The "Every Episode, Every Rating" series examines the Nielsen ratings history of a program during its broadcast run. Praise or criticism is in reference to the show's performance in the Adults 18-49 demographic.
Season 1
When Happy Endings was ordered for the 2010-11 TV season, ABC was in the process of rebuilding their comedy slate. An all-new Wednesday night lineup in fall 2009 led to the renewals of two new family comedies in Modern Family and The Middle, and a new hangout comedy in Cougar Town. Despite only one half-hour time slot opening up on the fall 2010 schedule, ABC ordered three new comedies to series: family romantic comedy Better With You, workplace comedy Mr. Sunshine, and hangout comedy Happy Endings. Better With You got the nod on the fall schedule, and was handed a full season order a month into its run. That left very little space on the schedule for Mr. Sunshine and Happy Endings.
ABC renewed Modern Family, The Middle, and Cougar Town in January 2011, then proceeded to put Cougar Town on an extended hiatus to make room for one of their two new midseason comedies. Rather than replace it with fellow hangout comedy Happy Endings, ABC chose Mr. Sunshine as the midseason replacement. Mr. Sunshine's ratings did not make an impression compared to its lead-in, and it was pulled from the schedule in April to avoid pushing Cougar Town's run into the summer.
Happy Endings was the last of ABC's new comedies to make the schedule, premiering on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 9:30 pm after Modern Family. It then settled into the 10 pm half-hour, occasionally airing at both 10 pm and 10:30 pm, where it replaced the short-lived Shondaland medical drama Off the Map. This at least gave Happy Endings a compatible lead-in, though the comedy success rate in the 10 pm hour on broadcast television is close to zero.
Happy Endings managed a 2.8 Adults 18-49 Live + Same Day for its post-Modern Family series premiere, but largely settled into the mid-1s behind Cougar Town, which itself returned weakened from its hiatus. Happy Endings averaged a 1.74 demo rating with 4.25 million viewers in its 13-episode first season, which was more aligned with the canceled newbies than the renewed veterans. ABC ultimately renewed Happy Endings for a second season of 13 episodes with the potential for a backorder, and gave it a significant time slot upgrade.
Season 2
Luckily for Happy Endings, it returned to a then-series high demo of a 3.1 Adults 18-49 rating, up from the 2.8 its series premiere received airing after Modern Family. It would go on to hit another series high of a 3.2 for the second season's third episode, and yet another for the fifth episode with a 3.5 rating and 8.33 million viewers. It was a notable ratings improvement not only from its first season's ratings, but also from the ratings a post-hiatus Cougar Town was putting up in the same time slot. Happy Endings and Last Man Standing were issued full season orders in November, a feat new Wednesdays at 8:30 pm sitcom Suburgatory had already achieved. Even with Man Up! proving to be an under-performer, this left very little room on the schedule to fit Cougar Town's midseason return and two new midseason comedies.
In their efforts to quickly rebuild their comedy slate, ABC ended up with an overcrowded schedule. ABC had nine comedies to schedule in six time slots in the 2011-12 season, and Happy Endings was among the five to eventually receive a fully-warranted full season order. Most of the creative scheduling came on Tuesdays; Man Up! was pulled in December to make room for Work It, which itself was pulled after two episodes to make room for Cougar Town's 15-episode third season. The other creative scheduling came in Happy Endings' time slot. The sophomore comedy would take few breaks in winter/spring 2012, airing even on weeks where the rest of the night was in rerun mode so as to finish its 21-episode order by early April. That made room to squeeze in a 7-episode first season of a fourth new comedy, Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23, which had originally prepared a 13-episode season.
