'Happy Endings' Moves to Fridays as ABC Shuffles Midseason Schedule

ABC/CAROL KAELSON

"Happy Endings"

ABC is shuffling its midseason schedule, moving Happy Endings to Fridays and doubling down on reality on Tuesday.

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The network is ditching comedies on Tuesdays in favor of a two-hour block of unscripted offerings starting Tuesday, Feb. 26 when Celebrity Wife Swap takes over the 8 p.m. hour previously occupied with freshman entry The Taste, which will now move back an hour to 9 p.m.

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The Taste takes over the time slot previously held by the recently canceled Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and struggling cult comedy Happy Endings.

Happy Endings, despite a recent uptick for its recent double dip on Tuesdays, will move to Fridays at 8 p.m. with back-to-back episodes beginning March 29, taking over the time slots previously occupied by Last Man Standing and Malibu Country, which will both have aired their respective season finales.

“We love those two shows. They're incredibly distinctive, and they’re water-cooler shows,” ABC Network Groups president Paul Lee told a roomful of reporters in January at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour about Apt. 23 and Happy Endings. At the time, Lee stopped short of commenting on whether either show will live beyond this season. Apt. 23 was axed shortly after.

For ABC, the double dose of reality comes after the network this season attempted to launch a second night of comedy, transplanting both Happy Endings and Apt. 23 from their previous Wednesday slots. The demise of Apt. 23 and banishment of Happy Endings to Fridays mark the latest woes to come from the crowded Tuesday comedy field. Fox's critical darling Ben and Kate failed to make it to the end of the season, while NBC's fellow freshman entries Go On and The New Normal have both struggled of late without benefit of The Voice as a lead-in.

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