ABC comedy 'Happy Endings' gets laughter started

NEW YORK — It's never been my favorite month. But January was worse than ever this year.

I had seen my latest relationship, a sizzling romance surely meant for the ages, go bust between Christmas and New Year's (which made it all the more painful, since it fell within the so-called "breakup window" — see below). This gave me license to spend January pining for my ex and feeling miserable without her. And I did.

I mention this not to beg for sympathy, but to make a point about the ABC comedy "Happy Endings": It's the funniest show on TV.

Why do I say this? Not just because I have always found it supremely smart and amusing, week in and week out. But also because it has emerged as my go-to show when I need a pick-me-up. Case in point: On one particularly bleak night in January, plagued by self-pity and sleeplessness, I gave up my tossing and turning and retreated to the living room. In those lovelorn wee hours in front of the TV, "Happy Endings" had me laughing out loud.

"Happy Endings" (airing Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. EST) might be described as "Friends" meets "Scrubs" with a dash of "Seinfeld." It merges physical comedy, sight gags and cutaways with Mach-speed zingy dialogue. Watching the show, I keep a hold on my remote and make frequent use of that button that backs up the action a few seconds, so I can catch a throwaway line I missed the first time. Or savor it again. Or figure it out. ("This is a pretty nasty part of town: The guy I sell my gray water to lives around here" packs a laugh once you've Googled the meaning of "gray water.")

The stepping-off point for the series' premiere last spring was the wedding of seemingly perfect couple Dave and Alex, where Alex, seized by doubts about matrimony, left her groom at the altar. Afterward, this made things awkward for them as well as for their mutual friends as everyone tried to keep the gang of six longtime pals intact.

If its premise seemed a little gimmicky (especially the will-they-or-won't-they-reconcile issue surrounding Dave and Alex), "Happy Endings" quickly laid to rest such concerns by reveling in the group dynamics of these distinct and lovable twenty-somethings.

Dave (Zachary Knighton) operates a none-too-successful food truck on the streets of the show's Chicago setting. Alex (Elisha Cuthbert, "24") is sexy but a flake, the owner of a boutique that gets no customers. Alex's sister, Jane (Eliza Coupe, "Scrubs") is whippet-slim, high-strung and in velvet-gripped control of her husband, Brad (Damon Wayans Jr., "The Underground"), a prissy business exec.