If you’ve been scrolling through Paramount+ lately, you might have seen a pair of cold, piercing eyes staring back at you from a thumbnail. That’s Dennis Quaid, but not the charming dad from the movies you grew up with. He’s playing Keith Jesperson, one of the most unsettling figures in American true crime. Since the show was first announced, everyone has been asking about the happy face release date, and honestly, the rollout had a few people confused at first.
The wait is over. The series officially made its debut on March 20, 2025.
Paramount+ didn't just drop the whole thing at once for a weekend binge. They went with a hybrid strategy. You got two episodes right out of the gate on that Thursday morning to get you hooked. After that, it shifted to a weekly release schedule. It's the kind of show where you need a week to process what you just saw anyway.
Why the Happy Face Release Date Mattered So Much
This isn't just another serial killer show. We’ve had plenty of those. This one is based on the real-life story of Melissa Moore, Jesperson's daughter. Imagine being fifteen and realizing your dad—the guy who raised you—is the man the police are hunting for a string of brutal murders. That’s the emotional core here.
The production had been in the works for a while under CBS Studios. When they finally locked in the happy face release date for early 2025, true crime circles went into overdrive. Most people expected a documentary, but this is a scripted drama. It’s gritty. It’s heavy. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.
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The schedule for the eight-episode season looked like this:
- March 20, 2025: Episode 1 ("The Confession") and Episode 2 ("Killing Shame")
- March 27, 2025: Episode 3 ("Was It Worth It?")
- April 3, 2025: Episode 4 ("Controlled Burn")
- April 10, 2025: Episode 5 ("Don't Dream")
- April 17, 2025: Episode 6 ("Lorelai")
- April 24, 2025: Episode 7 ("My Jesperson Girls")
- May 1, 2025: Episode 8 (The Season Finale)
The Cast That Makes It Work
Annaleigh Ashford is the lead as Melissa. She’s incredible. She brings this raw, vibrating anxiety to the role that makes you feel like you’re also carrying her secret. Then you have Dennis Quaid. Seeing him as the "Happy Face Killer" is jarring. He uses that famous grin of his, but it’s twisted. It’s predatory.
James Wolk plays Melissa’s husband, Ben. He’s basically the emotional anchor who’s trying to keep their family from imploding while Melissa is pulled back into her father's orbit.
What This Show Actually Covers
A lot of people think this is just a recap of the crimes Jesperson committed in the 90s. It’s not. The series is "inspired" by the real events, but it takes a leap into a "what-if" scenario. In the show, Jesperson finds a way to force himself back into Melissa's life after decades of silence.
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He claims an innocent man is about to be executed for one of his crimes.
This sets off a ticking-clock mystery. Melissa has to figure out if her father is telling the truth or if he’s just playing one last manipulative game from behind bars. It forces her to interact with the families of his victims, which is where the show gets really intense. It’s about the "ripples" of crime—how one person's actions can ruin lives thirty years later.
Fact vs. Fiction
While the happy face release date brought the story to a massive audience, it's worth noting where the show departs from reality. The real Melissa Moore is a producer on the show, and she has spent years as an advocate for the families of serial killer victims.
In real life, Keith Jesperson is serving several life sentences in Oregon. He’s not exactly calling shots on death row cases like a mastermind in a movie. The show amps up the drama to make it a psychological thriller, but the emotional truth of Melissa's trauma is very much real. It’s based on her book Shattered Silence and her popular iHeart podcast.
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How to Watch and What to Expect
If you’re just starting now, you can find the entire season on Paramount+. If you’re in the UK or Canada, the dates might have shifted by a day due to time zones, but generally, it was a global rollout.
Don't expect a "fun" watch. It’s a dark exploration of identity. Melissa is constantly worried that she might have some of her father's "darkness" in her. It’s a common theme in these types of shows, but Ashford plays it with a specific kind of exhaustion that feels very grounded.
To get the most out of the series, you might want to:
- Listen to the "Happy Face" podcast first. It gives you the actual facts so you can see where the show takes creative liberties.
- Watch in pairs. This isn't a show to watch alone at midnight. The psychological manipulation themes are heavy.
- Pay attention to the cinematography. The way they use light and shadow to mimic the "happy face" motif is subtle but really effective.
The series wrapped its first season on May 1, 2025. Whether there will be a second season is still up in the air, but given the "limited series" label, this story feels pretty contained. If you haven't jumped in yet, now is the time to see why everyone was buzzing about that March premiere.