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Happy Endings

When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.

A small, fervent pocket of the internet rejoiced when they woke up on New Year’s Day and discovered that every episode of the shortly-lived ABC sitcom Happy Endings had landed on Hulu. The series is one of the those “new cult hits.” Happy Endings is a favorite amongst comedy nerds and purveyors of quality television, but it failed to make waves during its brief run on ABC. It’s a well-worn truism in comedy that timing is everything and Happy Endings had the unfortunate luck to come too late to cash in on the Golden Age of network sitcoms and to be too early for the streaming comedy boom — but is that about to change?

Let’s back up. Happy Endings is a strange little beast of a sitcom. On the one hand, it simply follows the tried and true formula of mega-hits like Friends and How I Met Your Mother. It’s about six adult friends who lean on each other as they navigate life and love in that no man’s land between college and middle age. But Happy Endings isn’t as straight-forward as either of those banner multi-cam hits. Instead, the seemingly simple show preferred to shy away from the classic safe humor of network sitcoms and leaned in towards the zany and absurdist wit of the new millennium. The show was overflowing with the same kind of experimental humor that made Community a cult hit (and network headache) and frequently called upon its cast to push themselves into increasingly weird places.

The show was buoyed by the pitch perfect work of its ensemble. Elisha Cuthbert and Zachary Knighton breathed fresh life into the stereotypical “pretty ditz” and “cool guy” roles with their turns as Alex and Dave while Eliza Coupe and Damon Wayans, Jr. crackled with incendiary comedic chemistry as the group’s main married couple. But the real draw of the series was probably the zany commitment that Adam Pally and Casey Wilson brought to the characters of Max and Penny. Max was an “anti-gay” gay male character on TV. He was a slovenly, masculine slacker who just so happened to be homosexual. Meanwhile Wilson brought a dizzy wave of exasperation to the enchanting Penny, your stereotypical single gal. Together they crafted the show’s most memorable and hilariously outlandish moments.

So what went wrong for this winsome show? Well, in addition to not belonging to its time, ABC could never figure out exactly when it should air. Happy Endings was sloppily positioned as mid-season filler in April 2011. To add to the weirdness, ABC aired the episode out of order. Why? To make them seem more like “stand alone” stories. The gambit backfired and the continuity of the show was a mess to unravel. Season two got a little more respect, and yet it was still moved around on occasion and the official season finale was only aired in the UK. Finally, season three was constantly aired on different times and dates. The series finale aired on May 3, 2013.

For a short time, Happy Endings lived on in streaming. You could catch up and watch it on ABC.com or Hulu. And then, it vanished forever from everywhere but VOD — until last week. Happy Endings‘ sudden reappearance on Hulu has raised questions about whether or not the beloved sitcom could be resurrected there. After all, Netflix did it for Arrested Development years after its cancelation and Hulu’s already picked up The Mindy Project from Fox with great success. Even if there will never be another season of Happy Endings, its re-entry into the world of streaming is a sweet conclusion to its crazy tale.

[Stream Happy Endings on Hulu]

Previously On Cult Corner:

Cult Corner: The Moodys Will Make Your Christmas Feel Normal

Cult Corner: Stream The Worst Star Wars Sequel Ever — The Star Wars Holiday Special

Cult Corner: Is Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas Too Weird For The Holidays?

Cult Corner: The Christmas Toy Gave Us A Darker Toy Story Before Pixar Was Even A Thing