Showtime’s ‘Happyish’ Officially Canceled-ish … Okay, Just Canceled
It’s a wonder Showtime’s Happyish (previously Trending Down) made it through a first season at all, following the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and subsequent retooling with Steve Coogan in the lead, but now that persistence seems to have worn off. Showtime has officially canceled Happyish, and we’re only sort of sad-ish about it.
Having premiered in April, Showtime’s Happyish was described as “a blistering attack on our youth-obsessed culture and a darkly comic examination of what it means to matter. Or matter not.” Steve Coogan took over the leading role of Thom Payne, a Prozac and Viagra user who found himself adrift when his advertising agency ends up taken over. Kathryn Hahn carried over from the original cast as Payne’s wife Lee, while Bradley Whitford replaced Amazing Spider-Man star Rhys Ifans as Payne’s boss.
Also prominently guest starring on the series were Emmy-winner Ellen Barkin, True Blood alum Carrie Preston, Third Watch veteran Molly Price and The Wire star Andre Royo. The original Happyish garnered a strong reception with a pilot presentation at the TCA press tour, though its subsequent iteration with Steve Coogan failed to catch fire with critics or audiences, opening around 430,000 viewers.
Comedy has proven a bit tricky for the network (Cameron Crowe’s Roadies is also undergoing some notable retooling), but did Showtime make the right decision to send off Happyish? Might things have gone differently with Philip Seymour Hoffman surviving to shepherd the series?