Go On (TV series)

Go On is an American television sitcom created by Scott Silveri, that aired on NBC from August 8, 2012, to April 11, 2013. The series starred Matthew Perry as Ryan King, a sports talk radio host trying to move on from the death of his wife. It was given a series order on April 20, 2012. A preview episode aired following the Olympics coverage on August 8. The series premiered on September 11, 2012, in its normal Tuesday timeslot at 9:00 pm Eastern/8:00 pm Central after The Voice.

On April 20, 2012, NBC ordered a full season of Go On to contain 22 episodes, ahead of the series premiere. On May 10, 2013, NBC cancelled the series after one season.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Matthew Perry as Ryan King, a sports talk radio host who joins a support group while trying to move on from his late wife's death.
• Laura Benanti as Lauren Bennett, the group's poorly trained leader. She fancies herself "in charge" of the group's emotional well-being.
• Julie White as Anne, a lesbian prosecutor coping with the death of her partner, and stuck in the "anger" stage of grief.
• Suzy Nakamura as Yolanda Mitsawa, an anesthesiologist whose fiancé left her, and who feels that everything is "too sexual", including jazz and cats that continuously rub against her.
• Tyler James Williams as Owen Lewis, whose brother is in a coma following a skiing accident. He is extremely shy in the beginning, though he has come out of his shell quite a bit since Ryan has joined the group.
• Brett Gelman as "Mr. K.", a mysterious member whose first name is Benjamin and who designed NASA's Mars Curiosity rover's sampling arm, coping with grief that the others are too afraid to ask him about.
• Sarah Baker as Sonia (episode 14 onwards; previously recurring), a member of the group, who is grieving over the death of her cat, Cinderella.
• John Cho as Steven, Ryan's boss and best friend, who forces him to seek counseling.

Recurring cast

• Allison Miller as Carrie, Ryan's assistant, who has a crush on Ryan. The penultimate episode of the series reveals that these feelings are mutual, and Carrie quits her job so that she and Ryan are free to carry out a relationship.
• Tonita Castro as Fausta, a member of the group, who is grieving the death of her father and brother.
• Seth Morris as Danny, a member of the group, a discharged soldier whose wife had a son with another man while he was on deployment.
• Bill Cobbs as George, a member of the group who is blind.
• Christine Woods as Janie King, Ryan's deceased wife who died in a car crash due to texting while driving.
• Hayes MacArthur as Wyatt Achenbach, Lauren's chiropractor fiancé.
• Piper Perabo as Simone, a popular, former member of the support group, who was dealing with an injury that made her unable to work in her dancing career. She is disliked by Lauren, and develops a romantic relationship with Ryan.
• Terrell Owens as himself. In the first episode, he was Ryan's first guest after he returned from his bereavement leave. In later episodes, he became Ryan's assistant at KBAL.

Episodes

Development and production

NBC ordered Go On to pilot in January 2012. Matthew Perry was announced as the series' lead actor on March 1. Creator Scott Silveri, who worked with Perry on Friends, claims he subconsciously wrote the part for him.

On April 20, 2012, the pilot became the first of the 2012–13 American television season to gain a series order of thirteen episodes. Go On aired its pilot on August 8, 2012, during the 2012 Summer Olympics, as a "sneak preview", and was picked up for a full season of twenty-two episodes, on October 2, 2012. Episode eight was originally scheduled for October 30, 2012, but was pre-empted by coverage of Hurricane Sandy. The last two episodes were aired on Thursday unlike the other episodes which aired on Tuesday.

Post-airing

In July 2023, the creator Scott Silveri talked about the series upon learning about the DVD release 11 years later. He said, "It was such a fun show to do. There were so many great people involved in it. I keep in touch with a couple of them; Julie White, I talk to from time to time. Matthew, I talked to far too infrequently. But if all I get out of it is a little trip down memory lane for me, great. And if it could be introduced to a couple more people…I do feel like it’s one of those shows that…if you could get those numbers now it would run for 30 years. And you can play that game with so many different shows from back then.” Silveri was also open to returning to the show if there was an opportunity. He remarked, “If they want to get the band back together, have NBC or literally anyone else call me—I’ll do it...I’ll do it on network. I’ll do it on streaming. I’ll do it in the parking lot of Bob’s Big Boy, whatever they want.”

Reception

Critical

The series has received favorable reviews from critics. It holds a Metacritic score of 66/100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Verne Gay of Newsday gave the show a 5 star rating, noting, "The cast is good, even excellent. But Perry's the one who sells Go On." David Hinckley of the New York Daily News described the show as "Maybe the best new sitcom of the fall." Hank Stuever of the Washington Post praised the directing of the show, observing, "Go On moves quite breezily--much like an NBC-flavored take on premium cable dramadies such as The Big C and Enlightened. It's not as good as either of those, but it has the same happy-sad aura, with just a dash of Community-like absurdity to keep the speed limit up."

Several critics mentioned the show's resemblance to fellow NBC sitcom Community. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club said, "The show's weird similarities to Community distract". Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix called the show "Community with Chandler Bing instead of the guy from The Soup." James Poniewozik of Time described its premise as being "as much as possible like Community's without actually being Community".

Ratings

Release

Broadcast

The series aired NBC in the U.S. and was simulcast on Global in Canada.

Home media

Go On is available to stream on the Roku Channel, Vudu, and Peacock. It is also on video on demand through YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime Video. It previously streamed on the NBC website. A DVD was made available for Go On - The Complete Series on May 23, 2023, from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Awards

2013:

• Nominated: People's Choice Awards - Favorite New TV Comedy
• Nominated: GLAAD Media Awards - Outstanding Comedy Series
• Nominated: Image Awards (NAACP) - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Millicent Shelton - For episode "Big League Chew"
• Won: Gracie Allen Awards - Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series - Julie White

References

External links

• Official website
• Go On at IMDb