''Mr. Box Office'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

that debuted in first-run syndication on September 22, 2012. The show was created by

Byron Allen Byron Allen (born Byron Allen Folks on April 22, 1961) is an American businessman, film and television producer, and comedian. He is the founder of the American media company Allen Media Group (formerly Entertainment Studios), which has intere ...

and produced by his production company

Entertainment Studios Allen Media Group, alternately known by its former name of Entertainment Studios, Inc. 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 ...

Plot

The series centers on movie star Marcus Jackson (

Bill Bellamy William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and stand-up comedy, 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 "bo ...

), 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 contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

after engaging in an altercation with a

paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...

, 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, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...

. 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 is best known for his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990 for which he was nominated for two Pr ...

), 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 Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983) and played roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' (1988) and ''Generations (American TV s ...

– Cassandra Washington *

Tim Meadows Tim Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for 10 seasons from 1991 to 2000. For his work on ''S ...

– Principal Theodore Martin *

Rick Fox Ulrich Alexander Fox (born July 24, 1969) is a Bahamian-Canadian actor and former basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association for the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, and played college basketball for the North Caro ...

– Andrew Thompson (episodes 1–23) *

Gary Busey William Gary Busey (; born June 29, 1944) is an American actor. He portrayed 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 Award fo ...

– John Anderson (episodes 1–23) *

Essence Atkins Essence Uhura Atkins (born February 7, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career appearing on television sitcoms, before her regular role on the African-American prime-time drama '' Under One Roof'' (CBS, 1995). Atkins is best known for ...

– Samantha Owens *

Jeffrey Garcia Jeffrey Garcia 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 Neutron, Boy Genius'' a ...

– Freddy Lopez (season 2; recurring season 1)

Recurring cast

* Davi Santos – 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'' from seasons 7–9. Life and ...

– Camille * Erinn Westbrook – Danielle * Marcus T. Paulk – Jimmy * Giselle Bonilla – 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 t ...

– Anthony

Special guest cast

Keshia Knight Pulliam Keshia Knight Pulliam (born April 9, 1979) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress. She landed her breakthrough role as Rudy Huxtable, on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), and became the youngest person to ...

– Vanessa Owens (replaced with

after the 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 stat ...

affiliated with

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

and

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

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, LLC is a television syndication company. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios, it was formed from a merger of Debmar Studios and Mercury Entertainment in 2005. History Debmar Studios Debmar-Mercury's history begins on ...

, such as ''

Tyler Perry's House of Payne ''Tyler Perry's House of Payne'', also known as simply ''House of Payne'', is an American sitcom television series created and produced by Tyler Perry that premiered in syndication on June 21, 2006. The series revolves around a multi-generation ...

'' 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 station, television and radio stations thro ...

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

and

CBS Television Stations CBS News and Stations is a division of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global that owns and operates a group of United States, American television stations along with CBS News. , the division owns 28 stations: 15 are the core stati ...

. 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 Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

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 Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the series aired on M3 and formerly aired on Comedy Gold. The show also airs on

TheGrio TheGrio is a brand name owned by American media company Allen Media Group for a television network and a website aimed at African-Americans. History TheGrio is to "focus on news and events that have a unique interest and pronounced impact with ...

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 sitcoms American English-language television shows Television series by Allen Media Group 2010s American multi-camera sitcoms