Superior Donuts Information

Superior Donuts is an American sitcom that airs on CBS. The series aired as a "special preview" on February 2, 2017, following The Big Bang Theory. It then premiered in its regular Monday at 9:00 p.m. timeslot on February 6, 2017. The series is based on the play of the same name by Tracy Letts.

On March 23, 2017, CBS renewed the series for a second season, which will premiere on October 30, 2017.

Plot

The series revolves around the relationship between Chicago donut shop owner Arthur Przybyszewski (Judd Hirsch), his new employee, Franco Wicks (Jermaine Fowler), and the shop's various patrons. With the donut shop struggling financially, Franco makes suggestions for improvement and modernization to the sometimes reluctant Arthur.

Cast

• Judd Hirsch as Arthur Przybyszewski, the 75-year old owner of the donut shop which he founded in 1969. Arthur is an old-fashioned and sometimes grumpy widower.
• Jermaine Fowler as Franco Wicks, Arthur's new and energetic but naive employee who sees him as a mentor and friend and vows to help Arthur with his struggling donut shop. He and his father had visited Superior Donuts and bought a box of donuts every day when he was younger.
• Katey Sagal as Officer Randy DeLuca, a police officer, daughter of Arthur's best friend, and James' partner.
• David Koechner as Carl 'Tush' Tushinski, a laid-off factory worker who now works odd jobs to make a living and uses Arthur's donut shop as his office. He is one of Superior Donuts' loyal customers, though the episode "Wage Against the Machine" reveals he has run up a tab.
• Maz Jobrani as Fawz, a wealthy Middle Eastern real estate developer and Franco and Sweatpants' landlord. He owns the dry cleaners next door and wants to buy Superior Donuts and tear it down, despite the fact that he always gets coffee there.
• Anna Baryshnikov as Maya, a college graduate student from an upper-class family who is frequently doing school work in the shop. She has a crush on Franco.
• Darien Sills-Evans as Officer James Jordan, Randy's geeky younger partner.
• Diane Guerrero as Sofia (season 2-)
• Rell Battle as Sweatpants, Franco's roommate and friend who helps Arthur drum up business.

Production

The pilot was originally developed for the 2015-16 television season, but was not picked up, and was put in redevelopment by CBS. In May 2016, a new pilot was ordered, for consideration at midseason. On September 21, 2016, CBS ordered the pilot to series.

Series overview

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Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

|ProdCode= 101
|Viewers= 10.54
|ShortSummary= Arthur is the owner of an old-fashioned donut shop called "Superior Donuts". He is approached by Fawz, a wealthy businessman who wants to buy out his failing traditional donut shop. Arthur refuses, even though he gets very few customers anymore. He is then approached by Franco Wicks, an ambitious, but nave resident of Chicago who came to ask for a job offer. At first, Arthur is reluctant, but when Franco tells him that he can save the shop with modern ideas, he hires him. Things go pretty well, and Franco meets Arthur's loyal customers: Randy, a Chicago cop and daughter of Arthur's best friend; Tush, a laid-off factory worker; Maya, a college graduate student; and James, Randy's partner. But things go wrong when Fawz tells everyone that a Starbucks opened up across the street, and an upper-class couple enters the shop and tries to order a gluten-free donut and a mocha. Arthur then fires Franco after he tries to modernize the entire shop on his own. The next day Fawz tells Arthur that someone vandalized the Starbucks over night using graffiti. Arthur accuses Franco of vandalizing the store. Before Franco could be arrested by Randy and James, Arthur lies and say he was the one who vandalized the store, and gives the owner of the Starbucks some money to pay off the damage. Franco is then released from custody, and is rehired by Arthur.
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|Viewers= 7.34
|ProdCode= 103
|ShortSummary= Franco asks Arthur to create new ideas for Superior Donuts (ex. Donut ATM, Free Wi-Fi, etc.). Arthur dismisses all of these ideas but agrees to teach Franco how to make a old-fashioned glazed. Despite Arthur's strict teachings, Franco creates a sriracha-flavored donut, which becomes a hit. A jealous Arthur then tries to create a pickle-flavored donut, but both Randy and Tush are disgusted by it, causing him to leave the shop. When Fawz tries to get him to sell Superior Donuts, he initially agrees, but changes his mind. Arthur then teaches Franco how to make a Jelly Donut, they instead make a PB&J Donut, but it backfires when Tush eats one and says he's allergic to peanuts. 

Meanwhile, Maya complains that the donut shop has no Wi-Fi service, but she and James discover that they can steal Wi-Fi from the dry-cleaners owned by Fawz. However, Fawz soon finds out, and puts up a password so both Maya and James can't use his service. They then agree that without Wi-Fi, they are more social, only to find out that Arthur had just put in free Wi-Fi service into the shop.

