Happy Endings is More Than Friends for a New Generation

So no one told you life was gonna...wait no different show.  Wait, no that was Friends.  Friends is of course the popular NBC sitcom from 1994-2004 that centered around a group of friends who frequent a coffee shop.  The gang consisted of 6 different people, 3 men 3 women.

Throughout the years after Friends went off the air there have been several films that used this concept to make several different pilots.  There have only been two successful shows that have felt similar to Friends in prior to the show leaving the airwaves, and they are How I Met Your Mother, and Happy Endings.

ABC started airing Happy Endings on April 13th 2011.   While the show got off to a slow start, ABC wisely placed Happy Endings behind Modern Family on Wednesday nights for the fall fall 2011 season and the show has started to gain more attention.  David Caspe is the executive producer and writes for the show as well.  This is Caspe's first foray into the world of Hollywood; he has not had anything under his belt until this show.  While this show had a slow start to hit it's groove this is an impressive first show for Caspe, and he has assembled a great ensemble.

Who would have thought the girl from 24 who was attacked by a mountain lion, a Saturday Night Live reject after one year, and the song of comedy great would make a great part of a comedy ensemble?  These are just three of people that make up the six main characters for Happy Endings.  The six actors that make up this ensemble are Eliza Coup (Jane), Damon Wayons Jr. (Brad), Elisha Cuthbert (Alex), Zachary Knighton (Dave), Adam Pally (Max), and Casey Wilson (Penny).

The show started with a wedding between Dave and Alex, Alex runs out and while we do not know the gang we are thrown into their lives right away.  Obviously a broken wedding would potentially tear a group apart but this group has strong ties.  Alex and Jane are sisters.  Jane is married to Brad.  Brad and Dave are bros. Most of them grew up in the same town, while it appears Penny, Jane, Dave, and Alex did, and they met Brad and Dave in college, and they all hang out at a bar/restaurant.

While the premise sounds familiar 6 friends who hang out somewhere the show has differences that set it a part from its predecessors.   One thing that sets this show a part is that it tends to use popular culture within the joke (similar to How I Met Your Mother).  There is one moment in the show where Penny makes a joke to her father being part of an elite counter terrorist organization and her being trapped in the dessert and almost attacked by a mountain lion.  This is a brilliant reference to Cutherbert's much maligned storyline on the second season of 24 where that happened to her character.  The show has not introduced Jane and Alex's parents, I think Kieffer Sutherland would be a wonderful casting choice for their dad and the film Melancholia proves he is hilarious.

The show has also tackled its comparison to Friends.  Brad who supposedly has perfect teeth goes to the dentist, but has a cavity; he begs for drugs to numb his gums.  Brad gets so drugged that when he gets into the limo that his friend Max owns he slides in and calls Dave-Ross, Alex-Rachel, Penny-Phoebe, Max-Fat Joey, and tells his wife Jane-"Dont' patronize me Monica."  This show works because it blends the traditional sitcom with non-traditional elements of sitcoms beautifully.

There are two other things that set this show apart.  The first is that it actually has some diversity, Brad is a black male, and Max is a gay man.  While conversations about race and sexuality are not constant talked about in a deep manner (this is a sitcom) there are moments where the group talks about things pertaining to interracial dating, being a gaycist-where you assume since someone is gay they can date any other gay guy, black masculinity, and the show turns every television sitcom about gay men on its head-all while being hilarious.  Max and Brad are pretty, well as Penny would say AMAZING.  Penny Hartz is the other best part of the show; she is the Phoebe of this show, she steals scenes and her turn style of terrible men in her life is hilarious.  Make this part of your must watch TV list, and you will see some pretty great television.

My Favorite Thanksgiving Episodes

Thanksgiving is that time of year when everyone goes home to spend time with their families or avoids their families like the plague an attempts to make on their own with their friends. This is one of the best times of the year where there are numerous holiday episodes.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday with the great food, and its also because it is close to my birthday.  Here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving episodes.

1-Friends-This is the show that had a special Thanksgiving episode almost every season.  This show did Thanksgiving episodes best.  In the shows first season the thanksgiving episode "TOW Underdog Got Away" the six characters all made plans separately but Rachel could not get away and others plans got ruined so they all ended up spending their first Thanksgiving together.  The second season there was no Thanksgiving episode, but then in the third season they competed for the Gellar cup, and in the fourth season had Chandler sitting in a box because he betrayed Joey.  The best Thanksgiving episode ever is in the fifth season of Friends in an episode entitled "TOW All the Thanksgiving Flashbacks" is where we get to see fat Monica again, Chandler losing a toe, Phoebe's past lives, and Joey putting a turkey on his head.  The Thanksgiving episodes continued, but this one was the best.

2-The West Wing had two wonderful Thanksgiving episodes "Shibboleth" and "Indians in the Lobbey."  The better of the two is seasons two's "Shibboleth" and the best story was watching CJ (Allison Janney) having to help pick a turkey for the President to pardon.  Every year at Thanksgiving time the President pardons a turkey.  I love this episode!

