And now for some not-so-ah-mazing news: ABC has pulled the plug on Happy Endings.

USA Network has expressed interest in pulling a Cougar Town/TBS and acquiring the series, but no deal is in place at this time.

tvline.com

Eliza Coupe talked about upcoming episodes of ‘Happy Endings,’ including one about a new Kerkovich sister.

When ABC decided to move Happy Endings to the doldrums of Friday nights, things definitely didn’t look too promising for the cult comedy’s future.

Fans of the show have rallied around various “Save Happy Endings” campaigns, tweeting their support and urging others to check out the fast-talking comedy (which is still one of the funniest shows on TV, by the way).

So what do Happy Endings’ on-screen sisters Elisha Cuthbert and Eliza Coupe have to say about the show’s potential for a fourth season?

“I’m glad that we’re consistently on and really I mean I think the fans have done everything they could to keep watching and following us,” Cuthbert shared during a recent conference call with reporters.

“But I feel like the last three years we have been moved around but I think the studio has to do what it has to do and we’re still here so to me I feel like that is a testament to ABC wanting us to work and wanting to give us our own night,” she added. “So I don’t know. I mean it’s just one of those things we just have no control over and we hope for the best and we want to keep doing it that’s for sure.”

Coupe had a similar Zen-like sentiment about the comedy’s hopes for the future. “We can only do our job and then they do theirs and I think that I can’t — I’m not going to try to micromanage and be like ‘Oh my God, okay this is what we should do.’ It’s just you know what, we do our job, we have fun doing, we really hope that we can continue because it’s just a really great show and it’s a really fun time.”

“I mean selfishly I just want to do it because it’s fun,” she laughed.

We couldn’t agree more.

Happy Endings airs Friday nights at 8/7c on ABC.

zimbio.com

This is it, your chance to save Happy Endings! Watch tonight and tell all your friends to watch too – a show this funny is definitely worth fighting for. #SaveHappyEndings

Happy Endings 3×14 “In the Heat of the Noche & 3×15 “The Straight Dope” – Brad uses his skills, plus help from the gang, to prop up Chuckles and Huggs after the gym’s loopy owner, Terry (guest star David Alan Grier), tells him it may be closing. Meanwhile, Penny and Max try to break the habit of texting the men in their lives (Pete/the new guy Max is dating). They turn to NocheTussin, a black market cough medicine, to help them sleep when they’d normally be texting, on “Happy Endings,” which moves to its new night and time FRIDAY, March 29th (8:00 – 8:30pm) on ABC.

In 3×15 “The Straight Dope” – Max meets a cute girl who is a season tickets holder for the Bulls, leaving him no choice but to pretend to be straight, of course! Meanwhile, Alex is tired of everyone dismissing her as the dimwitted blonde, so she becomes well read to prove them wrong. However her newfound knowledge completely throws the whole group dynamic off and no one likes it, on “Happy Endings,” FRIDAY, March 29th (8:30 – 9:01pm) on ABC.

Life imitates art for actress Eliza Coupe in her upcoming indie “Shanghai Calling.” The story focuses on a group of Americans who reboot their lives by starting over in China; Coupe has enjoyed her two consecutive roles playing biting blondes on TV — on “Scrubs” and now “Happy Endings” — but relocating to an exotic locale for the part of a sweet single mom gave the actress a powerful understanding of the expat appeal.

The pull of Shanghai notwithstanding, Coupe did return to the States, where we got the scoop on faking conversational Chinese, the dangers of playing too many a**holes, and more.

You didn’t speak Chinese at all before filming “Shanghai Calling,” right? But you speak quite a bit of it in the movie — and very convincingly! Did you actually learn any Chinese for the role, or did you memorize it phonetically? It’s impressive, either way.
I think if I remember correctly, I had just come back from a French lesson [when I got the role]. I learned the Chinese through Pinyin, which is phonetic. Oh my God, I could not write in Chinese characters by any stretch of the imagination. I kind of just learned my lines … I didn’t say the tones right, to begin with … I thought I was speaking Chinese, but … my assistant over there was always like, “I don’t know what you’re saying.” When I was really, really trying to just imitate and not really know what I was saying, I found that everyone knew what I was saying. But when I was really trying to actually speak it, it was like, “No, go back to imitating us.”

