Showtime's Happyish will not be coming back.
The premium cable network has canceled the freshman comedy after one season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Happyish —created, written and executive produced by This American Life's Shalom Auslander — saw Steve Coogan replace the late Philip Seymour Hoffman — and open to an unimpressive 430,000 total viewers.
The comedy — a passion project for Showtime president David Nevins — had a long road to the screen. Nevins initially wowed critics with a clip of the Seymour pilot at TCA, with many declaring the series and the late actor an Emmy shoo-in. Following the actor's death, Showtime had an extensive casting search for an actor to replace Hoffman and cast Coogan in the role. The comedy, which had a series order with Hoffman, went to pilot again — with a few of the show's original stars returning, including Kathryn Hahn as his wife — and a new cast that includes Bradley Whitford and Ellen Barkin before scoring a second series pickup.
"If it had just been a pilot, I probably would have thrown in the towel," Nevins told THR in April. The executive was sitting on five additional episodes (of 10) that Auslander already had written, and he found himself hooked. "I loved the idea of a show about that moment in midlife, midcareer when you say, 'Is it all worth it?' These kind of comedies don't grow on trees."
The premium cable network has canceled the freshman comedy after one season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Happyish —created, written and executive produced by This American Life's Shalom Auslander — saw Steve Coogan replace the late Philip Seymour Hoffman — and open to an unimpressive 430,000 total viewers.
The comedy — a passion project for Showtime president David Nevins — had a long road to the screen. Nevins initially wowed critics with a clip of the Seymour pilot at TCA, with many declaring the series and the late actor an Emmy shoo-in. Following the actor's death, Showtime had an extensive casting search for an actor to replace Hoffman and cast Coogan in the role. The comedy, which had a series order with Hoffman, went to pilot again — with a few of the show's original stars returning, including Kathryn Hahn as his wife — and a new cast that includes Bradley Whitford and Ellen Barkin before scoring a second series pickup.
"If it had just been a pilot, I probably would have thrown in the towel," Nevins told THR in April. The executive was sitting on five additional episodes (of 10) that Auslander already had written, and he found himself hooked. "I loved the idea of a show about that moment in midlife, midcareer when you say, 'Is it all worth it?' These kind of comedies don't grow on trees."
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Show stunk a little,but whatever. It sucks for the cast and crew.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Nevins is blaming the recasting for the show's failure.
ReplyDeleteCoogan was fine. The whole cast was enjoyable. But my god was the show as a whole horribly written. It was another cable show suffering from delusions of grandeur. Funny how so many of these shows deal with similar themes.
Not surprised. The general idea behind of it yet another middle age man having a crisis and acting like a dick isn't that appealing. Would like to have seen what Philip Seymour Hoffman did in the role.
ReplyDelete