Demon Town

A smart and slick series from the creative man who brought us such wonderfully written thrillers as "Scream", Scream 2", "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "The Faculty". Kevin has returned to the genre that has made him famous and he does it successfully with this excellent new series, a welcome departure from the same old thing we see on TV over and over again. "Glory Days" finds writer Mike Dolan returning home four years after writing a supposedly fictitious murder-mystery novel which was inspired by his own father's death. He hasn't written anything since so he decides to return home after receiving a creepy anonymous letter about his father. He finds that the citizens of Glory Island weren't big fans of his book, including his own family who think that his book degraded the memory of his father. The local sheriff is Mike's former childhood friend who Mike depicted as a repressed homosexual in the book. A waitress at the local diner didn't fare any better, Mike made her out to be his father's killer. Upon coming home Mike is witness to an accident on a ferry which he claims was murder. Because of his book everyone in Glory considers him to be untruthful and nobody believes him so it's up to him to uncover the truth with the help of a lovely young coroner, new to Glory she's the only one not spurned by Mike's book. Filled with Kevin's sharp humor and smart character development (the cast does a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life especially Frances Fisher as Mike's mother, who he pegged as bipolar in the novel) the series draws you in to the mystery of the island and you don't want to leave until it's over, even then you eagerly await what will happen in the next episode. Once again Kevin Williamson has taken an ageless genre and tweaked it with his familiar touch to give us and hour of great entertainment filled with suspense, comedy and drama.

The premise of "Glory Days," an actual suspense- thriller television show, was one that I'm sure filled many people with hope and interest. What they've seen, over the past three weeks, has probably crushed those hopes fairly effectively....

In the first episode, we are given several creepy elements; a seemingly random murder, a mysterious letter, an entire town where we're told odd behavior is commonplace, with a population who strongly dislike the returning prodigal son (some of whom are his own family), and a disturbingly- designed board game, just to name a few. Any one of these elements, handled correctly, could carry a show for several episodes. "Glory Days" disposes of them all by the end of the very first episode, explaining away every element in precise detail, wrapping up every possible loose end.

This pattern, alas, was repeated with the second and third episodes as well. Each individual story sewn up nice and tight, with nothing left to gnaw at our minds or make us wonder at work the next day. Each episode ends exactly as it began, with only superficial changes to the characters lives, and no change at all to the world they live in.

Answering every question mere minutes after it's asked hardly builds suspense, and a mystery that's solved in less than an hour isn't much of a mystery. The most effective element of mystery and suspense, the part that gets people hooked, is not knowing, not having the answers. To paraphrase Neil Gaiman, people forget the stories, but they always remember the mysteries.

There are no mysteries on Glory Island. Simply put, instead of stepping into the shoes of "Twin Peaks" or "The X-Files," or possibly bringing something new to the small- screen, "Glory Days" is merely a hip, teen- oriented version of "Matlock" or "Murder She Wrote"

A shame, because the cast, and the audience, all deserve something better....

Take one part "Picket Fences", add a dash of "Twin Peaks", stir in kids who are fluent in "Dawson's" speak, and throw it in a Kevin Williamson blender powered by Weinstein. The result?

The series debut of "Glory Days".

Welcome, kiddies, to the WB's first attempt at a *gasp* suspense series. Mind you, I entered viewing with a severe case of unenthusiastic trepidation. When I first heard of "Glory Days" last spring, my heart was all aflutter at the thought of fresh material from one of my favorite scribes, Kevin Williamson. The show's original premise revolved around a one-hit wonder whose severe case of writer's block rendered him unable to write a follow-up to his best-selling debut novel "Glory Days." It sounded just like something we'd expect from the WB: a "Dawson's Creek"-type show focusing on romantic relationships and light situations.

Enter the squelchers of all things creative, aka Network Executives, and pretty much in came the official Big Rewrite. When all was said and strewn on the cutting room floor, there lay a show that still followed the original premise of runaway novelist who must face his demons upon his homecoming. Only no "Dawson's", no romantic relationships, and no light situations.

Welcome, instead, to Bizzaroland.

