In a time when most shows are available to watch on at least one streaming service, it’s always noteworthy when fans are purchasing a series in its entirety. Buying a series gives those who love the show the opportunity to rewatch it over and over, and it also allows new viewers to have full access for a binge-watch. In the last couple of weeks, a number of long-concluded comedy series have been on sale in their entirety in the Apple TV store. One such series is Happy Endings, a hilarious hangout sitcom that premiered on ABC in 2011 and was cancelled after just three seasons.
What Is ‘Happy Endings’ About?
Like any classic hangout sitcom,Happy Endings follows a close-knit group of friends who all live in a big city, with a focus on both their professional lives and their personal lives. Jane (Eliza Coupe) and Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.) are happily married, Dave (Zachary Knighton) and Alex (Elisha Cuthbert) are about to walk down the aisle after many years of dating, Penny (Casey Wilson) is desperately searching for the one in nearly every guy she meets, and Max (Adam Pally) is happily single and content with casual flings with the guys that he meets. They have all been friends for a very long time, and they hang out every single day. Then, on Dave and Alex’s wedding day, she leaves him at the altar to run off with a man whom she barely knows.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
Advertisement
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
Advertisement
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
Advertisement
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
Advertisement
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
Advertisement
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
Advertisement
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
Advertisement
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
Advertisement
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
Advertisement
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Advertisement
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
Advertisement
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
Advertisement
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Advertisement
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
Advertisement
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Advertisement
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Advertisement
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
In the wake of Alex and Dave’s disastrous wedding in Happy Endings‘ pilot episode, the rest of their friends worry about what their breakup will do to their group. The six of them are more than a little codependent, have their own intricate rituals and shorthand amongst each other, and don’t have the easiest time fitting in with people outside of their group. Determined to keep the group together as much as they can, Jane, Brad, Penny, and Max try to maintain their friendships with both Dave and Alex. Meanwhile, Alex and Dave have to figure out how to be around each other now that they’re not a couple anymore, and how to let go of their lingering resentment towards one another. Naturally, none of the friends can stay away from each other despite the drama, and they remain an obsessive and dysfunctional friend group for the entirety of Happy Endings‘ three seasons.
Advertisement
15 Years Later, ‘Happy Endings’ Is a Timeless Cult Classic Sitcom
Sitcoms make for excellent shows to buy and to rewatch regularly, because they are perfect for a comfort watch. Happy Endings is as cozy and enjoyable as any great sitcom, but its unique sense of humor is what really makes it stand out. The show has sharp dialogue, and every episode is packed with so many jokes and bits that multiple rewatches are necessary just to pick up on them all. The main friend group is made up of six people who are genuinely obsessed with one another and are constantly involving themselves in every aspect of each other’s lives. They regularly have group insult pile-ons where they all pick one person as their collective target, and they have their own made-up holidays — like the annual “Spring Smackdown,” Brad and Jane’s yearly marital fight that the rest of the friends like to use for their own benefit.
Happy Endings‘ recent success on the Apple TV store charts proves how timeless the show is 15 years after it first aired. The characters are all very dynamic and delightfully flawed, and their banter with one another is absolutely hilarious. The show also has some of the funniest sitcom episodes of the last couple of decades. In one episode, the friends struggle to go out for a simple birthday dinner because they’ve made too many enemies and bad memories at the local restaurants. In another, a simple prank turns into a truly ruthless prank war with pretty much no line off-limits to cross. For TV fans looking for a show with strong characters that will make them laugh with every episode, Happy Endings makes for a fantastic watch, either for the first time or for the hundredth.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login