Happy Town - "In This Home on Ice"

[StarshipDefiant]

Watched this one tonight (technically a couple hours ago), I think I am gonna like it. For those that wonder, the episode (and series) centers around a small town in which 12 years prior to the pilot (the date isn't exactly known, having been filmed in winter of 2009 and what not) an 18 year old girl (was it a girl?) went missing, followed by another person a year later, and so forth for a period of seven years (counting the first). The disappearances were credited to the "Magic Man" who had an uncanny ability to make the people disapear in such a manner, it borders on mysticism (I think the term used). Five years after the kidnappings had suddenly stopped (the shows present, in other words) crime strikes that gets everyone talking (and whispering) about the past, and "Magic Man"

As I said, I liked it, good stuff IMO and Amy Acker and Sam Neill aside, the show seems to have some good promise. With an eight episode first season (and hopefully it is a season, and not the entire series), the storyline could hopefully be pretty serialized and not episodic. There's probably some things there that might seemed somewhat cliched (depending on who views it), but the episode kept me glued for an hour.

The geeky fanboy in me is pretty happy to see Amy Acker with a starring credit, not a guest star or something similar. Speaking of which, it seems she's the only one that doesn't know who "Magic Man" is (Via interviews and twitter).

 

[Aragorn]

I watched the first segment just to see what's up with the show (sort of disappointed that M.C. Gainey isn't listed in the main cast), but it's a bit weird that they're using the same establishing shots, sets and actors from October Road. It's like Satan came to Knight's Ridge and changed the direction of the show.

Not sure if I'm gonna watch the show or not, though I suspect it'll go the way of most midseason replacements.

Of course, since Sam Neill played the son of Satan, that's where I'd think the show is going.

 

[RoJoHen]

I was going to watch this tonight, but I ended up having an X-Files marathon instead. I'm sure I'll catch it eventually.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

I watched the first segment just to see what's up with the show (sort of disappointed that M.C. Gainey isn't listed in the main cast), but it's a bit weird that they're using the same establishing shots, sets and actors from October Road. It's like Satan came to Knight's Ridge and changed the direction of the show.

Not sure if I'm gonna watch the show or not, though I suspect it'll go the way of most midseason replacements.

Of course, since Sam Neill played the son of Satan, that's where I'd think the show is going.

I haven't been able to research it a lot yet, as Wikipedia doesn't have a ton (and the series doesn't seem to have it's won wikia ), but it seems to be intentional in that respect, it's my understanding that some of the same people from October Road are involved in the production.

I was going to watch this tonight, but I ended up having an X-Files marathon instead. I'm sure I'll catch it eventually.

Certainly worth it, there's a Hulu page up, if your able to use Hulu, don't know if ABC has full episodes on their websites.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I was gonna check this out, but totally forgot. I'm thinking of getting the first episode and catching up, but I'm not sure yet. I like the cast, but the show itself doesn't strike me as something I really need to see. Reminds me of that island murder mystery from last year. Liked the cast there too, but couldn't finish it.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Well the ratings for the premiere sucked, which is too bad. I like this more than V and a lot more than FlashForward, but of the three, V is the one ABC will keep.

There's something about it - quirky, overly broad as it might be - that appeals to me. It could be fun summer hooey but I guess it's doomed.

Of course if they go the obvious route with Sam Neill as Satan and the boardinghouse ladies as a witch's coven, blergh. But no idea about that yet - it could all be misdirection.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

I hope it's a misdirection, I think that is the intent, at least with Sam Neill's character, intentially adding recent additions to the town population, where they are not like the rest to give a list of suspects. I think its sad its considered sucky ratings, but whatever, probably not always the best night anyway. I seem to fall for the shows that don't do the best.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Checked this one out, mostly for Amy Acker, buuuuut I dunno if I'll stick around. Just didn't really hold my interest. Are they going for a Stephen King vibe?

