Why I love(d) Happy Endings?

Friends. A show about six friends, three males and  three females, and their 'adventures'. A historical comedy show right? Even if you hadn't watched every episode, you knew about it, you'd watched it, you'd enjoyed it. Even if you didn't know that blonde one's real name (Lisa Kudrow btw), you laughed at what she said because it was funny. Fast forward just under a decade later, an ABC pilot, with so little hope that one of the main character's secured a job on a different show, aired. This particular show, Happy Endings, was about six friends (sound familiar?), two of which were getting married, where the woman left her male counterpart at the altar for a man in rollerblades. This situation led to rift within the group of six and thereby creating a premise of whether these six friends would be able to stay friends with such a... history between two of them. But by the second episode, this show felt like it was dropping this premise for another one. A show about six friends, three males and three females, and their 'adventures'.

Now people were quick to write it off as another 'worse, modern day Friends', but after the show's fairly average pilot, it began to pick up, surprisingly quick and the chemistry between the six main cast members was infectious. And if you know anything about, ensemble comedies (Modern Family, Community, The Office), you know, group chemistry is REALLY IMPORTANT, yet extremely hard to build quickly. But suddenly this group of six friends that we had only known for 10 episodes had inside jokes, recurring gags and were very likeable characters. They felt like a real group of friends, and realism is practically what all pop culture aims for nowadays.

Now not only did this group have great chemistry, but they were propelled by brilliant acting, fantastic writing and jokes that flew at breakneck pace. Yet all they were considered as by those that had heard about the show, was some kind of Friends' knockoff. Now I'd have to blame ABC for this, particularly for poor advertisement, and really poor scheduling. For emphasis, let me tell you the order in which the season 1 episodes aired as opposed to how they were supposed to air: Episode 1, Episode 5, Ep. 9, Ep. 8, 12, 7, 4, 11, 10, 2, 3, 13 and 6. Because screw chronology right? And considering this show has a great sense of continuity, it hurt it even more. But despite that, the show continued to excel even further in its surprise second and third seasons, receiving critical acclaim and creating a cult following, as it crafted the world around the protagonists with recurring characters and lengthened storylines. But then it was cancelled after its third season, due to low viewer ratings, because once again it was just a 'bad Friends' remake' that no one really knew about.

But the reason it's not fair to say that, is because Friends was such a genre defining show, that its influence can honestly be sensed in pretty much all sitcoms since its success. And when I see Happy Endings, Friends does come to mind, but it doesn't remind me of it as much as one would think. Its single-camera format as opposed to Friends' multi-camera one made the show feel more dynamic. It was a lot more fast-paced and a lot more courageous. They went for parodies, their characters were wackier, and to be honest, it worked! Their weird contrasts paid off! And it was great to see that, because it gave it a different, more welcoming atmosphere. You didn't want to have friends like them, because it made you feel like you were a part of them. The show even actively made fun of their copycat naysayers with this scene from the season 2 episode, 'The St. Valentine's Day Maxssacre'.

As a result, I prefer Happy Endings to Friends. Even if it doesn't have a cool episode naming system! And I say that having watched every episode of both shows. Maybe I'm just a hipster, but when I watch Happy Endings, it has such a feel-good factor. So good that I have a playlist for it on YouTube. And pretty much every time I watch a clip of it, I ask myself, "Why the hell was this show cancelled?"

From a media standpoint, the use of editing and lighting in this show has always been outstanding. Mise en scene in the show is brilliant, using positioning, costume and props for comedic advantage frequently. Making use of smart camera angle goes to compliment the great mise en scene changes to reveal things that were previously hidden (usually for a funny effect).

Damn that post was long! Anyway, favourite episodes (there's quite a few): Dave of the Dead, Baby Steps, Secrets and Limos, Spooky Endings, The Code War, The St. Valentine's Day Maxssacre, Everybody Loves Grant, The Butterfly Effect Effect, The Kerkovich Way, Boys II Menorah, More Like Stanksgiving, No-Ho-Ho, The Ex Factor, The Marry Prankster, The Straight Dope, Un-sabotagable, Brothas and Sistas

My VERY favourite are in bold! I wanted to include more on that list by the way...

Why I love Steven Universe?

Steven Universe, a 'children's' cartoon on cartoon network at it's surface seems like a normal kid's show. A young boy goes on adventures with his friends and saves the world from alien enemies with the help of the Crystal Gems. Simple enough I guess. But after getting used to the show's basic premise, it took four episodes, four 11 minute instalments, until the show surprised like never before. See I don't watch Steven Universe for cool fight scenes or because it's colourful, I watch it because it has nuanced storylines, with well developed (and developing) characters with frequently deep messages. In the fourth episode, the following conversation took place. I won't explain, I won't talk about it. Just watch.

Media-wise the lighting in this scene is very effective. It's a cartoon so it's hard to identify but here, it's low key to emphasise the Peedee's sorrow. This is used to the extent where the lights on the boardwalk are even turned off to make the scene seem even darker. The bright colours of Steven's costume are used to juxtapose Steven against Peedee's costume and the rest of the world. Steven's bright costume, reflects his character; excited, childish, blissfully ignorant. Meanwhile Peedee's dreary monochrome outfit represents his realist and somewhat depressing outlook on life and work. They made use of long shots comprising of either both Peedee's and Steven's facial expression or body language to once again to emphasise the contrast between their viewpoints of life. The close ups that are constantly used are used to intensify their emotion, especially the still shot of Peedee on the ride as he goes up and down, concealing his face below the camera allowing us to notice his expression change. This sets the tone for the scene and smoothly transitions the atmosphere from joyful to glum.

To go back to what I was talking about, when was the last time you heard a "kid's" show go for a message like that? And that was out of context. Most cartoon storylines usually involve some teenager's contrived attempt to stop their a family member from finding out about their involvement with the 'bad kids' or some crap. The idea of a cartoon trying (and succeeding) with a lesson like this, is that adults (or very childish teenagers...) can relate to it personally. And it doesn't stop here. Episodes don't have to be centred on the topic but these topics come up, and though it may only show up for 1 minute out of 11 minutes, it's still difficult to pull off as seamlessly as this show does sometimes; weaving them into storylines or cleverly planting them in bits of conversation. Messages about self-esteem issues, your sense of belonging or purpose and generally growing up, is entirely what the show is about. And of course fighting off aliens to protect the Earth. Also it's like won multiple Emmy's and stuff, sooo...

Note: The following episodes may bring you to tears. Watch at your own caution.

Lion 3: Straight to Video, The Test, On the Run, Rose's Scabbard, Maximum Capacity, Sworn to the Sword, We Need to Talk