Happy Endings

Season 2

Blax, Snake, Home

Baby Steps

1. Laura Ortiz (Madison 2) appears also on season 3 episode 9 as a completely different character, a rock star Alex and Penny sell to the press to promote Xela.

Yesandwitch

Secrets and Limos

1. Brad says that Jane didn't really have him on her vision board, but one of the guys from In Living Color (1990-1994). In Living Color was created by Keenen Ivory Wayans, and stared amongst others Shawn Wayans and Damon Wayans. Damon Wayans, jr, the actor playing Brad, is the son of Damon, and the nephew of Shawn and Keenen.

Spooky Endings

Lying Around

The Code War

1. During the episode Vanessa (Angelique Cabral) makes reference to Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.) to being "like 48" making the assumption that he is much older than she is. Brad replies that he is "only 29". In actuality Wayans Jr. was 29 at the time of shooting while Cabral his senior was 32.

Full Court Dress

1. The movie that Max's niece and nephew are watching is "Heavy Metal 2000".

Grinches Be Crazy

The Shrink, the Dare, Her Date and Her Brother

1. Ken Marino (Richard) and Casey Wilson (Penny) would later star on the show "Marry Me", also created by David Caspe.

Meat the Parrots

1. Dave has a poster for Short Circuit 2 (1988) on the wall of his apartment. Michael McKean who plays his father in Happy Endings, played Fred Ritter in that movie.

Makin' Changes!

The St. Valentine's Day Maxssacre

1. In this episode, while delirious from from his dentist appointment, Brad refers to each of the other five as characters from Friends (1994). This joke is a bit tongue-in-cheek considering the similarities between the two shows. Like Friends (1994), Happy Endings (2011) is a show about a group of six (three male, three female) twenty-somethings living in a big city. The dynamics between the characters on both shows are also similar. Both have 2 siblings in the group, and at least 3 friends that knew each other in high school. Brad and Jane, similar to Chandler and Monica, are the married couple of the group. Brad, like Chandler, works in business, then is unemployed for a time before going back to business. Jane, like Monica, is very Type A, organized, controlling, and competitive. Dave and Alex are similar to Ross and Rachel, because they are the ex-couple in the group that have a bad breakup and have to learn to stay friends to avoid splitting up the group. Both breakups are the fault of one person, Ross and Alex, and both breakups become running jokes in their respective series (The rollerblades and "We were on a break!"). Also, both Dave and Alex and Ross and Rachel have the "on again/off again" type of relationship, and both couples live together at some point in the series following their original breakup. Also, both Alex and Rachel work in fashion retail. Penny is the Phoebe, in that she is the eccentric one who dates lots of guys. Both Penny and Phoebe become seriously involved with men who seem to assimilate into the group fairly well, but both women end the relationship suddenly (Penny breaks off her engagement with Pete, and Phoebe breaks up with Mike during the process of moving in with him). The major difference being that Phoebe and Mike ultimately reunite and get married, while Penny and Pete do not. Sidenote, Pete and Mike are similar names in that they are one-syllabled abbreviations of common names. That leaves Max to be Joey, and while they're less similar than the other five character parallels, they both are lazy, childish, love eating, and do not hold steady jobs. Additionally, Max and Penny have a special, platonic closeness that mirrors Joey and Phoebe's. Again, clearly the writers of Happy Endings (2011) wanted to show their self-awareness when it comes to the comparison, so when Brad references Friends (1994), he refers to Dave as "Ross," Alex as "Rachel," Penny as "Phoebe," Max as "Fat Joey," and Jane as "Monica."
2. Brad, delirious from from his dentist appointment, refers to each of the other five as characters from Friends (1994). This joke is a bit tongue-in-cheek considering the similarities between the two shows. Both shows are about a group of six twenty-somethings living in a big city. The dynamics between the characters on both shows are similar. Both shows have 2 siblings in the group, and at least 3 friends that knew each other in high school.Brad and Jane, similar to Chandler and Monica, are the married couple of the group. Brad, like Chandler, works in business, then is unemployed for a time before going back to business. Jane, like Monica, is very Type A, organized, controlling, and competitive.Dave and Alex are similar to Ross and Rachel, who have a bad breakup and have to learn to stay friends to avoid splitting up the group. Both breakups are the fault of one person, Ross and Alex, and both breakups become running jokes in their respective series (The rollerblades and "We were on a break!"). Dave and Alex and Ross and Rachel have the "on again/off again" relationship, and both couples live together at some point in the series following their original breakup. Alex and Rachel work in retail.Penny and Phoebe are eccentrics who date lots of guys. Both become seriously involved with men who seem to assimilate into the group fairly well, but Penny breaks off her engagement with Pete, and Phoebe breaks up with Mike during the process of moving in with him. Phoebe and Mike ultimately reunite and get married, while Penny and Pete do not.Max and Joey are both are lazy and childish, love eating, and do not hold steady jobs. Max and Penny have a close platonic relationship that mirrors Joey and Phoebe's.

Everybody Loves Grant

The Butterfly Effect Effect

1. At one point, Elisha Cuthbert's character Alex mentions the situation is like that movie "The Butterfly Effect" and that it started a string of bad movies for Ashton Kutcher. She would go on to co-star with him in the Netflix show "The Ranch".

Cocktails & Dreams

The Kerkovich Way

1. The valet guy Penny and Max come across in the treasure hunt actually is the real actor that played the garage attendant from Ferris Bueller's Day Off(1986)

Party of Six

You Snooze, You Bruise

Big White Lies

Four Weddings and a Funeral (Minus Three Weddings and One Funeral)