Sony Pictures TelevisionIf there's anything that remains after the eventual end of the pandemic, let it be ah-mah-zing episodes of our favorite defunct TV comedies.
The cast of Happy Endings just reunited for a very special pandemic-themed episode, all shot over video chat, and proved the magic hasn't fully gone away despite the show being unceremoniously canceled in 2013.
In the episode, Penny (Casey Wilson) got her friends to join her for a Zoom sesh to talk about her new doctor boyfriend. Alex (Elisha Cuthbert) tried to skip to hang out with her Instagram followers but ended up in the meeting anyway. Jane (Eliza Coupe) was in the process of disinfecting everything she's ever owned while Brad was allegedly stuck in Florida after a business trip. Max (Adam Pally) was housesitting in a mansion, and Dave (Zachary Knighton) didn't even know about the pandemic after being in Joshua Tree with Jared Leto, but he's got a great new idea for a restaurant called COVID-19.
It was a bit of a mess, in the best way.
In the end, Penny's boyfriend broke up with her, leading her and Max to decide to get married (a loving marriage in which they would both sleep with other men). Brad was revealed to have built a secret Parasite-esque room in the basement and had been there the whole time, and Alex had a secret baby. Dave, meanwhile, just kept referencing Happy Endings episode numbers, explaining them away as dates, in our favorite bit of the whole special.
So what made the group get back together for one very special episode, other than to raise money for World Central Kitchen?
"Well, a bunch of other people did it first, so we thought maybe we could do it too," said show creator David Caspe in a post-show Q&A. "And in classic Happy Endings fashion, we're like at least a month and a half late, it seems like. Maybe two months."
Caspe revealed that the entire writing staff returned for one Zoom writers meeting, and then groups of writers split off to write the various pieces of the episode.
The rest of the Q&A was spent reminiscing about scenes, romances, and recurring bits from the series. You can watch the Q&A below!
Happy Endings aired on ABC from 2011 to 2013, and the entire series is available to stream on Hulu.