3-Will & Grace also had two great Thanksgiving episodes "Homo for the Holidays" and "Moveable Feast."  The best episode among the two is "Homo for Holidays" where Grace and Will talk to Jack's mom and find out that Jack has not only never come out to her, but he has told her that he has dated both Karen and Grace.  This episode has one of my favorite lines in the entire history of the show, which came Karen.

GRACE: Hmmm. Well, you've come on a good night. Jack's mother is going to be joining us, and she doesn't know Jack's gay.
KAREN: How could she not know? What is she, headless?


4-Gilmore Girls-If anyone can eat four Thanksgiving dinners its Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.  In "A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving" Lorelai and Rory start their day at Sookie's and get to see Jackson deep fry a turkey, then they head to the Kim's for tofurkey, then onto Luke's diner for their almost double date Thanksgiving, and they end their night at the Gilmore's mansion.  There is nothing better than a smart witty Thanksgiving.

5-How I Met Your Mother-This show like Friends did a good job of navigating the world of celebrating Thanksgiving with Friends.  In season one we get to watch Barney work at a soup kitchen, and find out he is only doing it because he was court mandated.  Then after each season we get into the world of the Slap Bet.  The Slap Bet Episodes are great!  they focus around Thanksgiving but also on a bet that Marshall has made with Barney, and Marshall gets to slap him for losing the bet.  


I love the more modern Thanksgiving shows.  They do not focus as much on dealing with family, but are more about making Thanksgiving a time where you can spend this holiday with people you love who you want to be around.

The Worst TV Seasons! (Comedy Edition)

I have been re-watching my favorite one of my favorite television shows of all time, Gilmore Girls, for the seventh time (or more).  I am an avid TV watcher and I have a lot of TV seasons on DVD.  When I go to watch certain shows there are always seasons I dread getting through.    With my favorite shows I can easily pick out the worst seasons.  I can pick out the worst with other shows I watch too, but I think being a popular culture fanatic its better when you can recognize the worst in your favorite.

I am in the middle of my least favorite season of the Gilmore Girls, the sixth season.  At the beginning of the sixth season the famed mother daughter team Lorelai and Rory have stopped speaking.  Rory was told my by her boyfriend Logan's father that she doesn't have "it" to be a journalist and she steals a boat with Logan in the fifth season.  Rory decides to leave Yale and then the mother and daughter stop speaking.  Throughout the first eight episodes Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel rarely share the screen and thus the loses its charm.  When Lorelai and Rory finally reunite in episode nine their freakish mother daughter connection is strained for a while.  I understand why the creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino went down this road, but the show lost a lot throughout this entire season.  The sixth season also brought the worst character this show ever saw, April.  April was Luke's daughter.  Luke was never told April was his and when he finds out he keeps it a secret from Lorelai.  Luke also pushes Lorelai aside as he tries to get to know April on his own terms.  April was a terrible plot device that eventually broke up Luke and Lorelai, and forced a stupid and pointless break up.  I love this show but I this is one of my least favorite seasons.  The Gilmore Girls ended in season seven but the show rebounded and had a better season to close out the show.
Friends ran for ten seasons and there were some seasons that were amazing, some that were uneven, and some that were just plain not that good.  In season eight Friends rebounded and had one of its best seasons ever!  The show was on top of its game it won the Emmy for Best Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in Comedy Series for Jennifer Anniston.  The show added new depth to Joey and Rachel's pregnancy was hilarious.  The show was coming off an uneven season seven, and the six were considering walking away from the show, then season eight happened and they reconsidered.  I often wonder, should they have ended at season eight?  The true fan boy in me says "Hell NO!" and the critic in me says "Tough Call."  The season after season eight is there worst season.  In season eight Joey liked Rachel, but she rebuffed him.  Season nine rolls around and all of sudden Rachel ends up liking him.  They Joey and Rachel story was a stupid sideline, and season nine did nothing to make any Ross, Rachel, or Joey grow and they were at the forefront of a lot.  Monica and Chandler working to have a child was good, and Phoebe finally finding a steady man in Mike (Paul Rudd) was the best part.  This season was filler to get to the end and I hate to say it added nothing to this show.  Friends ended in season 10 with story lines that did not to be spread out amongst two seasons, but I still love the heartfelt last episode.

Will & Grace had a lot of uneven seasons toward the end but non worse than season six.  Apparently when a show hits season six the show starts to lose steam.  In season five Will & Grace added Grace's boyfriend and soon to be husband Leo played by Harry Connick Jr..  When shows add to their core cast the addition can either bring some fun new dynamic like with Lilith in Cheers or take away like Leo did in Will & Grace.  Leo's character was boring and bland, sure the actor is hot, but I do not get the appeal in the show.  In the sixth season the was one episode that was brilliant "Last Ex to Brooklyn" which is about Leo's ex coming to a dinner party, and she happens to be the only girl Will had ever slept with.  That was episode two of the season, and the season went down hill after that.  The show tried to save things with guest stars and gimmicks and that failed.  The season finale centered around Karen's wedding in Las Vegas was just painful.  One of the other flaws within this season was that Debra Messing was pregnant and was not featured in a lot of the episodes.  The show needed Grace to balance out the foursome, but she was sadly not in many episodes.  The show started to rebound and find its center in seasons seven and eight but it never got back to the greatness of the beginning.