ABC's Happy Endings cancelled

[Pavonis]

I guess the parallels between HE and Friends are obvious only to me and the writers of HE, who included a "shout-out" to Friends in one episode, by referencing the parallels - Dave = Ross, Alex = Rachel, Max = Fat Joey, Penny = Phoebe, Monica = Jane, and Brad = Chandler.

 

[gblews]

^^
The point I was trying to make was that both shows owe more to Seinfeld than H.E. owes to Friends. In other words, there may still have been a Happy Endings without Friends and vice versa, but neither would exist without Seinfeld. So it's kind of irrelevant that H.E. looks a little like Friends structurally -- that's only natural, since the two shows had the same parent.

 

[Pavonis]

So Seinfeld is responsible for the fact that both shows had 6 characters, and both shows had all six characters develop parallel relationships? That's a stretch if you ask me. HE didn't need to have two characters married, two as exes, two as siblings, and two as ditzes.

 

[shivkala]

Character-wise, as in the choice of having 6 characters, two of which are married, aside, the tone of the show more matched Scrubs in my opinion than Friends.

As far as the creators of Happy Endings and their thoughts on how it is or isn't like Friends, I'll defer to David Caspe:

THR: Do you think following Modern Family and Cougar Town made sense?

Caspe: I think so. I think people see a similarity between us and Cougar Town tonally. I guess we're considered somewhat edgy of a show. I think I'm probably desensitized to that slightly. I've grown up on HBO and R-rated movies to the point where I don't really feel like we're that edgy necessarily. Our goal was to do a modern take on a Friends-type show, the same way Modern Family did a modern take on a family-type show.

THR: What are your thoughts on being compared to Friends?

Caspe: Modern Family and The Middle don't necessarily get compared to each other as much as we get compared to another Friends show. Maybe because Friends itself was so popular, any time you have people in their late twenties that are a close-knit group of friends, you end up getting compared to that. Ours starts with a wedding getting broken up. For me that was the idea of starting where romantic comedy movies end, specifically movies like The Graduate, that's what I was thinking. I didn't realize -- I haven't seen the Friends pilot in 10 years -- so I didn't even fully remember [what had happened until] someone pointed it out, that Rachel starts the show by running in in [sic] her wedding dress. Even that seemed different enough to me because it wasn't starting at the wedding, but we took a lot of heat "ripping that off." That being said, I get it, we’re always going to be compared to those shows and we’re just trying to make our own mark.

Source.

 

[IndyJones]

I never saw Happy Endings as Friends: The Next Generation, beyond being about a group of late-20/early 30-something people. If anything, aside from the location, I felt Happy Endings owed more to Scrubs than Friends.

Happy Endings took place in "Chicago" though.

Anyways, I'll miss this show. The number of jokes they crammed into 22 minutes was crazy.

 

[gblews]

So Seinfeld is responsible for the fact that both shows had 6 characters, and both shows had all six characters develop parallel relationships? That's a stretch if you ask me. HE didn't need to have two characters married, two as exes, two as siblings, and two as ditzes.

The similarity is in the structure of the show, ensemble acting concept with multiple storylines for the characters unfolding simultaneously. The "show about nothing" concept is also a Seinfeld thing -- the characters carrying on and exaggerating their reactions to relatively trivial matters to a comedic result.

Friends borrowed heavily from the basic Seinfeld (and so did H.E.) formula but added romance which was really just a superficial embellishment.

Happy Endings took place in "Chicago" though.

I wondered where they were supposed to be. Wait, was the show shot in Chicago or was that where the show was set?

Anyways, I'll miss this show. The number of jokes they crammed into 22 minutes was crazy.

I used to have to regularly roll back the DVR to catch all of them. That cast spoke faster than any ensemble I'v ever seen or heard.