In college, I went to school for acting, we had to learn phonetics just to be able to do dialects and all that stuff. I’m somebody who does better just hearing it. I’ll just imitate it, and I get it better that way. When I know too much information, I’m not great. I used to play the piano by listening to it — like Chopin pieces, when I was like a little kid — and then the minute my parents got me lessons to read music, I couldn’t do it anymore.

Let’s rewind for a second. You’re taking French lessons? For funzies or for a part?
For funzies. I have wanted to learn French forever, I’ve been determined to move over there and just be over there for the rest of my life. But I don’t know French, and my family’s French.

And now you now how it feels to be an expat, at least for a few weeks. Are you still on track with your permanent relocation?
No, I’m actually pretty cool with not moving away now. It was one of those things where I really didn’t think it through. It was like, “Oh s**t, but I really love my family!”

Shanghai cured you of wanderlust! Was it scary to be that far from home?
A hundred percent. I got over there and I was like, “Oh, wow, I don’t know anybody.” I hadn’t met Daniel Hsia, the director. I had Skyped with him because he was already in China, so I never got to meet him before I went over to film. Daniel Henney, who was my co-star, I think he didn’t even show up until like five days after I got there. I didn’t know anybody.

And it was so hot there and I have this weird thing where I can’t stand wearing pants in the summer, like I will be wearing shorts no matter what. And so I’m five-eight, very much a blonde American, and I’m just be-bopping around in my little shorts. When you’re walking around in Shanghai, I called it the City of Near Misses, because they do not stop for pedestrians. And the pedestrians do not have the right of way. It’s those little things that no one tells you.

Your character in “Shanghai Calling” is spirited but much sweeter than Jane from “Happy Endings.” Did that appeal to you specifically?
I went from being on “Scrubs,” where I played this scary, sardonic … very bitchy, sly doctor, and then going into “Happy Endings” which was just as bitchy and sardonic but wrapped in a very different package. I was going for all these parts that were very similar to my part on “Scrubs” … so I’m like, “Wait there’s so much more. Those are just two characters, I mean, that’s not even who I am. So I was actually really … relieved to do something sweet and nice because I was like, “I swear, people, I’m not the biggest bitch in the world, I promise you.”

My parents, they were like, “You come off so mean and you’re not like that!” I do have a nickname with my family, I’m called Snappy, because I do get to be a bit snippy at times. They call me Snappy Bear. That’s from New Hampshire. My dad’s called Crazy, my mother’s Happy, it’s a whole thing.

Speaking of your parents, is there a movie you regret watching with them?
Oh God, what is the name of it … I just watched it. It’s…oh my God… Matthew McConaughey, Gina Gershon…it just came out. Matthew McConaughey makes Gina Gershon give him a blow job … “Killer Joe,” oh my God, “Killer Joe.” Really regret that one. Not a family movie.

Do you have a go-to karaoke song?
I do. It’s Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” That or the duet from “Grease” and I grab whatever friend knows the song. Carly Simon, I am such a dork with that one. I think it’s because like my mother used to sing that. It’s just, like, in my register and I’ve got a very big deep weird voice, but I also sing, so that’s like my … I don’t know … I’m a weirdo.

It’s harder right? Karaoke is high pressure if you’re a good singer. You care too much.
Oh my God, I love it, because I have done karaoke and I’m like, “I better knock this out of the park.” And meanwhile, everyone’s drunk and nobody gives a s**t and I’m like, “This is my Grammy-winning performance right here!”

Okay, who would play you in a movie?
Oh God … Kristen Wiig?