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|Viewers= 7.25
|ProdCode= 104
|ShortSummary= Franco encourages Arthur to increase his security when Fawz"?s dry-cleaning store is robbed, but becomes concerned when Arthur buys a gun. Also, Tush offers Maya his personal approach to protecting herself.
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|Viewers= 6.71
|ProdCode= 102
|ShortSummary= When Arthur is reluctant to let Franco make the shop's bank deposit, Franco wonders aloud why his boss doesn't trust him. Also, James regrets trusting Randy with an embarrassing secret after she shares it with other cops at the station.
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|Viewers= 6.35
|ProdCode= 106
|ShortSummary= Franco and Sweatpants announce that their landlord is trying to force them out of their apartment so the building can be converted to luxury flats, only to find out that Fawz owns the building. Franco organizes a protest which gets air time on the news, but later feels guilty when racist graffiti is left on Fawz's dry cleaning store.
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|Viewers= 6.18
|ProdCode= 105
|ShortSummary= After discussing whether or not Franco can make the tough decisions necessary to be a good boss, Arthur realizes he hasn't had a day off since his wife died. He tries to take a day for himself, leaving Franco in charge, but struggles to find ways to fill his time. Meanwhile, Franco realizes he may be too compassionate to run a profitable business.
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|Viewers= 6.21
|ProdCode= 107
|ShortSummary= After Franco is profiled and frisked by a police officer, Randy suggests the donut shop host a community outreach meeting so that both cops and concerned citizens can air their issues. After the meeting, Arthur finds his Ernie Banks-signed baseball has been stolen, and he accuses Franco's friend Malcolm. Franco immediately accuses Arthur of racism because Malcolm is black, but Arthur insists his suspicions are because Malcolm had earlier shown interest in the ball.
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|Viewers= 5.22
|ProdCode= 109
|ShortSummary= Franco hurts his foot falling off a ladder at work, but Arthur has not been able to afford health insurance for his employee and Franco cannot afford treatment. The gang takes up a collection for Franco, but he stubbornly refuses their charity, even after discovering his foot is broken. Arthur soon also reveals that he hasn't visited a doctor in years.
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|Viewers= 5.28
|ProdCode= 108
|ShortSummary= When Randy's mother Ellen (Brenda Vaccaro), also the widow of Arthur's best friend, comes to town from Florida for a visit, she and Arthur hook up. Arthur then wonders why Ellen is "ghosting" him after their night together. Meanwhile, Fawz tries to figure out why Tush has received a $600 check from a woman.
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|Viewers= 5.02
|ProdCode= 110
|ShortSummary= Franco learns that Bam Bam, a guy from his neighborhood, has died. Though Bam Bam became a gang member, he steered Franco away from the life when he saw his artistic talent. This inspires Franco to paint a mural on the brick wall outside the donut shop, but the finished product doesn't sit well with the new president of the Uptown Business Association (Fawz) or Arthur.
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|Viewers= 5.08
|ProdCode=111
|ShortSummary= When Franco realizes he can't make ends meet on one minimum wage job, he accepts an offer to moonlight as Fawz's new assistant. Arthur begins to get jealous when he hears Fawz offered Franco a higher hourly wage and a quick promotion, but Franco soon learns Fawz has ulterior motives. Meanwhile, Randy and James battle to write the most tickets in hopes of winning a contest at their precinct.
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|Viewers= 5.15
|ProdCode=112
|ShortSummary= When a local gallery owner won't even look at Franco's art because he doesn't have a proper portfolio, Arthur suggests the donut shop host an event to show all of Franco's creations. While the shop regulars struggle to get the gallery owner to show up, a surprise guest does arrive  Franco's critical father (Cedric the Entertainer).
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|Viewers= 4.84
|ProdCode=113
|ShortSummary= When Maya leaves her laptop open, the shop patrons discover that she's been studying them for months as subjects for her doctoral dissertation. Franco is dejected that Nadine (Ozioma Akhaga), the girl he's been dating for two months, is breaking up with him. Nadine later visits him and reveals that she's pregnant. It turns out the baby was not his... It was Nadine's ex-boyfriend's...Meanwhile, Randy and Franco try to learn where Arthur disappears to every Sunday night.
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Season 2

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Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the series an approval rating of 62% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "While Superior Donuts talented cast impressively delivers, the annoying laugh track and stale jokes leave a hole in the middle of a crusty "? albeit topical "? narrative." On Metacritic the series has a score of 56 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

Season 1 (2017)