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Happy Endings- the sitcom we deserved but couldn't have

Goo Punch

By Goo Punch
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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

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no offense to bama or mullet, because i like both of you, but i believe it's precisely because the you's of the world didn't like the show that it didn't get more than three seasons. for example i'm a huge fan of mike schur, but HE >>>>>> The Good Place. and Kristen Bell is #1 on my wifey list. 

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Eternal Noob

Eternal Noob 29

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i enjoyed it for the first couple of seasons, but by the third it had devolved into extreme goofiness where each character would take turns being the wacky buffoon for an episode. It was too over the top, even for a half-hour sitcom. I felt the same way about Scrubs the further along it went.

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bamachine

bamachine 1230

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OK, those first few clips posted by gandorf make it look better. Derka, you may have just chosen the wrong clips for my taste. I never heard of the show. I heard of Big Bang Theory but only watched a couple of episodes of it, it was meh. Probably during that time I did not watch hardly any shows on network TV. I mostly watched shows on HBO, Starz, AMC, FX, etc.

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sidis

sidis 9777

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after the first time i watched that show, i had a dream that night that i had a three-way with elisha cuthbert and eliza coupe which was really fun.  for that, i will always hold a place in my heart for this show.

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henrygandorf

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6 hours ago, bamachine said:

OK, those first few clips posted by gandorf make it look better. Derka, you may have just chosen the wrong clips for my taste. I never heard of the show. I heard of Big Bang Theory but only watched a couple of episodes of it, it was meh. Probably during that time I did not watch hardly any shows on network TV. I mostly watched shows on HBO, Starz, AMC, FX, etc.

go on hulu and give it a shot from the beginning.

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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3444

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I still get upset at the fact that this show was taken off the air. Great fucking show.  I remember for a few months following its cancellation there were rumors that a network would pick it up, but to my disappointment it never happened. 

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

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yeah ok listen- the clips i posted weren't "weird", they were aimed at people who are already fans of the show, and weren't posted to convince someone who's never seen the show to watch it. that first clip with zach morris is classic HE, but it isn't the clip i would choose to convince someone who's never seen it that they should watch the show. like HG said, there's a lack of good short clips out there. i wanted to post some from the kickball episode, but none of the clips i found worked.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29183

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it ended early, which sucks.  but 57 episodes isn't nothing.

veep just ended with 65 episodes in their total run over 7 seasons.

definitely still worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

"better off ted" is also worth checking out, from the "ended too soon" category.  also on abc.  so great.

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Goo Punch

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12 hours ago, Junior Miller said:

Jesus that's some of that shit annoying white people watch. Even the two black dudes were all whitey and awkward. Like Friends with less hot chicks and Scrubs with worse writing. 

*fewer

also Elisha, Eliza, and Casey can all GET IT, so i dunno what you're talking about. 

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

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also, again, my posts in the OP were not intended to persuade people who've never seen the show. there's way too much context and character development for a first timer to necessarily think any random clip from season 3 is funny. always sunny is similar for me- i've watched it/had an episode on with someone in the room who had never seen it, and all sorts of character quirks about Mac/Dennis/Dee/Charlie that they've developed over time have me cracking up while my guest is nonplussed. an example of that is the first clip i posted.

in season one there's an episode where they actually address this white washing of black dudes on TV sitcoms. It involves Brad (Damon Wayans Jr) ditching Max (fat gay guy, aka Adam Pally) to go meet up with his black friends ("the brothas") at the bar. Well, after this scene we go two full seasons without Brad spending any time with any black friends. So in the clip in the OP when he says, "I haven't hung out with an Elliott in like two years", it's the show runners poking fun at themselves and calling themselves out. i like that. "self aware writers" is pretty high on the list of things that make a sitcom good imo. give the show a chance on hulu and decide for yourself.

 

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

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and another thing- all of this talk of "this must be what millennials watch" is horribly misplaced. this show is made specifically for people born between the late 70's and mid 80's. Instead of being a formulaic "set up and punchline" comedy it's a smartly written modern comedy that has characters whose speech and mannerisms more resemble those of actual people in this day and age. Nobody on the show is a millennial, and they certainly didn't make the show for millennials.

 

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Tom

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I honestly don't get some of the hate in this thread.  For me, this was the best sitcom since 30 Rock.  It was possibly better.  I get that the humor probably goes over the head of the Chuck Lorre crowd.

I own the first two seasons on DVD, but the network didn't support the show enough to give it a proper season 3 DVD.  If you look it up on Amazon or wherever you're paying for what's basically an overpriced bootlegged DVD of the show.  So I bought the season on Amazon to just stream whenever I feel like watching it.

 

Also, it's weird trying to explain one of my favorite shows to friends who've never seen it. 

Me:  "So, yeah, it's basically a comedy about these six 20/30 something friends, 3 guys and 3 girls, who live in the city after a bride runs out on her wedding."

Them:  "Oh, you mean it's 'Friends'"?  

Me:  "Ugh.  No, it's not fucking "Friends."
 

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Junior Miller

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44 minutes ago, Tom said:

I honestly don't get some of the hate in this thread.  For me, this was the best sitcom since 30 Rock.  It was possibly better.  I get that the humor probably goes over the head of the Chuck Lorre crowd.

I own the first two seasons on DVD, but the network didn't support the show enough to give it a proper season 3 DVD.  If you look it up on Amazon or wherever you're paying for what's basically an overpriced bootlegged DVD of the show.  So I bought the season on Amazon to just stream whenever I feel like watching it.

