Bidding Farewell to "Happy Endings"

Not too long ago it was announced that Happy Endings was canceled. I only just recently finished up the last three episodes that had piled up in my queue (not that my watching in real time would have saved the series with the abysmal ratings it had), and so I now feel the need to share some thoughts on the series.

Initially Happy Endings held little promise in its midseason run first season, which felt too familiar and too uninspired to amount to much. But in time the show grew into something much better and much funnier. The show grew into a hyper-aware sitcom, skewering the very conventions it was playing around with. Happy Endings was a flopsweat of countless jokes, scripts brimmed with joke upon joke.

Happy Endings was a show that was hyper-literate and versed in pop culture. At nearly every turn it would throw in a spoof, homage, or just a sly joke puncturing genres. The characters on the show seemed to know, on some level, that they were sitcom characters, and the show played around with this to some fun results. This was a great cast filled with delightful performances. If nothing else, the show made us take notice of Adam Pally who I would say was the series' highlight if it weren't for the miraculous utilization of Elisha Cuthbert as Alex. 

Above all else the series was hilarious. If one joke didn't land, there would be a dozen immediately following it that would be sure to get you. The speed of delivery and the types of jokes Happy Endings was telling set it apart from so many shows, but it also made it a perpetually low-rated series. When ABC pulled it before clunking it down on the death-knell of Friday nights, burning off episodes two at a times, well, the end was spelled out.

The cancellation is a shame. Happy Ending was a messy show but often an ingenious one. It was a show best simply enjoyed for its wacky, glorious antics. And now we shall get no more of them.