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"New US sitcom Happy Endings has already made waves across the pond - where it&amp;#039;s been picked up for a second run - and starting this week, UK viewers will get the chance to check out the 13-part first season on E4. The show follows a group of friends who find themselves in an awkward situation when two of their number - Alex (24&amp;#039;s Elisha Cuthbert) and Dave (FlashForward&amp;#039;s Zachary Knighton) - break up on the day of their wedding. Is it really over for the pair? And will the group be torn apart? We caught up with Elisha and Zachary to find out more! You&amp;#039;ve both starred in dramatic projects in the past - why did you decide to appear in a sitcom? Zachary: &amp;quot;For me, it just happened. I was offered the script [and] I&amp;#039;d had a relationship with ABC for quite some time. They put the script in front me - I read it, I loved it and I met with the creator [David Caspe]. I was completely thrilled that he was my peer and that he had a pretty unique voice in comedy. It was a no-brainer for me and I just jumped in, head-first. It was a great decision because it&amp;#039;s been a fun ride.&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;Like Zach, I had a good relationship with ABC and I know that we wanted to find something [to work on together], but I was pretty adamant about wanting to stick to something comedy-based. Having spent so much time doing 24, it was a daunting idea to think about coming back to a one-hour drama. Could it even come close to that experience? So it was all about trying to do something different and challenge myself.&amp;quot; The series begins with Alex and Dave&amp;#039;s split. Did you both sympathise with your own characters? Zachary: &amp;quot;I could feel for anybody who was in Dave&amp;#039;s situation! That would be a really horrible situation to be in. I was more thinking about the comedy of it when playing it, but I&amp;#039;m sure [Elisha] had a tough time empathising with Alex, more so\u2026&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;No, not really though, because I feel like I got why she left [Dave at the altar]. I knew it wasn&amp;#039;t to run off with some other man, it was running out on and putting a halt to the chaos that could ensue after she went through with it, if it didn&amp;#039;t work out. So that&amp;#039;s how I got through [it] and didn&amp;#039;t dislike my character. I thought, she has all these questions that most women her age at some point sit down and contemplate. After a very long relationship, [they think], &amp;#039;Where is this going? Am I with the right person? Should we get married or not?&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Zachary: &amp;quot;I guess you had more of a challenge, because you had to win everybody back.&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;I had to win back everybody - that&amp;#039;s where it was a little complicated.&amp;quot; Zachary: &amp;quot;But she really does. You managed to do it, somehow, I&amp;#039;m not sure!&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;The writers wrote me good storylines!&amp;quot;  There are hints later in the season that Alex regrets her decision... Elisha: &amp;quot;Absolutely, which is great. It reassured me that&amp;#039;s where she was at. It wasn&amp;#039;t so much about [Dave], it was more about the fear of committing to someone for the rest of life. Is it going to turn out badly or is it going to be the best thing that ever happened to me? The fear factor was there and she was trying to overcome that. And as soon as Dave wraps his mind around being single again, I think she wonders if she made the right decision.&amp;quot; Last year in the US, there were a number of shows focusing on couples and their relationships. Why do you think Happy Endings was renewed, while those other shows weren&amp;#039;t? Elisha: &amp;quot;We didn&amp;#039;t see a lot of those other shows, so the comparison is hard to make. But our show is a little edgier. It&amp;#039;s on the borderline of, &amp;#039;What did he just say?!&amp;#039; There&amp;#039;s nothing fluffy about it.&amp;quot; Zachary: &amp;quot;I think it&amp;#039;s the pace too, and the storylines especially. I had a few friends who were actually in a couple of those new shows and we would compare storylines. I would tell them some of our storylines, and they would go &amp;#039;We&amp;#039;re not doing stuff like that!&amp;#039; I actually didn&amp;#039;t see too many of those shows, but I think it&amp;#039;s the pace, it&amp;#039;s the story and I really do feel blessed to be a part of this cast. Everybody is so unique and has something completely different to offer, and that&amp;#039;s what&amp;#039;s really fun. Some people really respond to Penny (Casey Wilson), some people really love Alex, some people really love me. That&amp;#039;s what&amp;#039;s neat about it - people can relate to different characters on the show.&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;The writers first have to bring us something is special and unique, and it&amp;#039;s our job to take it and do the best version of that we can manage. That combo has to work and make sense, but we&amp;#039;re lucky that our staff of writers, especially in the first season, were so young and so eager to show what they had. We were just lucky to be in the process of that, and each week getting these hilarious episodes.&amp;quot; Is it fair to describe Happy Endings as romantic comedy? Elisha: &amp;quot;I think it&amp;#039;s the anti-romantic comedy!&amp;quot; Zachary: &amp;quot;I agree. I think that it&amp;#039;s just a slice of life of people in our generation. I mean, we definitely get ourselves into some crazy situations that normal people don&amp;#039;t get themselves into, but I just think it&amp;#039;s very representation of our generation and this time. I think that&amp;#039;s what people are responding to, and it&amp;#039;s really exciting to be a part of.&amp;quot;  Do you feel like the show grew and improved over the course of the first season? Zachary: &amp;quot;Yeah. I mean, comedy&amp;#039;s hard. If you go back and look at the first season of Seinfeld, it&amp;#039;s a work in progress and that&amp;#039;s what happens. It just take time for people to figure each other out, and figure out timing, and to develop creatively with the writers. I think fortunately for us, we really did figure it out pretty quickly. I think that&amp;#039;s why the show grew so much and that&amp;#039;s what&amp;#039;s really fun about doing a second season.&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;But I hope it continues [to evolve]. You never want to go the opposite way - you come out strong and then it doesn&amp;#039;t hold up to its first showing. We came out and we showed you who we all were, and then as it continued, I think all of the elements just got stronger and stronger. I hope going into season two that it keeps that steady climb. That&amp;#039;s all we can hope for really.&amp;quot; How did you feel when the show was picked up for season two? Elisha: &amp;quot;Ecstatic. We&amp;#039;re excited to get back and see where this season&amp;#039;s going to take our characters. There&amp;#039;s a lot of places to go with it, so it&amp;#039;ll be interesting to see where we all end up. But it&amp;#039;s exciting. That&amp;#039;s when you know you&amp;#039;ve got something great, when you&amp;#039;re genuinely enthusiastic about it and curious to see where we&amp;#039;re going.&amp;quot; Zachary: &amp;quot;With comedy, it takes so long to develop and to figure out and see how everybody works together. I feel like the first season is a great time to work out the kinks - you see what works and what doesn&amp;#039;t - and I feel like going into the second season, we&amp;#039;re going to come in with a much stronger push, which should be a lot of fun.&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;Also, we got a half-season last year and, by the end of it, I knew who Alex was, in terms of the comedic timing and where I fit in with everyone. So now we&amp;#039;ve worked out all those kinks, I&amp;#039;m going into next year knowing exactly who she is and how I want to play it. To have that whole &amp;#039;figuring out&amp;#039; process behind me is exciting.&amp;quot; You&amp;#039;ve both had high-profile roles in the past, but have people started to approach you about Happy Endings? Elisha: &amp;quot;Yes, last night!&amp;quot; Zachary: &amp;quot;We were here [in London] last night, and some people had watched the show online. That was really exciting - that they were fans already before it comes out here.&amp;quot; Elisha: &amp;quot;And to be recognised for that show. Like you said, we&amp;#039;ve done films and been on other TV shows, so to see people starting to discuss Happy Endings in particular, when it&amp;#039;s so fresh and new, is really cool.&amp;quot; Happy Endings begins on Thursday at 9.30pm on E4. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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