If ABC And Sony TV Really Wanted To Save 'Happy Endings,' They'd Have It On Hulu Plus

The ABC/Sony Pictures Television comedy "Happy Endings" returns to television this Friday and there are a lot of questions as to whether the show will do well on its new night. So much so that ABC has released a web video encouraging fans to save the show by watching it every Friday.

Given that worry, you would think that the two companies would have an incentive to make at least a few previous episodes of the show available for viewing. It helps fans of the show catch up on the series if they missed any of the episodes and it offers new viewers a chance to dive in and fall in love with the show.

Which is why it's perplexing to discover the show has one of those odd viewing restrictions that don't make a lot of sense. You can watch a few of the previous episodes on most cable systems on-demand offerings and they're also available at ABC.com. You can also watch the episodes as part of Hulu's free service on the web. But they're not part of Hulu's subscriber only service Hulu Plus. Which means you can't watch the show through Hulu on your TV or mobile device.

I find the decision a little odd, since I'm not sure what value you're supposed to be protecting by keeping the episodes only available on the web. It's also not clear to me who made the decision, although I suspect it might be Sony TV, since their ABC drama "The Last Resort" was also unavailable on Hulu Plus when it was in production last fall.