Happy Endings' latter Season 2 airings would look more in like with its first season ratings than with its fall 2011 ratings. It wasn't doing terrible, per say, but the season low 1.7 demo rating it received for its Season 2 finale was just a tad higher than the ratings that got Man Up! (1.6) and Work It (1.5) pulled from the schedule. It made a big difference that Happy Endings was well-received, and showed the ability to perform well when given the opportunity. Even with the spring decline, Happy Endings still managed to be ABC's second-highest-rated comedy in the A18-49 demo in 2011-12 with a 2.71 rating, up 56% from its first season. It was renewed for a third season, one of five Wednesday comedies to get renewed that season on ABC.
Season 3
Happy Endings and Don't Trust The B--- In Apartment 23 would be paired up together in the Tuesdays at 9 pm hour, one that had been vacant of comedies since Scrubs and Better Off Ted were burned off in the hour in 2009-10. A Dancing with the Stars results show led into the sitcom hour for the first four weeks of the season, before various programming such as a one-off Shark Tank airing, Christmas specials, and new cooking competition The Taste cycled through the time slot.
Given the promise both Happy Endings and Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23 showed in their prior seasons, ABC was likely hoping for a comedy resurgence in the hour reminiscent of According To Jim's early seasons. Instead, what they got was closer to what they were used to seeing. Happy Endings premiered in line with its late Season 2 airings, but fell dramatically from there. The subsequent fall airings rated in the 1.1-1.4 range in the A18-49 demo Live + Same Day, which were at best around the low end of Season 1's ratings.
In what was perhaps the most confusing scheduling move of its run, Happy Endings' midseason premiere aired Sunday, January 6, 2013 at 10 pm after a regularly-scheduled episode of Revenge, and again the following week on January 13. Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23 followed at 10:30 pm. This move came despite both Happy Endings and Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23 also airing episodes on Tuesdays of those weeks as regularly scheduled. While Happy Endings' Tuesday airings held up from the fall, for what that's worth, the Sunday airings both hit series lows and lost roughly half of Revenge's A18-49 demo. After those two weeks, ABC would pull Don't Trust The B--- In Apartment 23 from the schedule, and shortly thereafter proceed to put Happy Endings on an extended hiatus. Neither new comedy waiting in the wings premiered in their place; rather, ABC slotted The Taste into the time slot.
When Happy Endings returned in late March, it was on Fridays as a late spring replacement for Last Man Standing and Malibu Country. By this point, Happy Endings had failed to retain the audience it gained in its second season, and any final attempt to salvage it would have come at the expense of launching How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life). Happy Endings did not fare well on Fridays, going as low as a 0.6 A18-49 demo rating on April 26. It would not return for a fourth season.
Post-Mortem
When Happy Endings was ordered to series, it was plausible to believe there would be room for family comedies and hangout comedies alike on ABC's schedule. Modern Family was the clear standout of the 2009-10 new crop, but Cougar Town was initially not far behind. While Happy Endings gained exposure in Season 2, it was still arguably ill-equipped to anchor its own comedy hour on Tuesdays. Happy Endings would have benefitted greatly had Cougar Town stayed healthy, in which case the two could have formed a solid hangout comedy block. Cougar Town flaming out and The Middle growing into the hit Cougar Town briefly was complicated that hypothetical.
Had Happy Endings stayed put on Tuesdays for the entirety of its second season, it's debatable if there may have been a spot for it on the 2013-14 TV schedule. On one hand, a Happy Endings renewal could have stopped ABC from airing four new comedies on their fall schedule. On the other, that was their own doing as a result of overoptimism regarding Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ability to launch an entirely new night. With Suburgatory on the bench and Malibu Country also canceled, ABC launched four new comedies not because they had to, but because they chose to. Even in the scenario where Happy Endings never hits the lows it reached on Sundays and Fridays, ABC's 2013-14 schedule at best allowed for a short fourth season in the Tuesdays at 9:30 pm time slot midseason.
A bit more surprising than the cancelation on ABC was the fact that no cable channel came to Happy Endings' rescue the way TBS did for Cougar Town. Happy Endings entered syndication on VH1 in December 2013 and Logo in August 2014, and had a dedicated fanbase and critical acclaim. Alas, it was not a happy ending for Happy Endings.