 

[StarshipDefiant]

There not being to clear on that right now, there's hints that they are, and hints that things are "normal" and that Magic Man is insanely good at not leaving any evidence.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Are they going for a Stephen King vibe?

Or David Lynch lite. Even that could be worth watching.

 

[bigdaddy]

I have no clue why this show was put on Wednesdays at 10pm after 2 hours of comedies. Stupid ABC.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

I thought it was a fun show. I have no clue what the hell is going on, but Sam Neill is awesome, the women are hot (those under sixty, anyway) and there's two actresses from Being Erica on it.

And creepy suprenatural stuff would be cool, rather than uber-villain of sneaky doom Marwaning his way from murder to murder.

I hope it lasts the whole run, even eight episodes is enough to tell a good story.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

We should definitely see all eight, they've been done for a while now (filming was done in something like Fall/Winter of last year), but yeah, I hope we see them as well, especially if they get better as some say they will.

 

[Capn Flukie]

The best part was when MC Gainey as the Sheriff said "Don't touch the baby Jesus, or I'll make you wear the cow suit". Me and my friend just looked at each other and lol'd.

 

[JoeD80]

I enjoyed the first episode quite a bit. Although the episode seemed like it was building up to a reveal of who the murderer of the victim at the beginning of the episode was it ended up having the twist of the Sheriff saying those cryptic things [and did he cut off his hand at the end there?]. it seems to be going a little Twin Peaks here where stranger and stranger things are going to happen. I am looking forward to the next episode.

Well the ratings for the premiere sucked, which is too bad. I like this more than V and a lot more than FlashForward, but of the three, V is the one ABC will keep.

There's something about it - quirky, overly broad as it might be - that appeals to me. It could be fun summer hooey but I guess it's doomed.

The premiere's ratings won't matter as much as the ratings for the sweeps episodes in May.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I would be astounded if the May sweeps eps are significantly better than the premiere. My bet is that bad as the premiere may be, the ratings will fall from that point. That's the pattern for practically all shows nowadays - a moderate or steep fall off from the premiere. The only hope for survival is a kick-ass premiere.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I actually wanted to like this show but just didn't. It reminded me a lot of Harper's Island from last year, which I enjoyed. But this episode did not hold my interest at all...I found myself trying to find other things to do while watching it, which is never good. It just didn't have very interesting characters or plots, I probably won't watch it again. Which is unusual for me! Usually I always finish a show after watching the premiere.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Well the ratings fell off a cliff this week.

Week two of ABC drama Happy Town fell off the map, with a very last place 3.89 million viewers and a 1.2/ 4 in the demo at 10 p.m. Compared to its already lackluster debut one week earlier (Viewers: 5.25 million; A18-49: 1.7/ 5 on April 28), that was a loss of 1.36 million viewers and 29 percent in the demo. Will ABC even keep Happy Town on the air for the remainder of its episode order? Stay tuned.

Which is fine by me since writing problems are starting to emerge that suggest why ABC shuffled this show off to die. I'm fine with the notion that the lead character is not interested in being a sheriff, but to be so wildly incompetent and amoral that he mindlessly covers for his best friend who confessed to murder? How long is that going to stay secret? The idiot isn't thinking about his wife and daughter, and the impact on them when he's chucked into prison.

It's really not a good thing to write your lead character so carelessly that the audience starts to feel contempt for him. And for what? A meaningless revelation way too early in the story? I don't know enough about pizza guy to care that he's a vigilante killer. I don't even know what his name is yet! I don't know enough about his friendship with the sheriff (whose name I also forgot) for it to matter to me that the sheriff is covering for him. This plot twist might work okay in the seventh or eighth episode, after the proper setup, but not in episode #2!

Also, the teen romance plotline is even worse than the one in V and these actors are even worse than those.

TV Writing Rule #1: Don't make your audience bitch about your characters before they've even had enough time to remember their names. I literally cannot remember anyone's name but Chloe and that's just because they made such an issue about it.