HAPPYish Series Premiere – “Starring Samuel Beckett, Albert Camus and Alois Alzheimer” Review. The Joy Ceiling.

Season 1, Episode 1

Air Date: Sunday, April 26, 2015, 9:30 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

“I say this with a great deal of authority—fuck Mad Men.” – Thom

Thom Payne (Steve Coogan)

Thom Payne (Steve Coogan) gets a rude awakening the day after his 44th birthday when his employer hires Gustaf (Tobias Segal) and Gottfrid (Nils Lawton), a pair of young Swedish directors to help bring the ad agency into the digital social media age. Will Thom resist the change or will he follow the advice of his friend Jonathan (Bradley Whitford) and find a way to rebrand himself in order to stay relevant?

With the use of the word “fuck” four times within the first 35 seconds, it’s obvious HAPPYish isn’t for everyone. If the introduction voiceover isn’t clear enough that the series thrives on foul language, the opening scene leaves no doubt. Even Thom’s discussion with his friend Barry (Andre Royo) about their kids isn’t safe.

Thom: “Know what I noticed about your kid?”

Barry: “That he’s an asshole?”

Thom: “Yes, he’s a fucking asshole.”

I’m all for swearing but there’s a right and wrong way to use those kinds of words, like when a character is trying to convey a particular emotion. With HAPPYish, though, words referring to sexual body parts and female genitalia are used willy-nilly and serve no purpose. Any sense of meaningful articulate dialogue quickly fades away leaving the audience with nothing more than a series of F-bombs and rants.

As someone who has used Twitter since its early days I did find some of the social media discussion interesting especially when Jonathan tells Thom, “Thinking is not as important as tweeting.”

Why is Pepto-Bismol® on Twitter?

HAPPYish does have room to grow and there are flashes of a really smart show but those moments are quickly drowned out by the crude language. One of those instances comes as Thom confronts Gustaf and Gottfrid during a staff meet and greet and starts a discussion about Pepto-Bismol®. The scene works on many levels and for a moment gave me hope. That feeling was shattered during the following scene involving the animated Keebler Elves. What Thom does with the distraught Keebler grandma is just ridiculous.

At times, I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing was real or a delusion created by Thom. The scene with the focus group discussing whether Thom should kill himself had me scratching my head. No indication is given to the audience that the scene isn’t real. The jump from reality to fantasy is easy to miss and I found myself more confused than entertained.

One of the few good scenes.

While “Starring Samuel Beckett, Albert Camus and Alois Alzheimer” is only the pilot, I never got a sense of who many of the characters are or what their relationship to Thom is. At one point, Thom has lunch with a headhunter named Dani (Ellen Barkin) and given their conversation, it’s evident the two have known each other for a while. Instead of scenes being used to build a story, they’re used to set up the next foul mouth rant. The one touching moment in the series premiere involves Thom reading a bedtime story to his son Julius (Sawyer Shipman) but even that is short lived. In the end, I never connected with any of the characters and have no desire to see what happens to Thom or his family.

HAPPYish is semi-autobiographical as it is drawn from show creator Shalom Auslander’s real life ad agency experience. The original pilot was shot with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Thom before Hoffman’s untimely death. Given the material, I believe Coogan is a better fit. Then again, who knows what direction the writers would have gone with Hoffman?

Tweet me @Staffaroadtrip or leave a comment below to let me know what you think about “Starring Samuel Beckett, Albert Camus and Alois Alzheimer.”

Tune in to HAPPYish Sundays at 9:30 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

LIKE HAPPYish on Facebook and follow the show on Twitter. Plus, stay current with HAPPYish on the series website.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.