Paramount+ has been making some big decisions about shows, and one of those is a crime drama. Happy Face has officially been canceled after one season.
While it is disappointing, it’s not all that surprising. In fact, a lot of people probably thought that this series based on a true story was set as a limited series.
Happy Face works as a limited series
While it was never officially billed as a limited series, many of those watching Happy Face likely expected it to only have one season. Like with every show, there are some people who stop watching after an episode or two, but that’s not the only reason it was likely canceled. It all comes down to the lack of source material.
The series was based on the memoir Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter by Melissa G. Moore. Moore learned when she was 15 that her father was an infamous serial killer, and she turned her story into both a memoir and a podcast.
That story has somewhat of a beginning, middle, and end. When TVLine announced the cancellation, a lot of people took to the comments to share that the believed the story was over anyway. It’s not like there needed to be a second season in the way that a lot of other crime dramas need.
There were a couple of threads left open to develop a second season, though.
The viewership is likely what canceled the series
Sadly, it likely did come down to the viewership, as well as the reviews. Happy Face arguably wasn’t some of Robert and Michelle King’s best work, and that shows with the critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, where only 57% of the critics’ reviews are positive.
In respect to the Kings, they have set a high bar for themselves with all their previous work. This is just something that didn’t quite meet expectations, and with that, came a decline in viewership throughout the first season run.
While a lot of people may have thought that it was a limited series, Paramount+ would have still paid attention to the viewership numbers. Even a limited series can be adapted if the numbers are there, and in this case, they weren’t there.
Happy Face is available to stream in full on Paramount+.
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