even remember this show existing, but it sounds like something where I would have watched at least the first episode to see if it was good or not. Did I watch it and totally forget it? Who knows…
i’ve heard hypnotism can sometimes unearth lost memories. probably worth the expense just to get an answer