One of the stars of “Better Off Ted” has booked a role on an ABC pilot, while former “Desperate Housewives” boy toy Jesse Metcalfe will take part in the “Chase” at NBC.

Andrea Anders, who plays Linda on “Ted,” has taken the female lead in “Mr. Sunshine,” the ABC comedy pilot starring Matthew Perry. She’ll play a friend-with-benefits of Perry’s character, according to The Hollywood Reporter. (The pilot will be Anders’ second with a member of the “Friends” cast; she also starred in “Joey.”)

“Mr. Sunshine” is considered in second position to “Better Off Ted,” but the show’s chances for renewal are pretty slim at this point.
Perry’s “Studio 60″ co-star Nate Torrence has also joined “Mr. Sunshine.” He’ll play the son of Perry’s boss (Allison Janney).

Source: Zap 2 It

Allison Janney might have played the president’s press secretary on “The West Wing,” but this time around, she’s calling the shots.

Janney has joined the Matthew Perry-starring ABC pilot “Mr. Sunshine,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In “Sunshine,” a manager (Perry) of a San Diego stadium turns 40 and realizes he can’t coast on his devil-may-care attitude. Crystal (Janney) is his boss that runs the arena.

Janney’s also been attached to “Shameless,” Showtime’s drama pilot starring William H. Macy as an alcoholic dad who relies on his daughter (Emmy Rossum) when his wife abandons the family. Janney has a recurring role as his love interest.

 Source: Zap 2 It.com

Matthew tweeted about an appearance (sort of) at The Live Room. The show is called “Celebrity Liar”: Two celebrities tell the same story as if it happened to them. In truth, it only happened to one of them. The show is hosted by Andrew Hill Newman and features Matthew Perry vs  Hank Azaria vs Kevin Pollak! 
 

Show aires at 5pm, 6pm and 7pm PST on The Live Room.com

FRIENDS stars Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry have reunited after their TV show ended six years ago, and Hollywood gossips are asking if they have been cursed. The Daily Mail reports that the stars no longer look as young and youthful as they used to be.

Fortunately for them, after a series of delays and haggling over money, plans are nearing completion to bring Friends back for a big-screen version could not come at a better time for LeBlanc and his co-stars.

Matthew Perry, who played uptight Chandler Bing, has also seen his career flounder.

Following the final series of the sitcom in 2004, which followed the messy private lives of a group of six New Yorkers, Canadian Perry has watched his once blue-chip stock in Tinseltown slump dramatically. 
In 2006, he landed the lead role as a TV writer in the much-vaunted Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. But it was dropped by U.S. network NBC after one series because of poor ratings and mixed reviews.

Perry’s attempts at a film career have been equally disappointing. He starred as a chronically depressed film writer in the quickly forgotten movie Numb, which was mauled by critics and flopped at the box office.It was a role that required precious little dramatic invention from 40-year-old Perry.
He has admitted to suffering from depression, and has said he locked himself away for days on end in his Hollywood Hills home to escape the pressure of fame. He has also fought a long battle with addictions to drink and prescription drugs.

His problems began ten years ago when he checked into a Minnesota clinic after he became addicted to the painkiller Vicodin, following a jet-ski accident.At his lowest ebb, he was drinking two pints of vodka a day and swallowing up to 30 tablets. At the same time, he was admitted to hospital with agonising pancreatitis – an inflammation often caused by drink and drugs abuse.Then Perry had to abandon filming the box office flop Serving Sara, in which he co-starred with Elizabeth Hurley, to check into rehab again.

His latest film role, in last year’s 17 Again, saw him playing second fiddle to High School Musical heart-throb Zac Efron.Meanwhile, Perry’s attempt to make a return to TV last year, as a foulmouthed afternoon radio talk show host in a sitcom called The End Of Steve, ended in disappointment when the series was scrapped after just one pilot episode.He will next appear on screen in the U.S. this year as a down-on-his-luck sports stadium manager in yet another sitcom, Mr Sunshine.

Read more about the other “Friends” at the Source

Mathew tweeted this yesterday: (if you aren’t following him yet, make sure you do! Click Here)

Abc officially greenlit my pilot today. Yay! It’s called Mr Sunshine. In other news, I thought the conan statement was fantastic.

Congrats Matthew!!! <3 Read the official newsmessage:

Mr Sunshine, starring Friends’ Matthew Perry has been given the green light by ABC The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

The comedy, based on an idea by Perry, follows the manager of an aging San Diego stadium who has a minor mid-life crisis on his 40th birthday.

The show is a single-camera project à la 30 Rock, The Office and Perry’s own Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and was co-written with Alex Barnow and Marc Firek.

News of Mr Sunshine’s addition came on the same day as Perry’s former co-star Courtney Cox’s Cougar Town was also renewed by ABC.

Matthew Perry Fan is now official on Twitter again! There was already a Twitter for the site, but i converted Wordpress, so that everytime there is a new update on the site, the MPF followers will get a tweet from our twitter. Please join Matthew Perry Fan on Twitter and be the first to know of any new updates, news, additions and lots of other Matthew Perry stuff!

Matthew Perry has joined the cast of the highly-anticipated and slightly-feared (by the industry) film adaptation of Peter Biskind’s best-selling novel “Down and Dirty Pictures”.

Like Robert Altman’s “The Player”, the flick both takes the piss and exposes the open wounds of the independent film industry. In particular, it exposes the machinations of Miramax, as operated by Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

The film will be shot with actors, but will include segments in comic-book inspired animation, and claymation.

Perry (“17 Again”) joins a cast of recognizable faces in the film – a lot, like him, from the world of TV – including Vincent D’Onofrio (as Harvey Weinstein, no less!), Andy Serkis (“Lord of the Rings”), Sally Hawkins, Hugh Dancy (“Confessions of a Shopaholic”), Bobby Canavale, and Elias Koteas (yep kids! Casey Jones from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : The Movie”!). Indy alumni like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are also rumoured to be making appearances in the flick.

Ken Bowser‘s film tells of Bingham Ray and Jeff Lipsky, a couple of novice filmmakers who plan – via their new company October Films – to take on Miramax Films. Ray and Lipsky hope to nourish art-house cinema and compete against Harvey and his brother Bob, creating a grueling, emotional battle over the future of independent film.

Shooting begins next month in Park City.

Source: Movie Hole.net

Chandler at 40: Matthew Perry will star in, co-write and executive produce an as-yet untitled ABC sitcom that he conceived, says the Hollywood Reporter.

The former Chandler Bing of Friends will play a self-absorbed manager of a second-rate sports arena who starts to take stock of his life as he turns 40 – the milestone Perry hit in August.

Other Friends sightings on the tube lately include Courteney Cox starring on ABC’s Cougar Town and Matt LeBlanc signing to headline the Showtime-BBC series Episodes.

Source: people.com