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.