Mr. Mayor

Main

• Ted Danson as Neil Bremer, a retired billboard ad executive who runs for, and becomes, Mayor of Los Angeles to earn his daughter's respect. Bremer was initially developed as an older version of Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock, portrayed by Alec Baldwin, before Baldwin dropped out of the project.^[6]
• Holly Hunter as Arpi Meskimen, the deputy mayor of Los Angeles and a former city councilwoman of thirty years with her no-nonsense attitude.
• Vella Lovell as Mikaela Shaw, Neil's chief of staff and a social media influencer, who is the good friend of Tommy.
• Mike Cabellon as Tommy Tomás, Neil's chief strategist, who is the good friend of Mikaela.
• Kyla Kenedy as Orly Bremer, Neil's daughter who enjoys embarrassing him.
• Bobby Moynihan as Jayden Kwapis, Neil's communications director whose bumbling personality hides his street smarts and political instincts.
• Yedoye Travis as James, a strategist hired by Neil to modernize Los Angeles (Season 2)

Recurring

• Josie Totah as Titi B, a popular social media influencer and Mayor Bremer's nemesis
• Benito Martinez as Mayor Victor Delgado
• Rachel Dratch as Ms. Adams
• Jennifer DeFilippo as Valerie
• Josh Sussman as Leslie, an employee in the Mayor's office
• Anna Camp as Natalie, Neil's deceased wife and Orly's deceased mother

Guest

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Special (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Development

On July 18, 2019, it was reported that NBC had given a 13-episode straight-to-series order to an untitled Tina Fey and Robert Carlock comedy starring Ted Danson, who is set to play a wealthy businessman running for mayor of Los Angeles.^[27][1] Originally meant to be a spin-off/continuation of Fey's series 30 Rock, the series was to star Alec Baldwin reprising his 30 Rock role of Jack Donaghy, following his political career in New York City. After around a year of negotiations, Baldwin dropped out of the project and was replaced with Danson. Danson refused to move from Los Angeles to New York, so the series was rewritten to take place there.^[6]

On May 11, 2020, it was announced that the series would be called Mr. Mayor.^[28] The series would be executive produced by Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, Robert Carlock and David Miner. Production companies involved with the series include Little Stranger, Bevel Gears, 3 Arts Entertainment and Universal Television.^[5] A first-look tease of the series was included as an end tag on the Peacock stream of "30 Rock: A One-Time Special" uploaded on July 16, 2020.^[29] The first season began airing on NBC on January 7, 2021, and concluded after nine episodes on February 25, 2021. On March 22, 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on March 15, 2022 and ended on May 17, 2022.^[3] On May 12, 2022, NBC canceled the series after two seasons.^[4]

Casting

In 2019, Deadline reported Bobby Moynihan had joined the cast as Jayden^[30] and later that Holly Hunter had also joined the cast as Arpi.^[31] In early 2020 Vella Lovell joined the cast as Mikaela,^[32] Mike Cabellon joined the cast as Tommy,^[33] and Kyla Kenedy joined the cast as Orly Bremer.^[34]

Filming

This section needs to be updated. (May 2022)

On March 12, 2020, Universal Television suspended the production of the series amid the emergence of COVID-19 in the United States.^[35] Filming for the first season commenced shortly after, but was put on hold once again on December 14, 2020, after several crew members tested positive for COVID-19. The following day, it was reported that production would be suspended for the rest of 2020 and was scheduled to resume in January 2021.^[36] However, filming for the first season did not resume and the season was cut four episodes short due to the pandemic.^[37]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 44% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 4.79/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Mr. Mayor's first term suffers from a lack of specificity, leading to broad jokes and wayward plots—still, a reliably winsome Ted Danson and a silly sensibility may be enough for some viewers."^[42] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[43] LaToya Ferguson of The A.V. Club gave the fifth and sixth episodes better grades mentioning the lack of Orly in them, noting "these past two episodes have solidified just how superfluous the Orly character and the family sitcom aspect of the series really are."^[44]

Ratings