So it turns out Happy Endings won’t have a happy ending after all. After ABC decided to not renew the sitcom, Sony tried shopping it around. For awhile there was rumblings that perhaps USA would pick it up but Deadline is reporting that they have passed on the group of friends.
Well we can cling to the hope that a new smart comedy will come along this year that we can get attached to for a couple of seasons before it is unceremoniously canceled as well.
And of course no sad news would complete without Adele…
Well ABC did all they could to try and sell Happy Endings on Friday nights (please read this in the sarcasm font). Sadly, when the show returned from its unplanned hiatus, it did so to less than stellar numbers. I’m sure now ABC will have to go ahead and cancel the sitcom, as the people they turned to and pleaded to help save Happy Endings have let them down.
Let’s all take a moment of silence.
Now with that nonsense over, what could the future hold for the “no really it looks like a crappy Friends knockoff at first but give it a chance, it’s good” show? Well in a move much likethat of Cougar Town (also an ABC sitcom) last year, it appears as if Happy Endings might be heading to cable. Deadline reported this week that the basic cable channel USA, home of Psych, is looking to pick up the sitcom.
One has to imagine that USA is looking at Cougar Town‘s move to TBS and seeing how they’ve not only done better than on ABC, but also bringing in a demographic that TBS had previously not seen much of. However I don’t know that the same will happen in this case. TBS was known mainly for Law and Order reruns, not original content. Then they brought on Conan (who just signed a contract through 2015) which certainly brought new viewers to the network. Cougar Town was just an add on to that. When Happy Endings first showed signs of being canceled, I thought that a Cougar Town/Happy Endings block could do quite well on TBS, but apparently USA thinks that it would fit better over there. They have been looking to develop more half hour sitcoms to round out their schedule that is filled with show like Royal Pains and Suits (as well as hour after hour of Law and Order reruns, seriously what is it with Law and Order?)
With Pych likely being canceled, they could also eying Happy Endings to be a replacement for that. USA’s original shows aren’t bad, actually some of them are quite good, but I do think bringing on a show like this and the publicity it brings, could only mean good things for the network.
Even though the powers that be over at ABC moved Happy Endings to the death march that is Friday nights, they want you, the viewing public, to know that if it gets cancelled, it is your fault. In a move that is somewhat reminiscent of Fox’s “Get Arrested” campaign way back in 2005 (it does not seem like it was that long ago), ABC has gone the “save Happy Endings” route with the newest promo for the March 29th return of the sitcom.
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Let’s be clear, I hate this move. I hate it for many reasons.
One – it really doesn’t matter if I tune in on Friday nights to watch Happy Endings because I am not a Nielsen viewer. I don’t know any Nielsen viewers. So telling me that my watching the fun gang of friends on Friday night will save the show? Incorrect.
Two – They have no intention of keeping Happy Endings around. If you want a show to survive, you don’t follow the “NBC’s foolproof plan to cancel Community” method of scheduling. Newsflash, people don’t watch a lot of TV on Friday nights. They certainly aren’t tuning in to catch a sitcom they might have just heard of for the first time when they saw this promo.
Three – I’d place good money that ABC will base their decision on overnight numbers from this one episode. Again, this is only based on Nielsen viewers on a Friday night. Digital and DVR numbers are not incorporated into the overnight returns so all those people who decided to just DVR the episode and watch it later in the week, they will have no effect which basically means this promo is pointless. Surprise, surprise.
Four, and finally – Is Celebrity Wife Swap really more important than Happy Endings? Really? If ABC was so concerned with the show sticking around, why on earth would they put yet another stupid reality show in a spot where it might have had even the slightest chance of catching viewers?
The whole things just reeks of corporate ridiculousness and in the end, it’s the fans of the show that will end up disappointed.
Why would ABC deny the world of 23 episodes a year featuring this woman? Why? Not only is Eliza Coupe gorgeous and funny but seriously her on-screen marriage with Damon Wayans Jr. is one of my favorite TV marriages in many years. They are hysterical! Jane and Brad are one of the biggest reasons to love this show. [Editor’s Note – Realizing I may never have another opportunity to bring this up, I just have to say Jane Kerkovich-Williams (Eliza Coupe) has the sexiest legs on television. Wow, I feel better now.]
It’s also a bit more agonizing to know we are watching the last episodes of the show when they are bringing in a third sister! Jane and Alex and crazy enough but can you imagine a sister who is apparently even more “Jane” than Jane? Not only that but it’s ADA Cabot/Mrs. Bobby Flay/Liz Lemon’s lesbian love interest herself, Stephanie March. Le sigh, I’d love it if she had a chance to return as a regular to a show, and can see her fitting perfectly with Jane, Alex, and the rest of their friends and by “fit perfectly” I mean “annoy the crap out of and we get to see Max’s reaction to her and it would be awesome.” (Speaking of Max, it looks like he’s getting a new love interest!
Between March as the third sister, Michael McKean as Dave’s dad, and Megan Mullaly and Andy Richter as Penny’s parents, the extended families of the Happy Endings family is so awesome its seems almost a crime to cancel. I guess all that’s left is to just enjoy the remaining episodes and pray that Nielsen viewers don’t have much of a social life on Friday nights.
Might as well enjoy some pictures of our favorite friends and their hijinks over the last couple years to try to soothe the pain.
Grizzly Bomb 