Posts Tagged ‘Happy Endings’

Thanks to my uncanny knack for injuring myself and the unfortunate ill-health that seems to be par for the course in my line of work at this hectic time of year I haven’t been able to get out of the house in the evenings for live comedy Thankfully, it’s giving me a fun opportunity to catch up on some of my favourite tv comedy shows and I’ve even managed to find a new(ish) series to potentially become addicted to, so it hasn’t been all bad! So I figured I’d share my tv comedy picks just in case you find yourself icing your knee after whacking it off a wall and again off the stairs as you fall up them, twice, (not that I know anyone daft enough to do that?!?!)…

First up without ‘How I Met Your Mother’,usually on E4 at 7.30pm Mon-Friday, I’d been one very unhappy camper. I’ve loved this show for years and the characters antics seem to get funnier the older they get. The group dynamic allows each character space to exist in their own right but it’s the relationship between them all that makes it so watchable time and time again. See for yourself below and if you fancy watching more of the show it’s available on 4oD here.

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Last week saw the introduction of the American sitcom ‘Happy Endings’ to RTE 2. The series has proved popular stateside since it was originally aired in 2011 and has been nominated for a variety of awards in 2012 including a GLAAD Media Award (for Outstanding Comedy Series) and a number of Dorian Awards (including TV Comedy of the Year).

L-R: Brad, Jane, Alex, Dave, Penny, Max

The sitcom revolves around a group of 6 friends living in Chicago; Brad and Jane who are married and contemplating starting a family, Max who’s gay, Penny who’s single and has just turned 30, Alex who’s Jane’s sister and who leaves the final member of the gang, Dave, at the altar in the opening moments of episode 1.

So, first impressions? Honestly, I couldn’t help but think ‘Friends’. However, it does seem more grown up than friends was, with a slightly older group of people at the core of the series who are trying to figure out how to navigate through the problems in their daily lives without sacrificing their friendships.

The first episode sees the gang dealing with a drastic change in their group dynamic thanks to Alex and Dave’s dramatic break up on the altar. The rest of the group (Max, Jane, Brad and Penny) are left in the awkward position of trying to figure out if they have to choose sides or can they all still remain friends? While all this is going on within the group you also get a little insight into each of the characters and their relationship with one another. Unfortunately in this first episode they do seem a little two-dimensional, with Penny at first glance appearing to be the typical single 30-year-old female, desperately searching for a husband and Jane coming across as something of a control freak who definitely wears the pants in her relationship with Brad. But I assume they’ll develop and show more depth as the series progresses.

In spite of the fairly predictable nature of this pilot episode there’s a lot of humour in the characters’ interactions and they are a likeable bunch so you will want to go back and see how the drama in their lives unfolds. It has the promise of a show that improves with each new episode and I for one will be tuning in this evening to see what happens next. Whether the characters manage to capture an Irish audience’s imagination in the same way as those of Friends fame did in the 90’s remains to be seen, but I can certainly think of worse ways of spending half an hour of my Wednesday evening than having an easy laugh at the crazy antics of these 6 individuals all searching for their ‘Happy Endings’.

See episode 2 tonight at 7.30pm on RTE2