Rap or rock?
Rap.

Backstreet Boys or N*Sync?
Neither.

Very good. Beer or wine?
Umm, I’m not a drinker but wine.

And … your porn star name. It’s the name of your first pet and the street you grew up on.
Bruiser Garland … Bruiser was a yellow lab.

“Shanghai Calling” opens in limited release on Feb. 15.

nextmovie.com

Fashion is pain… and humiliation. Just ask Eliza Coupe.

“I cannot feel my legs from the waist down any longer. But who cares? I look good and that’s all that matters,” the Happy Endings star told EW at our pre-SAG Awards party on Saturday night. “And when I die of hypothermia for wearing formal shorts in winter, tell them to put that on my tombstone.”

Coupe isn’t just willing to suffer personally for the sake of looking good, she’s also what you might call a sartorial sadist.

“I also like awards shows for the danger. I wait and hope for fashion emergencies,” the actress admitted. “I love a good nip slip. I want a boob to fall out.” And she’s always on the lookout for a flash of some rarely seen part of the male celebrity anatomy.

“While this never happens, I would not be opposed to a guy having a testicle fall out. Considering they are usually wearing tuxedo pants, that would have to be one huge testicle,” she joked. “And in that case, that sounds like a medical problem and that guy should go see a doctor.”

Though dressing for the red carpet may be the fashion equivalent of a blood sport, Coupe was careful to note that she wouldn’t want to see any actual bloodshed.

“I don’t want anyone to get seriously hurt,” she explained. ”But I do watch awards shows to critique the clothes while I sit around eating chips in my sweat pants and in hopes of seeing some hilarious accidental nudity.”

ew.com

Eliza Coupe is probably best known for her work as Jane Kerkovich-Williams on Happy Endings — a show we adore around here — and as Dr. Denise “Jo” Mahoney on Scrubs. Raised in New Hampshire, Coupe played ice hockey as a kid and is well-tattooed (her tats are covered for the show). Prior to her success on television, Coupe studied improv at The Groundlings, toured France in an all-female production of King Lear, and staged a one-woman sketch show at Upright Citizens Brigade.

Eliza was nice enough to take a few minutes out of her busy schedule recently to answer a few of our questions.

1. You walk into a bar. What do your order from the bartender?

Before I order anything from any establishment I use their bathroom first. I have a walnut sized bladder. Then I order a water with lemon to start…. which makes me have to pee more, I’m a wicked good time.

2. Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter?

Hmmm…That’s a tough one…..I wanna say some news org to sound smart but really these are my top five peeps to follow: Damon Wayans Jr.: @wayansjr ,Tom Riley: @thisistomriley, Briana Venskus: @thevenskus, Thom Coupe: @ThomCoupe ,Erin Whitehead: @girlwithatail

They ALL make me laugh like a muthafuckah.

3. What’s currently waiting for you on your DVR/TiVO?

Downton Abbey

4. It’s your last meal — what are you going out with?

I play this game all the time when I’m eating my boring salads day in and day out. Ok, so it’s probs gonna be fettuccine alfredo, a burrito, a king sized snickers bar, cereal (a mix of all my faves), pumpkin pie, a couple of Cadbury eggs, toast with homemade raspberry jam, a grilled cheese sandwich and then something with peanut butter and chocolate. And then for desert…..

5. What websites do you visit on a regular basis?

I’m a real fashion whore and I used to frequent all fashion sites but now I get my fix on Pinterest. I have a real obsession with Pinterest. I hardly have any followers but I don’t care, I love it.

6. What’s the most frequently played song on your iPod?

Oh man, I dunno….. lately I’ve been back on a real Jack White binge. So basically anything from The White Stripes to The Dead Weather to even his short lived thing with The Raconteurs.

7. The first face that comes to mind when you think “punchable”?

Bush….. err… I mean a bush…a shrub…..urbs…suburbs….yeah, I wanna punch suburbs THAT’S what I meant….right, right.

