Happy Endings: ‘The Ex Factor’

It’s starting to look like Happy Endings is taking the Community approach of going for broke at this point and making the characters somewhat self-aware that they are on a television sitcom. Much like Community did at the end of season one when the ratings were low, the fan passion was high, and the future bleak for renewal, they’ve thrown caution to the wind and let these stories be ridiculous and escape the bounds of conventional norms. And for that I’m very thankful they have because these moments have been outstanding.

The “meta” storyline of the week went to Penny(*) as she tries to comprehend the fact that her boyfriend Pete has friends of his own. In an attempt to explain how fun her friends are she tells him: “last week Max pretended to be a psychic and assisted the police to solve a murder case. And with his help they apprehended several innocent people.” Sorry Pete but how are these people not immediately your new best friends? Inevitably it’s a disaster whenever one of these people has to deal with people who act “normal” and don’t do “pile-ons” whenever someone does something stupid like spill a drink on themselves.

(*) Last week Max refused to go to the “gay sitcom characters” gay bar and the week before that a guy at a restaurant yelled at them for thinking they were the only people there trying to enjoy a meal.

Meanwhile Brad and Jane are confronted with a marriage issue as Jane’s ex Ryan is coming to town and they have a rule that they get one dinner with an ex. To Brad’s surprise/pure joy, Ryan turns out to be a girl. This conflict was pretty much an excuse for Damon Wayans Jr. to act super goofy and emotional, especially when he tries to bulk up by doing some “Shups for life!”

The third part of the episode circled around Max, Alex, and Dave meeting Max’s new roommate played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar. It’s always fun when these characters get chaotic over nonsense resulting in a multitude of unnecessary stupid ideas. Also, it would appear that Max will indeed the rue the day he messed with Bayside’s Zach Morris.

Other favorite moments:

• “You save me from a well once and I have to hear about it the rest of my life.” – Max on constantly being reminded of this by Dave.
• “Someone’s scoring our life!” – Dave. Another “meta” moment when the group mistakes Chase’s ringtone as indication that they’re in peril.
• “Oh I get it. You’re the Dave of the group, always talking about things no one cares about.” - Penny

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Happy Endings: “Fowl Play/Date”

The first of the Sunday night burn off episodes of Happy Endings premiered tonight on ABC and while this wasn’t the greatest episode in Happy history, I’m glad we’ll be getting two episodes a week for the next few weeks as ABC desperately tries to get them off of their schedule. (*)

(*) The decision to end their season like this certainly doesn’t bode well for a season 4 renewal so we might as well enjoy these last few episodes like they might be the last.

The problem with “Fowl Play/Date” was that they went to the “hey everyone knows this sitcom story so well that it makes it funny if we do it with our gang” well not only once but twice in the same episode. Penny and Brad being forced to replace an item/pet without the owner of said item/pet knowing is a classic sitcom trope, right up there with two characters each trying to set up another one with a date that ends up being similar to them. I don’t think I would have minded either of these two stories if they had been in episodes with some more original problems, but the combo of them together was just too much.

That being said there was still plenty to like. Max continues to be one of the great television characters currently on television; storing leftover pizza under the covers is an amazing idea right? Also, the opener was really fantastic as the group started shouting other potential “cons” after learning that Alex was attending the “Rom Com Con.” And it was hilarious to see the show be meta by having a random guy tell the group to shut up after they had gotten lost in one of their fast talking, one-upper, joke offs.

Other favorite moments:

• “On behalf of all Navajo Cubs fans, I am offended.” – Dave.
• “Tuckered out from all that racism?” – Brad.
• “We have all the same interests. Love Ryan Reynolds, hate Ryan Reynolds movies.” – Max.
• “I’m not one to usually talk about my sex dreams but it was me, Jeff Van Gundy, and Stan van Gundy.” – Max.
• “Harsh barley bro.” – Dave’s pick to be Max’s date.
• Tyler Kerkovich lived from 1928 to 2013.

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Happy Endings: 'Cazsh Dummy Spillionaires'

When Happy Endings premiered back in the spring of 2011, you would have been hard pressed to find many fans of the show, let alone anyone who might predict that it would become one the most fast-paced, perfectly executed comedies on television. But somewhere along the line, that very thing happened and it’s great that it’s and back and we all get to enjoy it.

A few things have changed in the lives of our six friends since we last left them. Penny is dating her new boyfriend whom she met at their friends’ wedding in last season’s finale. Brad is blissfully kind of unemployed and is working on some fantastic ventriloquism skills with his dummy Sin-Brad. And Dave and Alex have begun to casually date, this of course being a much bigger deal in their perspective than it is to the rest of the group.

I think what separates Happy Endings to put it in the current elite crop of sitcoms is how it has effectively taken the best parts from a multitude of shows and is able to balance them. The connection that everyone immediately makes is with Friends (*) because it is a show about six twenty-somethings making their way in the big city while going on goofy adventures. But that’s where the similarities stop. Because this group has much more of a maniacal undertone in their attitudes and sometimes blatant indifference towards the world which is much closer in line to the It’s Always Sunny gang. But they still have enough heart and morals for us to care about them and when you mix in a non-stop barrage of jokes, puns and pop culture references in the vein of what 30 Rock  does, well then you have what Happy Endings has become.

(*) Even Brad high on laughing gas made this connection in an episode last season by referring to Brad as Ross, Alex as Rachel, Penny as Phoebe, Jane as Monica, and Max as fat Joey.

So many great quotes from the premiere, I’ll try my best to limit it:

• “Your Momma’s so fat, she died.”
• “You look like the Olsen twins’ burnt out brother, Larry-Kate Olsen.”
• “Dave is currently getting his goatee highlighted.”
• “Mmmm. That girl’s so whack, her first name should be Nick-Nack Patty.”
• “You sleepy-tea’d me.”
• “The doctor requested you wear bike shorts and a Jim McMahon jersey.”
• “It’s my one-man experimental band ‘Yoko Uno.’”

Also, I can’t get Brad's rendition of ‘Ebony and Ebony’ out of my head. What did everyone think? Comments are always welcome.