Holly Hunter has become the true star of Mr. Mayor

The Daily Beast

"Six episodes into its second season, the series and its actors seem to have reached an ideal balance, though one actor remains far and above the best of the bunch: Holly Hunter, who plays Deputy Mayor Arpi, the foil to Danson’s self-absorbed and unprepared head honcho," says Juan Barquin. "Arpi is a workaholic of sorts, determined in every way to make the relatively incompetent staff work to her benefit. Hunter’s work here feels distinctly tied to her past. Looking at shows like 30 Rock, Great News, and Mr. Mayor, it’s hard not to see the influence of Hunter on Fey and her successors, specifically her iconic role and performance in James L. Brooks’ Broadcast News. After all, Jane Craig is something of a less neurotic prototype for Liz Lemon, is she not? A passionate single woman trying to have it all in love and in the business of television? It feels like Fey studied practically every character that appears in Broadcast News for her own work, stacking eccentricities and exaggerations onto their relative realism in order to create an ideal sitcom (which is precisely what 30 Rock is and always will be)."