8. What’s your favorite meme?

I don’t know what that is. I could take the time to look that up before answering this but I’m not going to so instead I’m going to risk looking like a real idiot and admitting to not knowing what that means…or shall I say: not knowing what that memes….?

9. Dogs or cats?

Dogs. Fuck cats.

10. Best concert of your life was…?

I saw Eminem in NH (where I’m from) and although I don’t remember much of the concert at all, I remember I had fun…or at least that’s what I was told…by the police.

11. What book are you most likely to give as a gift?

The Hunger Games.

12. What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

My parents having sex and giving me life is pretty nice thing right? Yeah, I think so too. Thanks mum and dad.

13. South Park or Family Guy?

Family Guy all the way- I’m from New England.

14. You have an entire day to do whatever you want. What would you do?

Draw.

15. What movie can you not resist watching if it’s on?

Nottinghill

16. Android or iPhone?

iPhone

17. Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Really, the BEST meal? I dunno, I mean we talking atmosphere and company or like, actual food…? I’m gonna say Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg where I used to live before moving to LA, the chicken there was fucking incredible and the place is just gorgeous and cool and low key and I always went with people I really love.

18. The last movie you saw in a theater?

I rarely go to movies. I have a hard time watching a movie in full so maybe the last one I saw in a theater was…I have no idea. Wow.

19. Who was your first celebrity crush?

Leonardo DiCaprio

20. What would you cook if Nic Cage was coming to your house for dinner?

Ha! Umm….. like an authentic Italian pasta dish of some sort and we’d eat it off some sort of Elvis memorabilia type of thing, obviously, like… a table cloth made from white leather pants or I’d use some gold rimmed sunglasses as the pasta sauce ladle and of course Hound Dog or Love Me Tender would be playing in the background.

uproxx.com

The controlling and often OCD heart of Happy Endings, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Jane (Eliza Coupe) is the kind of person who might fake her own birthday.

Tuesday’s Christmas episode of the ABC comedy (“No Ho Ho”) reveals that the character reluctantly shares her real big day with the baby Jesus. And in an attempt to give her a proper celebration, the gang overcompensates by trying erase all signs of the holiday… quite unsuccessfully.

“Like any great television show episode, it’s sad in the beginning, she goes through a thing and then in 22 minutes she’s happy again,” Coupe tells The Hollywood Reporter. “TV is the best. I wish that’s how life was.”

It actually hits oddly close to home. Coupe’s own birthday thunder has been stolen by Easter and, when she was really young, her older brother falling off of a 50-foot cliff.

Coupe, who frequently showcases her off-color humor on recurring Funny or Die shorts like Frenemies, also opened up about the show’s evolution, her latest obsession (Pinterest) and the recent announcement that the Happy Endings third season will be slipping off the schedule earlier than originally planned.

The Hollywood Reporter: So Jane has been pulling a birthday con since she was a little kid?
Eliza Coupe: She’s a Christmas baby, and she’s hid it from everyone including her husband Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.). She doesn’t want to share her birthday with a national holiday or the birth of Christ, so she decided her birthday is in July. She has a whole experience of walking around and feeling down, and then everybody makes her feel better.

THR: And along the way she finds other Christmas babies.
Coupe: Oh, it takes a real turn. They’re angry. They want to go hurt things, and as much as Jane is a fighter, that’s not her thing. But I do think Jane has her own fight club that nobody knows about. It would be so funny to watch her throw down. She has a lot of aggression to work out.

THR: Do you think you could give a convincing Fight Club performance?
Coupe: I grew up in New Hampshire with all brothers and was such a tomboy. My dad actually taught me to box when I was like nine years old, because I got picked on at school all of the time. I was on a boys hockey team, so I would get all of my aggression out there. I personally know how to fight, and I think Jane does too.

