Happy Town

Its been almost 10 years and I am still hanging on to a revival of this show. I just read an article on shows cancelled too soon and couldn't believe this wasn't on it! I was hooked right away and couldn't wait for more then boom. Gone.

I got a sneak peak at the first two episodes of this show at a friend's house (who worked on the show) and it's really great.

It's very different from the original 2 hour pilot from May that other people have mentioned. The characters are quirky and fun, and the world they set up is an interesting one that definitely balances mystery with the intrigue of small town politics, and leaves a lot of room to grow in future episodes.

Geoff Stults is great as Tommy, and all the other characters are compelling to watch, especially Sam Neil as Merritt Grieves, and the guy who plays Dan Farmer (Peter Outerbridge). Lauren German is lovely as Henley (the new girl in town), and Steven Weber and Frances Conroy are wonderfully menacing as the heads of the town-founding Haplin family.

Saying it's 'the next Twin Peaks' sets an impossibly high bar, but it really does look like a worthy successor and will be a lot of fun to watch.

I can't wait to see the rest of the episodes!

Every once in a while, a show comes along that promises to be a break from the norm - a show that makes you think and second guess your assumptions with each scene. Sometimes, these shows can be annoying because they tend to be plot less efforts at eye candy. But Happy Town wasn't one of them. It was one of the good ones - and ABC executives have decided in their infinite wisdom that shadows over the common man to pull the plug on this show.

This is why I don't trust the broadcast network hierarchy, and why I stick to satellite television reception. And it really doesn't matter which one you watch, either. ABC, NBC, and CBS all have the same mantra - premier a great show on a bad night, show two episodes, wait a few weeks until everyone forgets what happened, show a few more episodes, then cancel the show due to "bad ratings." Hello? What did you think was going to happen? Happy Town never had a chance. And it's a shame that good writing is wasted on the netherworld of broadcast stuffed-shirt politics.

HAPPY TOWN had no small amount of potential. The setting was great, the plot was fairly strong, or at least layered enough to create the solid beginning to a mystery, and there were some interesting, well played characters, specifically Same Neill and M.C. Gainey. Oh, and the guy who played Root Beer. Love him.

That's about it. The dialogue in this show is atrocious. I mean really, really bad. Just about everyone speaks in total clichés. Sometimes, in order to sound "mysterious" and "quirky" the writers will give someone a line so cryptic that it's just silly. Example: "Just call me Gazpacho. 'Cause I like my soup cold." Huh? I know the show was cancelled in midstream, but the ending is terrible. Obviously it would be impossible to wrap up multiple seasons worth of loose ends in a single episode, but there was in ton of extraneous garbage in the last episode that could have been spent on something worthwhile. Instead they chose to blindside the audience with a bizarre, unsatisfying ending.

In the end, HAPPY TOWN desperately tries to be unique and original, something in the vein of the excellent TWIN PEAKS, but succeeds only in being derivative and silly.

Still, I watched every episode and was then motivated enough to write a long winded review. So, if you like dark mystery shows with hints of comedy (even when it doesn't totally work), check it out. You'll be no more disappointed than if you just watched TWO AND A HALF MEN instead.

Saw a sneak peek at the pilot this evening. While the pilot is typically long and attempts to set up a story, it is slightly boring and overdone. The writers attempt to introduce you to every character in the town in a matter of 90 minutes. They give just enough information of the past crime that the viewers interest is peaked, however, the writers work too hard to make too many suspect. While the show has an interesting premiss, I am unsure how it will make an ongoing series. T.C. is by far the best character and carries the show. I understand a good mystery contains forshadowing and unknown facts, but with weird cuts the writers leave the audience with too many questions for a pilot. Lies are being spread as to characters whereabouts, mysterious alzheimers symptoms, creepy stalkers. The show has potential, but they are going to have to pick up the speed and start developing an ongoing story.