Happy Endings
Before there was Friends, the quintessential hangout sitcom of Generation Y, there were the far superior Seinfeld and Cheers. While How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) filled the gap Friends left behind, Happy Endings followed the more illustrious path set by Seinfeld. Finally, the jokes mattered more than the overarching storylines again. You had to watch the show twice to catch all of the jokes the writers threw at you, pause your screen multiple times while you continued laughing not wanting to miss the rest of the jokes. Not that the absence of serialized storytelling adversely affected the show. In fact, the pilot that focused on Dave and Alex’s storyline–the central story–is the weakest writing of the show and as soon as they moved on from that, everything about the show improved (including Alex).
The entire cast was pretty stellar, allowing the writers to switch pairings successfully beyond the initial setup and find that it worked spectacularly well every time. Alex and Max were the standouts, each inverting the most tired of tropes, The Dumb Blonde and The Gay BFF, written and played with a freshness that Ryan Murphy couldn’t even dream of.
I’m going to miss this.
Don’t Trust the B– in Apt. 23
Krysten Ritter is one of those actresses whose presence alone I’d watch a TV show/movie for. Often cast as the sarcastic best friend of the lead, I was happy to see her front and center in a show that played to all of her strengths. Plus I’m a sucker for any show that has actors/actresses playing fictionalized versions of themselves, as James van der Beek of Dawson’s Creek fame did. Don’t Trust the B did not disappoint on either front.
To be honest, this show was pretty much doomed from the start. Both the characters and the writing were catering to niche appeal rather than broader audiences, and ABC itself didn’t feel confident enough to market it as such. The show however stood out for its physical comedy and James Van Der Beek’s willingness to make fun of himself. It didn’t hurt that the show never tried to shame Chloe or her lifestyle, lets her celebrate her choices and changing her in to a “straight girl who see the lights and gives up on her partying ways.” was never the end-game. There was noticeable evolution of her character as well as June’s, they both help each other become better versions of themselves, but at the core they stay the same.
I’m glad we got two seasons of the show, that there was some resolution to June and Mark’s storyline, that Chloe turned out to have honest feelings, but true to character it wasn’t the right time for them, but most of all the canon was that they all needed each other as friends, to call them out on their crap, to help each other out in the most ridiculous of situations.
“Friendships must be built on the solid foundation of alcohol, sarcasm, inappropriateness and shenanigans.” And Don’t Trust the B– has the most solid of those foundations.
Shazia is part bionic, part crazy (parts not mutually exclusive), and would be happy conversing solely in TV quotes, forever hopeful she’ll be one-upped in her obscure TV references. She blogs here and microblogs here.
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