 

Also, it's weird trying to explain one of my favorite shows to friends who've never seen it. 

Me:  "So, yeah, it's basically a comedy about these six 20/30 something friends, 3 guys and 3 girls, who live in the city after a bride runs out on her wedding."

Them:  "Oh, you mean it's 'Friends'"?  

Me:  "Ugh.  No, it's not fucking "Friends."
 

Actually what you described is exactly the plot of Friends. 

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Tom

Tom 2959

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8 minutes ago, Junior Miller said:

Actually what you described is exactly the plot of Friends. 

Yeah, that's the joke.  The synopsis makes the shows sound exactly the same, but the shows couldn't be more different.

In "Friends" Rachel runs into her high school friend after running out of her wedding, moves in with her, and her friend's brother is in love with her after divorcing  his lesbian wife.  Also, and most importantly, "Friends" was your typical multi-cam sitcom with the laughing studio audience standard sitcom.

Happy Endings' pilot was two of the friends in the group getting married when the bride runs off with another man.  The show goes into how their ruined relationship affects the dynamics of their group.  It's also a single cam show with no audience or laugh track and super fast paced witty dialogue like 30 Rock.

 

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Goo Punch

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31 minutes ago, Junior Miller said:

Actually what you described is exactly the plot of Friends. 

again, this is the second time you've done this now and it's brilliant- both beefs you've brought up from the small clips you've seen are actually addressed on the show. the show acknowledges the Friends formula in a scene where Brad has gone to the dentist ("give me the goof juice"), and after essentially OD'ing on "goof juice", he later meets up with the gang and calls all of them by the name of their Friends counterpart. Just another example of it being a smart, self aware comedy. I know it's not for everyone, but you really do have to give it a shot by watching it before you judge it. Clips will never do it justice. 

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Tom

Tom 2959

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I apologize if I brought on comparisons to Friends.  I don't think the shows are anything alike.  Just the pilot descriptions and it ends there.

I'd like to say Happy Endings is the show Friends wishes it could be.  Unfortunately, Friends probably gets more views on Netflix in a month than Happy Endings got in its entire run.  It's a shame, because Happy Endings is such a better show and it's not even close.

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BBQ2Bayou

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They're also two decades apart. Friends had its place. I'll still have it on in the background and have some laughs. Happy Endings I would actually pay attention to if it was on. I don't know how some of you are hyper-critical of sitcoms. They aren't meant to be smart. When it happens, it's great, but it's not common either.  It's more common that the smart ones are short-lived. I don't put Happy Endings on the upper end of the smart shows like 30 Rock, Arrested Development, etc. but I like it. 

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Junior Miller

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Wow, some sensitivity here. It may be a great show to y'all and that's fine. It's just from the clips I could tell what it has in common with friends and shows like that is it seems super white people cheezy. Like that clip of the black guys doing the awkward "they be craaaaaaazy" stuff. Or the Zack Morris over the top "my only motivation in life is now ruining your life" clip. Too much cheese for my liking. If that's your thing then that's great. 

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henrygandorf

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9 hours ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Maybe a network like NBC, which has a history of sticking with comedies despite lagging ratings (Community, Parks & Rec), would've stuck with it longer. As far as I can tell ABC doesn't really have a good record of allowing a comedy to build an audience. 

in related news, nbc has decided not to bring back ap bio. 

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Tom

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Daman Wayans Jr. chose this show over New Girl after being offered pilots in both.  I'm not sure what race Junior Miller is, but sorry if the show isn't black enough for you.

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Catdaddyhorn

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And it was a good decision on his part at the time of choosing. He chose the funnier show with more potential. Unfortunately for him, ABC is completely binary in their decision making when it comes to comedies. New Girl was a good show too, but it took a season or two for it to hit its stride. 

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Tom

Tom 2959

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On 5/25/2019 at 11:09 AM, Junior Miller said:

Wow, some sensitivity here. It may be a great show to y'all and that's fine. It's just from the clips I could tell what it has in common with friends and shows like that is it seems super white people cheezy. Like that clip of the black guys doing the awkward "they be craaaaaaazy" stuff. Or the Zack Morris over the top "my only motivation in life is now ruining your life" clip. Too much cheese for my liking. If that's your thing then that's great. 

 

Not to keep beating a dead horse, but the Zack Morris clip is completely out of context.  The two episodes with him in it were two of my favorite, but the clip by itself doesn't really make sense without seeing the show and what led up to that moment.

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JimmyHoffa

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On 5/25/2019 at 2:25 AM, Tom said:

I honestly don't get some of the hate in this thread.  For me, this was the best sitcom since 30 Rock.  It was possibly better.  I get that the humor probably goes over the head of the Chuck Lorre crowd.

I own the first two seasons on DVD, but the network didn't support the show enough to give it a proper season 3 DVD.  If you look it up on Amazon or wherever you're paying for what's basically an overpriced bootlegged DVD of the show.  So I bought the season on Amazon to just stream whenever I feel like watching it.

 

Also, it's weird trying to explain one of my favorite shows to friends who've never seen it. 

Me:  "So, yeah, it's basically a comedy about these six 20/30 something friends, 3 guys and 3 girls, who live in the city after a bride runs out on her wedding."

Them:  "Oh, you mean it's 'Friends'"?  

Me:  "Ugh.  No, it's not fucking "Friends."
 

 

Yeah, it's friends but much funnier. 

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