''Mr. Box Office'' is an American

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 ...

that debuted in first-run

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on September 22, 2012. The show was created by

Byron Allen Byron Allen Folks (born April 22, 1961) is the founder of the U.S. entertainment company Entertainment Studios which includes The Weather Channel. He is also a television producer, philanthropist, and comedian in his younger years. Notable s ...

and produced by his production company

Entertainment Studios Entertainment Studios, Inc., also known as Allen Media Group, is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved in the production and ...

Plot

The series centers on movie star Marcus Jackson (

Bill Bellamy William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Bellamy first gained national notoriety on HBO's Russell Simmons' ''Def Comedy Jam'', where he is credited for creating or coining the phrase "booty call", descri ...

), who ends up getting sentenced to

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performe ...

after engaging in an altercation with a

paparazzi Paparazzi (, ; ; singular: masculine paparazzo or feminine paparazza) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people; such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities, typically while subjects ...

, forcing Marcus to put his film career on hold. Due to the fact that he has a teacher's license (since he originally aspired to work as a teacher), the judge presiding in his case orders him to serve a six-month stint as a teacher for underprivileged high school kids in

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...

. As a result, Marcus has to deal with his agent Bobby Gold (

Jon Lovitz Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in '' A League of ...

), constantly trying to get him back into film. However, he discovers that Marcus has decided to remain working at the school, and help improve his students. Marcus also deals with the mishaps of his best friends and roommates Tony ( Tony T. Roberts) and Jamal (Alex Thomas).

Cast

Main cast

– Marcus Jackson *

– Bobby Gold * Alex Thomas – Jamal Tayor * Tony T. Roberts – Tony "The Tiger" * Vivica A. Fox – Cassandra Washington *

Tim Meadows Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emm ...

– Principal Theodore Martin * Rick Fox – Andrew Thompson (episodes 1–23) *

Gary Busey Gary Busey (; born 1944) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics ...

– John Anderson (episodes 1–23) * Essence Atkins – Samantha Owens *

Jeffrey Garcia Jeffrey Garcia (born May 3, 1977) is an American actor and stand-up comedian, who is best known for voicing Sheen Estevez in '' Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'', and its two Nickelodeon spin-off television show series ''The Adventures of Jimmy Neut ...

– Freddy Lopez (season 2; recurring season 1)

Recurring cast

Davi Santos Davi Santos (born 1 February 1990) is a Brazilian-American actor, best known for his role playing Sir Ivan, The Gold Ranger on the television series ''Power Rangers Dino Charge'' and Dr. Joey Costa on '' Good Sam''. He is a screenwriter an ...

– Carlos * Nick Nervies – Milton *

Giovonnie Samuels Giovonnie Lavette Samuels (born November 13, 1985) is an American actress and voice artist best known for her role as Nia Moseby in ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and for being a series regular on ''All That'' (where she was replaced by Kiann ...

– Camille *

Erinn Westbrook Erinn Veronica Westbrook is an American actress, singer, dancer and model. She is known for portraying Bree in ''Glee'', Gabby Richards in the MTV series '' Awkward'', and Magnolia Barnard in the Netflix series '' Insatiable''. As of 2022, sh ...

– Danielle *

Marcus T. Paulk Marcus Terrell Paulk (born October 12, 1986) is an American actor, singer, rapper and dancer best known for his role as Myles Mitchell in the UPN sitcom ''Moesha'', which aired from 1996 through 2001. Being a proponent of good causes and a f ...

– Jimmy *

Giselle Bonilla Giselle Bonilla (born October 28, 1994) is an American actress. She portrayed Maria in the sitcom Mr. Box Office. Career She has appeared in many television series, including a recurring role in Southland. She has also helped advertise many ca ...

– Maria *

Tequan Richmond Tequan Richmond (; born October 30, 1992), also known as T-Rich, is an American actor best known for playing Drew Rock on the UPN/ CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris''. Richmond played Ray Charles Jr. (son of singer and musician Ray Charles) in ...

– Anthony

Special guest cast

* Keshia Knight Pulliam – Vanessa Owens (pilot episode)

Episodes

Production

''Mr. Box Office'' is primarily syndicated to

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

affiliated with

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

and

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

and to independent stations for broadcast in weekend primetime timeslots. The series was originally slated to produce a total of 104 episodes, borrowing a similarly-formatted episode order as several sitcoms produced and distributed by

Debmar-Mercury Debmar-Mercury is a television syndication company. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Lionsgate, it was formed from a merger of Debmar Studios and Mercury Entertainment in 2006. History Debmar Studios Debmar-Mercury's history begins on October 31, ...

, such as '' Tyler Perry's House of Payne'' and ''

Anger Management Anger management is a psycho-therapeutic program for anger prevention and control. It has been described as deploying anger successfully.Schwarts, Gil. July 2006. Anger Management', July 2006 The Office Politic. Men's Health magazine. Emmaus, PA: ...

'', in which the vast majority of the episodes would be produced in one season. The series, which was sold as part of a two-hour comedy block with '' The First Family'', was initially picked up by stations owned by

Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United St ...

Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television ...

and

CBS Television Stations CBS News and Stations (formerly CBS Television Stations) is a division of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global that owns and operates a group of American television stations. , Paramount owns 28 stations, broken down as follows ...

. By May 2012, the program had been sold to stations covering approximately 85% of all U.S. markets. Production of the series slowed after the first 28 episodes aired. The series produced less than five new episodes per year in 2014 and 2015.

Syndication

On April 4, 2013, Centric acquired the cable syndication rights to all past and future episodes of ''The First Family'', along with ''Mr. Box Office'', with both series expected to begin airing on the channel starting April 19, 2013.BET Networks Acquires Sitcoms 'The First Family' and 'Mr. Box Office'; Series to Air on Centric
''TV by the Numbers'', April 4, 2013. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, the series aired on M3 and formerly aired on

Comedy Gold Comedy Gold may refer to: * ''Comedy Gold'' (TV series), a 2008 Australian television series *Comedy Gold (TV channel) Comedy Gold, formerly known as TV Land Canada was a Canadian English language specialty channel that was owned by Bell Media f ...

. The show also airs on

TheGrio TheGrio, styled as thegrio, is an American television network and website with news, opinion, entertainment and video content geared toward Black Americans. The website originally launched in June 2009 as a division of NBC News, it became a di ...

in the United States.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Box Office 2010s American black sitcoms 2010s American high school television series 2010s American workplace comedy television series 2012 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings Television series about educators Television shows set in Los Angeles First-run syndicated television programs in the United States English-language television shows Television series by Entertainment Studios