''Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life'' (originally announced as ''The Guide to Surviving Life'' before reverting to its original working title) is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

created by Jay Lacopo. It debuted online on December 21, 2015, and made its television premiere on January 3, 2016, on Fox, with 13 episodes ordered. The series follows Cooper Barrett ( Jack Cutmore-Scott) and his friends and family while exploring what we all go through on our way to figuring out what life is all about. On May 12, 2016, Fox cancelled the series, leaving three episodes unaired. The network burned off two of the unaired episodes on June 12, 2016, with the last one airing on June 26, 2016.

Cast

Main

* Jack Cutmore-Scott as Cooper Barrett *

Meaghan Rath Meaghan Rath (born June 18, 1986) is a Canadian film and television actress. She is known for her television roles on '' Being Human'', ''15/Love'', ''The Assistants'', and '' Hawaii Five-0''. Personal life Rath was born in Montreal, Quebec, ...

as Kelly Bishop, a neighbor of Cooper who steals his heart. * James Earl as Barry Sandel, a roommate of Cooper who can't stay out of trouble. *

Charlie Saxton Charles Saxton (born November 7, 1989, in Bristol, Pennsylvania) is an American film, television and voice actor. He had a supporting role as Bug, one of the band members, in ''Bandslam''. He was featured in '' Hung'', an HBO comedy-drama ser ...

as Neal Fissley, a roommate of Cooper who seems to fail at love. *

Liza Lapira Liza Lapira (born December 3, 1981) is an American actress. She played Kianna in the 2008 film '' 21'', Special Agent Michelle Lee in the CBS police procedural series '' NCIS'' and Ivy, Topher Brink's assistant in ''Dollhouse''. Lapira has also c ...

as Leslie Barrett, Cooper's sister-in-law, Josh's wife, and mother to Gracie. *

Justin Bartha Justin Lee Bartha (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor, known for his roles as Riley Poole in the ''National Treasure'' film series, Doug Billings in ''The Hangover'' trilogy, and David Sawyer in the NBC comedy series '' The New Normal''. ...

as Josh Barrett, Cooper's older brother, Leslie's husband, and father to Gracie.

Recurring

Marshall Manesh Marshall Manesh (born August 16, 1950) is an Iranian-American actor. Biography When Manesh was young, his father died; he was raised by his mother, from whom he feels he got his strength to make it in show business. He went to the United S ...

as Virgil, the landlord *

Victoria Justice Victoria Dawn Justice (born February 19, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She has received several accolades, including two Young Artist Awards and nominations for three Imagen Awards, an NAACP Image Award, and three Kids' Choice Award ...

as Ramona Miller, a corporate shark who befriends Kelly.

Guest stars

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...

as a hallucination of herself *

Colin Cowherd Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...

as himself * Kimberly Kevon Williams as Ashley, Barry's girlfriend. * Corey Reynolds as Frank, Ashley's father. *

Lyndon Smith Lyndon Smith (born June 7, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Natalie in the NBC drama '' Parenthood'' (2013–2015) and Dierdre in the TNT police drama ''Public Morals'' (2015). Life Smith is from Pensacola, Florida ...

as Lena, one of Cooper's ex-girlfriends who finds a way back in his life. * Parker Young as Shane, an extremely competitive guy who briefly dates Kelly. *

Alan Ruck Alan Douglas Ruck (born July 1, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's best friend, in John Hughes's film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986); Stuart Bondek, a lecherous, power-hungry member of ...

and

Jane Kaczmarek Jane Frances Kaczmarek (; born December 21, 1955) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Malcolm's mother Lois on the Fox television sitcom '' Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), which earned her three Golden Globe nominat ...

as Mark and Cindy Barrett, Cooper and Josh's parents. *

Juicy J Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, established i ...

as himself

Episodes

Broadcast

Initially being shown in a Sunday 8:30pm timeslot, it was moved to 7:30pm from the eighth episode onwards. After lasting three episodes there, the series was pulled, and returned in June for the remaining three episodes at 7pm, with the exception of the twelfth at 7:30pm. The show was acquired for broadcast in a few international markets;

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

in April 2016,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in May 2016,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in fall 2016 on Fox,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in January 2018, and later in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

by FOX, set to air in May 2021, as part of a number of one-season US sitcoms imported to fill their schedule during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Reception

The show has met an average response from critics. On Metacritic, it has a score of 51/100 based on 14 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a score of 50% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The critical consensus reads: "''Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life'' wins points for earnestness and a slight progressive slant, but an overall lack of smarts or structure keeps the show from living up to its full potential."

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 4452688 2010s American single-camera sitcoms 2016 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Los Angeles Television shows filmed in Los Angeles