THR: Were there any other girls on your hockey team?
Coupe: You know, there was another girl on the hockey team, but she looked so much like a dude that I just say it was an all-boys team.

THR: Is your birthday overshadowed by anything?
Coupe: I’m an April baby. It would land on Easter, and I would get so pissed. I hated it. And on top of that, my older brother fell off of cliff. My family was kind of hippy dippy, and they decided to go for a hike with our friends on Easter. We hiked up Rattlesnake Mountain in New Hampshire. I was standing next to him and he fell 50 feet onto the ground. He’s fine. He broke nearly every bone in his body, but he’s OK. Now everyone is like, “Let’s celebrate Sam surviving falling off the cliff and Easter… and, oh yeah, Eliza is turning another age.”

THR: Happy Endings has been your job for almost three years now. How has the job changed for you?
Coupe: I never had sisters, and Elisha [Cuthbert] and Casey [Wilson] are the closet thing I have to that. At first, I got along with the guys much better, because I know how to have brothers. But it’s been great for me to get closer with them. Damon and I are insane together on set. Last week we had a 13-hour day where it was just the two of us, and we laughed for 13 hours straight. We shot an x-rated version of Happy Endings that has to get whittled down to ABC standards.

THR: And you get to dress up like Gallagher.
Coupe: I have no idea where that came from, but I really just went for it. If I could do that every day — crazy disguises and wigs — that’s my favorite thing to do. I didn’t really know that much about Gallagher, so I had to go online and watch a bunch of videos of him.

THR: You didn’t know about Gallagher?
Coupe: I’d knew of him, but I was just familiar with the fruit-smashing stuff. That look isn’t something you forget. It’s burned into your brain. But I started wondering, “What else does he do? Does he just smash fruit?” So I went online and watched his whole act. It was really education for me.

THR: You are very open about your obsessions, like Michael Fassbender. What’s on your mind these days?
Coupe: I have definitely moved away from Fassbender. I beat that one like a dead horse. I had a real quick moment with Adam Levine, where I thought I was going to do something about him, but i don’t really know much about him — so I’d have to work on that one. I’m obsessed with Pinterest right now. I have a real problem, and there needs to be a self-help program.

THR: Do you have a following?
Coupe: I don’t have a lot of followers, like 300, because my boards are titled things like “Great F—ing Style,” “Great F—ing Style for Him,” “Wicked Good Pahty Idears,” and one of guys I’d hook up with called I “I’d Give These Guys a Shot at the Title.” I don’t think that a lot of people on Pinterest are into that, because it’s mostly homemakers and people who are just trying to find nice centerpieces for their Christmas dinner.

THR: Who’s on the board of guys?
Coupe: Damon and Adam [Pally] were making fun of me because I have the most random people. Vincent Gallo is on there. Why? I don’t know. Because he looked really hot in the picture I found. And I love Buffalo 66. The heart wants what the heart wants.

THR: Happy Endings is going off in March, before all 22 episodes air. What have you guys heard about that?
Coupe: I know nothing. I just know that they love our show, and, when it happened, there was this moment of “OK, I’m going to stop spending any money right now.” It’s a really good show and I think it’s going to live on. We’re really happy, we’re doing our thing, and I know everyone is taking a hit in that time period. I think they just need to get those midseason shows on — and hopefully we’ll be soon. But I’m not going to lie, I definitely had a moment of, “I think I’m going to shit my pants.”

THR: And you guys have been in this position before.
Coupe: We always joke that it isn’t going to be easy. It’s a bunch of self-deprecating comedians saying, “That was an amazing scene. Cool, no one will see it, but at least the crew liked it!” It’s like we’re doing black box theater in the middle of nowhere. We just have to be patient. Happy Endings is the little engine that could.

Happy Endings airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

hollywoodreporter.com

Eliza Coupe is scheduled to be a guest on “Last Call with Carson Daly” this week! She will be on the show airing Wednesday, November 7th on NBC. Check your local TV listings for exact air times in your area.