EPISODE FIVE HITS RELATIVE HIGH ON HAPPYISH

E5 Grade: A-

After four episodes of overly catering to those who, like Bob Dylan wrote, are at the point where negativity won't pull them through, HAPPYISH hits a highpoint, somewhat...

That is, the main character, Thom Payne, ad man un-extraordinaire, is stuck on a stalled New York train on the way to work, and doesn't philosophize as much as experiences the doldrums in which his theories are often derived... Like finally witnessing what's inside the guy who goes outside his own pontificating box, and, despite the eclectic title "Starring Josey Wales, Jesus Christ and the New York Times," we begin shouting "F--- You" to Arthur Miller, the playwright whose DEATH OF A SALESMAN reflects Thom's nowhere job... in his mind. Standing next to Marylin Monroe, the epitome of a trophy wife, Miller deserves to be cursed at or they'd have chosen another photo. Meanwhile, co-star Kathryn Hahn's Lee gets stuck in a rented studio, listening to a man who lost his family to the Nazis. Herein, she's as bored as the audience.

Jesus is praised obnoxiously, Clint Eastwood's Josey Wales is quoted quickly, and The New York Times is what people read on the train, annoying Thom to death and finally bringing this Showtime show to life. Funny that it took a dead train to get a potentially good ride on track... without even trying this time around.