''Merry Happy Whatever'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

television series starring

Dennis Quaid Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), '' The Big Easy'' (1986), '' Innerspace'' (1987), '' Great Balls of Fire!'' (1989), ' ...

. The series premiered on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on November 28, 2019, and consisted of eight episodes. In April 2020, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

''Merry Happy Whatever'' takes place over the week or so around Christmas at the Quinn household. The story follows Don Quinn as he struggles with different stresses of the holidays. They are further complicated as Emmy, the youngest of the family, brings home her boyfriend Matt from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The pair seeks Don's permission to get married. The controlling patriarch of the family is not pleased because Matt is a struggling musician.

Cast

Main

as Don Quinn, the hard and conservative patriarch of the Quinn family and a deputy sheriff in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He always disapproves his children's spouses and does the same with Matt. *

Bridgit Mendler Bridgit Claire Mendler (born December 18, 1992) is an American entrepreneur and former actress and singer-songwriter. She first became known as a Child actor, child actress and continued acting into adulthood, which overlapped with a musical car ...

as Emmy Quinn, Don's youngest daughter who brings her boyfriend home for the holidays *

Brent Morin Brent Morin (born August 31, 1986) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was a panelist in the sixth season of '' Chelsea Lately'' and played Justin Kearney on the NBC sitcom '' Undateable'', Matt on the Netflix series '' Merry Happy W ...

as Matt, Emmy's boyfriend who is a struggling musician in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, constantly being shadowed by Don *

Ashley Tisdale Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an American actress and singer. During her childhood, she was featured in over 100 advertisements and had minor roles on-screen and in theatre. She achieved mainstream success as Maddie Fitzpatric ...

as Kayla, Don's

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

middle daughter, who becomes Matt's friend *

Siobhan Murphy Siobhan Murphy is a Canadian actress who has appeared in ''The Smart Woman Survival Guide'' in 2006, ''Men with Brooms'' in 2010, '' Max & Shred'' in 2014, '' Murdoch Mysteries'' in 2016 and '' Merry Happy Whatever'' in 2019. Early life From a ...

as Patsy, Don's eldest optimistic and super excited daughter *Adam Rose as Todd, Don's

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

son-in-law and Patsy's husband, who at all times tries to impress Don unsuccessfully *

Elizabeth Ho Elizabeth Ho is an American actress. Early life and career Ho was born and raised in San Francisco, California. Her mother is actress and dancer Jennifer Ann Lee, who appeared in a number of Broadway productions including ''A Chorus Line'' and ...

as Joy Quinn, Don's daughter-in-law and Sean's wife, who tries to warn Matt that Don will do everything to get him away from Emmy * Hayes MacArthur as Sean Quinn, Don's dimwitted son who is recently unemployed

Recurring

Garcelle Beauvais Garcelle Beauvais (, formerly Beauvais-Nilon; born November 26, 1966) is a Haitian-American actress and television personality. She is best known for her starring roles in the sitcom ''The Jamie Foxx Show'' and the crime drama series ''NYPD Blue' ...

as Nancy, a nurse at Morristown Urgent Care and Don's love interest *Mason Davis as Sean Jr., Sean's eldest son who recently became an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

*Lucas Jaye as Donny, Sean's younger son

Guest

Tyler Ritter Tyler David Thomas Ritter (born January 31, 1985) is an American actor who starred as Ronny McCarthy on ''The McCarthys''. Early life Ritter is the son of actor John Ritter and brother of actor Jason Ritter. His grandfather was country singer Te ...

as Alan, Kayla's estranged husband who is planning to divorce her. *Chris Myers as Bryan, Nancy's son who disapproves the relationship between his mother and Don. *

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta ( ; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, ...

as Ted Boseman, Don's friend who is forced into offering Emmy a great new job after Don did not arrest him after committing a crime. *

Paul Dooley Paul Dooley (born Paul Brown; February 22, 1928) is an American character actor. He is known for his roles in '' Breaking Away'', ''Popeye'', '' Strange Brew'', '' Sixteen Candles'' and various Christopher Guest mockumentaries. He co-created the ...

as Grandpa Jack, Don's father-in-law who openly dislikes Don and believes he was never good enough for his daughter.

Production

Filming began on May 21, 2019, and ended on July 24, 2019.

Filming

''Merry Happy Whatever'' was filmed at

Radford Studio Center Radford Studio Center, alternatively CBS Studio Center, is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, United States. The lot has 18 sound stages from , of office spac ...

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1 ...

but it is set in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present) 2010s American sitcoms 2019 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings American English-language television shows Netflix sitcoms Television shows set in Philadelphia Christmas television series Television series by Kapital Entertainment