# HAPPYish (2015)

> A 44-year-old ad man's life is upended when his 25-year-old wunderkind boss arrives speaking the language of digital, social and viral, forcing him to question whether happiness is attainable at all.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/51371

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Shalom Auslander
- Network: Showtime
- Cast: Steve Coogan, Kathryn Hahn, Bradley Whitford, Ellen Barkin, Carrie Preston, Rob Reiner, Lucca De Oliveira, Mason Schneiderman
- TMDB rating: 7.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3095080/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: sardonic, anxious, deadpan, bleak, wistful, absurd

## Synopsis

HAPPYish (2015) is a American dark comedy series created by Shalom Auslander for Showtime, a single-season limited run of ten half-hour episodes. Steve Coogan plays Thom Payne, a 44-year-old creative man whose comfortable routine falls apart when a 25-year-old digital wunderkind boss arrives, speaking in buzzwords like digital, social and viral. Kathryn Hahn plays his wife Lee Payne, and Bradley Whitford plays Jonathan Cooke, a rival in the workplace, while Ellen Barkin and Carrie Preston round out the principal cast. The engine of the show is Thom's search for a rebranding of himself, a way to escape a low joy ceiling while the world around him keeps moving faster. Each episode follows his small humiliations at work and frictions at home, mixing bitter observation with absurd situations about contentment and modern life. The tone is sardonic, anxious and deadpan, with a melancholic undertow that treats the pursuit of happiness as a fool's errand. Fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Louie and Divorce will find resonance in its cringe-prone protagonist and its blend of bleak humor and sincere longing. Set in contemporary American urban life, it is a sharp, uneasy comedy about midlife dread and the absurdity of chasing joy.

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