As a fan of great sitcoms and hilarious things in general, I was devastated when ABC cancelled its brilliant show “Happy Endings” last May. The show, about six friends living in Chicago, had been on the verge of cancellation for about a year, despite critics unanimously hailing it as the best sitcom on TV and basically begging people to watch it. ABC moved the show from Wednesdays to Tuesdays to Fridays during its three-season run in an effort to find an audience, but each shift only made ratings drop more. After the cancellation, hope was momentarily restored to fans when it was rumored that USA and TBS were interested in buying the show. But these proved to be just rumors, and the show never found itself on another channel. For some unknown reason, “Happy Endings” just never seemed to click with a large enough audience to keep it alive.
Luckily, the show’s fans can heal the cancellation pains by watching the cast members pursue their new endeavors. Each cast member seems to be slowly but surely taking over prime time network television.
Damon Wayans, Jr., who played Brad on “Happy Endings,” is back on TV on Fox’s “New Girl.” Fans of “New Girl” will remember that Wayans played roommate Coach in the pilot episode. But Coach wasn’t seen again after the other characters said he moved out “to go live with other white people,” a not-so-subtle reference to “Happy Endings,” which Wayans left “New Girl” for. Now that “Endings” is over, Coach is back! Coach’s return episode aired last Tuesday, and Fox announced the next day that his four-episode arc on the show was being extended to a full-season, guest-starring role. Adam Pally, who played the disgusting yet lovable Max, is now a series regular on “The Mindy Project,” which coincidentally airs right after “New Girl” on Tuesday nights. Eliza Coupe, who played control freak Jane, is currently guest starring on Will Arnett’s new comedy “The Millers” and recently signed on to a new show for the USA network. Casey Wilson, who played accident-prone Penny, got engaged to “Endings” creator David Caspe after the show got axed, and she’s also working on a new series for ABC. Elisha Cuthbert, the most well-known cast member of the show, got married, and Zachary Knighton has guest starred on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” since “Happy Endings” got the ax.
If you haven’t seen “Happy Endings,” watch it immediately. All 57 episodes are available on DVD and most TV streaming sites. Then join the rest of us fans in holding out hope for some sort of miracle bonus episodes, movie or reunion. Wayans recently kept this hope alive by telling E! News that he would love to do any sort of “Happy Endings” continuation.
“We’ll even just come to your living room and act it out,” he said.
Someone please let me know where the sign-up is for that.
