Paramount+ Cancels Dennis Quaid Drama After One Season

Another Paramount+ series has gotten the boot after only one season.

The streamer has canceled the drama Happy Face, starring Dennis Quaid, according to Deadline.

Also starring Annaleigh Ashford, James Wolk, Tamera Tomakili, Khiyla Aynne, Benjamin Mackey, and Dennis Quaid, Happy Face was created by Jennifer Cacicio. It was adapted from the 2018 podcast of the same name by Melissa Moore and her 2009 autobiography, Shattered Silence, which was co-written with M. Bridget Cook.

Premiering on March 20, Happy Face follows “Melissa (Ashford) and her incarcerated father, known as the Happy Face Killer (Quaid). After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life. In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families and must face a reckoning of her own identity.”

News of the cancellation comes over two months after the Season 1 finale on May 1. Despite some of the star power of Happy Face, the show didn’t bring too much attention. It failed to break into Nielsen’s Streaming Originals Top 10, and only has a 57% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 42% audience score. So the cancellation is not so surprising, but it still hurts for fans of the show.

Happy Face is produced by CBS Studios in association with King Size Productions, iHeartPodcasts, and Semi-Formal Productions. Jennifer Cacicio serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Robert and Michelle King, Liz Glotzer, Melissa G. Moore, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson, Michael Showalter, and Jordana Mollick. Michael Showalter directed the first episode. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Even though Happy Face is canceled, Dennis Quaid is as busy as ever. This year alone, the actor can also be seen in the films Broke and Sovereign. Upcoming, he will be starring in Scam, American Pride, War Machine, The Florist, and Littlemouth, among others. There will be plenty more from him to look forward to, and fans can always go back and watch the first and only season of Happy Face on Paramount+. Assuming it doesn’t get taken off like other unfortunate shows.