Let's review the players (at least the ones I care about so far):

Mike Dolan (Eddie Cahill) – The Prodigal Son, who wrote a book using most of his family and close friends as characters, returns. Said loved ones are, of course, less than thrilled with his depiction of them.

Ellie (Poppy Montgomery) – Town coroner and a close dead-ringer for Julie Benz (the original female lead) who partially buries dead bodies in her garden to study decomposition rates. Quirky in that sense, yet needs to be flushed out.

Rudy Dunlop (Jay R. Ferguson) – Deputy Doug, er, I mean Sheriff Doug, er, I mean Rudy. Mike's former best friend who was falsely characterized as a Card Carrying Friend of Dorothy in Mike's novel, "Glory Days."

Sara Dolan (Amy Stewart) – Older, slightly neurotic sister who inherited the editor-in-chief title at the family-owned newspaper when Mr. Dolan died.

Sam Dolan (Emily Vancamp) – Little sister who missed her older brother terribly. Her relationship and interactions with Mike remind me of the Claudia/Bailey dynamic on Party of Five.

Zane (Ben Crowley) – Sidekick to Sam.

Mitzi Dolan (Frances Fisher) – Kind of crazy mom to Mike, Sara, Sam and Mike. Let me just lay this out on the table from Day One: I LOVE HER. How could you not with lines like, "Sara, he's your brother first, jackass second." *snarf*

If you've read my other analyses, you'll know I hold a certain bar to "Party of Five" because of the well-written details and moments from that show. I'm seeing glimmers of PO5 in this show, and that gives me hope. Finally, another series comes along that concentrates on developing characters.

THE CORONER'S REPORT (my high points and low points for the episode):

• Mike and Rudy playing Hardy Boys amused me to no end, though the interrogation of the boy felt forced. - Gee, hmmm, saw a few Miramax and Dimension commercials. Do ya think Harvey and Bob got a cut on ad rates? - Wow, an actual laugh out loud moment when Rudy said, "It's ‘cause I cried when Goose died in Top Gun, isn't it?" in reference to why Mike thought he was gay. - The ferryman's widow is a pretty sharp shooter for a drama queen with a penchant for wearing bad wigs. - Did they take their stock shots from the same bin as Dawson's Creek and ILM mountains into the background? I was this close to hearing "I don't want to wait…" on the opening credits when the camera panned from marina to shore.

So I did it. I made it through the hour, and am actually looking forward to next week's installment. "Grim Ferrytale" (oh, Kevin, clichés should be beneath you by now) pleasantly surprised me. Between all the rewrites, lead character changes, and dire predictions from the trade magazines, I thought this one was DOA. I really, truly thought I was not going to be able to physically sit through the entire episode.

Kudos to you Kevin, for crafting a well-written tale that concentrates on characters, I say, "Welcome back, we missed you." You're not so up the Creek as I thought you'd be.

Kara ScoopMe.com "Glory Days" reviewer

This show was truly an accomplishment for the WB, giving a nice break from their sap-dripping teen shows that only Gilmore Girls and Smallville have seemed to accomplish otherwise. The dry humor was wonderful and refreshing, and the romantic tension between Mike and Ellie was fun and edgy, avoiding what many other shows do not - jumping into it too fast, leaving no room for anticipation or appropriate development. Also, the weekly obstacles created not only something to look forward to, but something that truly held one's interest for the entire hour. The characters were great in each aspect, often going outside the lines while not being outrageous, just delightfully quirky. Unfortunately, as the WB often does, this show was canceled due to "poor ratings" in nearly impossible and illogical timeslots, being a midseason replacement for the popular Angel and jumping between airing after 7th Heaven and Dawson's Creek, who's audiences would not likely be interested in this show, of a very different genre, in that place. Well, we can always hope for a video release.

I wasn't even going to watch this show, until I found myself one Wendsday night with nothing to watch, flipping channels. I fell onto the premiere of Glory Days, and after watching 10 minutes of the show I Was hooked. Wow! Amazing show. I don't know what it is, but somehow the writers, the cast and everyone made this show so good. I like the suspense in the show, and also the times of comic relief. The WB should not do a thing to change it, only let it grow. Wonderful!