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Cuthbert enjoying her Happy Endings

You might say Elisha Cuthbert has been waiting a long time for her Happy Endings.
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When a couple breaks up

You might say Elisha Cuthbert has been waiting a long time for her Happy Endings.

Almost an entire season, in fact. The comedy is the last of the rom-coms to hit the network schedules. Shooting began last September, and Cuthbert has been promoting it at the last two Television Critics Association press tours.

Back-to-back episodes premiere Wednesday night at 9:30 ET on City and ABC. It will air in its regular 10 p.m. ET time slot beginning the following Wednesday.

At 28, Cuthbert is already a TV veteran. She first made a name for herself while barely a teen on such shot-in-Canada shows as Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Popular Mechanics for Kids.

The last series, which began in 1997, also jump-started the career of fellow Canadian Jay Baruchel (The Trotsky), whom Cuthbert recently bumped into on a flight from Los Angeles to Montreal.

“He’s super talented and I always knew there was something special about him,” says Cuthbert.

It was as Jack Bauer’s crisis-prone daughter Kim on “24” that she became more of a tabloid sensation, regularly appearing on several men’s magazines “hottest women” lists.

Cuthbert loved working on that series but is excited to be tackling something different with the one-camera comedy Happy Endings.

“I was definitely out there looking for something like this,” she says.

The series stars Cuthbert as Alex, a 20-something who ditches her fiance Dave (Zach Knighton) at the altar. Eliza Coupe, Damon Wayans Jr., Adam Pally and Casey Wilson play the couple’s tight knit posse.

The show’s tag line: “After a break-up, who gets to keep the friends?”

Cuthbert loves that the show explores — in a funny way — the pressures of modern life for people in their late 20s and early 30s.

“At that age, you’re really trying to figure out what you want to do and who you want to be,” she says.

Then there is dealing with outside expectations.

“There’s so much pressure if you’ve been with a guy or girl for two years,” she says.

Cuthbert hears this all the time: “When are you getting married? When are you having kids? What are you going to do with your life?”

The Calgary native is at that point in her relationship with Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. While shooting 12 episodes of her sitcom in Los Angeles this fall and winter, she would fly home to Toronto every fourth week.

“I have been doing a lot of flying, but I find it helps me break up my time and put my all into both worlds,” she says. “When I’m in Canada, I really enjoy being myself without the stress.”

She didn’t grow up much of a hockey fan, “but Dion’s taught me an awful lot about the game,” she says, adding that Toronto “has been really nice to us.”

The couple also enjoy summering in Prince Edward Island.

“There’s something very special about the island, it’s so secluded,” she says.

Cuthbert’s new sitcom premieres the night the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. Phaneuf’s team, for the sixth straight year, is not in the post-season tournament.

Told this reporter remembers The Leafs’ last Stanley Cup win in 1967, Cuthbert replies, “Dion hears that date quite often.”

Happy Endings arrives late in a season packed with romantic comedies on network TV. One, CBS’s Mad Love, also features two Canadian-born stars, Sarah Chalke and Tyler Labine.

Cuthbert feels her comedy has a different tone than those other shows.

“I just think we’re a little edgier and real, especially in the dialogue,” she says. “There’s just that little extra dash of spice.”

That’s why she’s glad the show is airing at the late 10 p.m. slot, an unusual hour for comedy but one that has been tested — with mixed results — already this season by NBC.

“Our content is appropriate for young adults who are up at 10 p.m.,” she says.

She thinks airing after “Modern Family” and Cougar Town is also a perfect fit.

“Those shows have children and marriages. We’re still figuring out our stuff, we’re a little more chaotic maybe.”

Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.