Happy Endings follows the lives of six friends who live in Chicago. Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Jane (Eliza Coupe) are an upwardly mobile married couple. Dave (Zachary Knighton) and Alex (Elisha Cuthbert) were once engaged, but Alex left Dave at the altar. Penny (Casey Wilson) is perpetually single and always gets in her own way. Max (Adam Pally) may be the world's most slovenly gay guy.

When Happy Endings premiered, the premise was simple. Alex left Dave at the altar and then created an awkward rift between this group of friends. While this is an interesting idea, it's more of a basis for a movie, rather than a television show. So, from there, the show had to grow. It began to focus on these six quirky characters and how they interact. That's when the show hit its second speed-bump: it simply played like a modern, more multi-cultural version of Friends.

Yes, Happy Endings definitely suffered through some growing pains through its first 13-episode season, but for Season 2, the show really came into its own. The series doesn't offer any huge story arcs or character revelations. In fact, in Season 2, the only major new themes are that Penny gets a new apartment, Max finally gets a job, and Dave continues to work to make his food truck a success. No, this show isn't interested in swinging for the fences, but rather in continuing to fine-tune the characters to make them as funny as possible. Penny is determined to better herself and find a man, but her manic nature always sabotages things. Jane's OCD and competitive nature continue to get the better of her. Max constantly proves himself to be both incredibly lazy and a driven hustler. One noticeable change from Season 1 is that Alex has gotten much dumber for some reason and she has trouble following conversations. (Why this change?) Something which hasn't changed is Dave -- He is meant to be the lynchpin of the show, but he's a fairly hum-drum character who isn't given much to work with. The true lynchpin of the show is Brad. Damon Wayans Jr. clearly has a ball playing this character and in Season 2, two things happened; 1) Brad's feminine side continues to get stronger, which leads to some of the season's best moments, and 2) he begins to stand up to Jane a little more, which leads to the season's best moment.

Happy Endings continues to evolve and it's become a very solid show. However, it does continue to exhibit one stereotypical sitcom trait -- each episode is a self-contained show and there's little carryover. The great thing about Happy Endings, not unlike it's spiritual predecessor, Friends, is that many of these episodes contain a classic element which make them very memorable. Dave's TV commercial, the shirt Brad bought at Alex's store, the scavenger hunt, Max's hibernation, Dave's crew neck shirt, Penny's mom -- just mention any of these to a fan of the show and you're sure to get a laugh. Happy Endings is certainly a clever show which is filled with great dialogue, but it never tries to be anything that it's not. It's a fun sitcom which puts a unique spin on familiar stories. The bottom line is that it's funny and often a-mah-zing.

Happy Endings: The Complete Second Season drives a limousine full of Beanie Babies onto DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The three disc set contains all 22 episodes of the show's second season. The shows have been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look very good and the image is never overly light or dark. The image is somewhat soft at times and there is some mild artifacting. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Being a sitcom, we don't get a wealth of impressive audio effects here. However, there are some decent stereo effects at times. A few club scenes provide surround sound and mild subwoofer effects. One has to wonder, as the show is broadcast in HD, why Sony didn't release this season on Blu-ray Disc.

The Happy Endings: The Complete Second Season DVD has a very narrow selection of extras. Disc 1 offers five DELETED SCENES which run about six minutes. Disc 2 has three DELETED SCENES which run about 2 minutes. There is a 5-minute reel of OUTTAKES. Disc 3 has DELETED SCENES which run about 4 minutes. We are then treated to another OUTTAKES reel, this one 4 minutes. There are some great moments in the deleted scenes and they are not to be missed. As you know, 95% of deleted scenes were cut for good reason, but there are some golden moments here.