The best part about this show are the people who are in it, who are given just enough history to give the sense that they might actually all be friends from college. This is only really all that dramatic at the beginning of the show, as Elisha Cuthbert leaves Zachary Knighton (the only two stars here who don't really have any comic pedigree, unless you count the cougar storyline on 24 and the mercifully short-lived Life on a Stick, respectfully) at the altar, forcing their previous long-term relationship and its nasty end into a classic TV cycle in which they spend an episode fighting before eventually letting their friendship win out so they can at least hang out with their friends. The rest of their friends include a cast of underrated but genuinely funny people from all over the place. Eliza Coupe and Damon Wayans, Jr. play the group's married couple, who are constantly struggling with their level of domesticity. Meanwhile, their single friends Casey Wilson and Adam Pally look poised to have plenty of B-level storyline dates.

As for the actual stories told each episode. Well, they're pretty much all tried-and-true sitcom plots, from the one-night stand that gets way too serious to the date who has a dealbreaker of a name. I might call this weak writing in another show, but here it seems like the writers are assuming I am already friends with these people. In this way, what might seem like a worn-out storyline now might feel surprisingly fresh if the show stays around long enough for me to get attached to the characters.

All told, the show is almost totally likable to a fault. Unlike some sitcoms this mid-season, the actors never seem to be struggling to get along with each other. The single-camera format isn't abused. There aren't any kind of forced themes over every episode or behind every character. No one seems to be having issues with manliness. Heck, even the jokes, which are rarely laugh-out-loud-worthy, are read so well that a smile and a nod come involuntarily (like the 24 reference in the third episode). It's sort of like watching the sixth season of Friends, but Chandler is actually gay.

The only thing that might put someone off Happy Endings would be the easy mistake of confusing the show's general pleasantness with an ephemeral blandness. It's a quality that will keep most people from talking about it too regularly and will keep anyone from watching it first if they have other stuff on their Hulu queue, but it has the possibility of becoming a long-lasting staple of Wednesday nights.

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