Happy Town

For those sad about the retirement of LOST and a hankering for some Twin Peaks-like action, Happy Town may fill that gap. It certainly doesn't hold anything back as far as serving its inspirations. It's a strange, humorous, and quirky affair with mysteries abound. The town has its own personality and one that is Lottery-esquire (in reference to the short story) and quite two faced. However, you'll know how interested you are in the series once they start to talk about The Magic Man and M.C. Gainey starts spouting off some weird mumbo jumbo that no one seems to be able to make sense of. You'll either take to the Twin Peak aspirations and obvious mysteries, or you'll want something much more grounded.

However, with genre shows having their peak at the moment, Happy Town may be worth sticking around for. The pilot is entertaining enough and the actors all do a fairly decent job of playing their respective parts. Hats off to Gainey and Sam Neill, both of whom stand out, with Gainey being a REAL Mr. Friendly here (with a seeming split in personality that I'm sure will be explained) and Sam pulling off being creepily British oh so well. For Sam alone and to see what they do with his character alone, it may be worth sticking around. As far as everything else, it's an ABC show with a slight Steven King, David Lynch twist (of which the creators stated was a huge inspiration for the show anyway). So, you can expect some gruesome details, although only two particular appeared in the pilot.

So, if you've got a soft spot for Twin Peaks and want something to get going with as LOST winds down, Happy Town may be your cup of Chamomile Tea, or whatever tea you prefer.

Overly written dialogue, campy characters and multiple mysteries inhabit Haplin, Minnesota (where everyone has a secret, and a silly nickname.) Reminiscent of CBS's recent 'Harper's Island,' this plays as only the latest 'Lost'-inspired darkly-woven tale which may or may not include something supernatural.

'Twin Peaks' did this far better before it de-evolved into weirdness for the sake of weirdness. This one has trouble with its tongue-in-cheek humor simply because too much of it is spent trying to be funny.

It could easily improve, as many shows struggle in their early episodes. But it could fall prey to the same fate as 'Harper's Island.' A quick death from lack of sustainable viewers.

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.

Billed as the new 'Twin Peaks' but with more on par with 'Harpers Island' comes the eerie 'Happy Town'.

The town of Haplin is named after the Haplin family who own the Bakery that employs most of the town inhabitants. Five years earlier the Haplins 8 year old daughter vanished, believed to be the last victim of a serial killer called the Magic Man. For five years in the aftermath of the last disappearance the town has managed to perfect its manners and idyllic setting creating a welcoming facade. Two things happen that begin to tear apart this weak illusion, a vicious murder which opens the show and the arrival of a young woman intent on opening up a candle shop in the town yet clearly has another agenda.

As we become woven into the plot and introduced to some of the towns inhabitants many freaky characters begin to emerge mainly the owner of the boarding house in which reside a group of 'golden girls'. On the outskirts of town are a family of rednecks with a simpleton brother (definitely influenced by Twin Peaks) but the most creepy character is that of an English gentleman Merritt Grieves played by Sam Neill. With his character they could move away from serial killer land established in 'Harpers Island' and go more with the weird and wonderful that was Twin Peaks. The pilot raises interesting questions, is the blue door significant, what lies on the forbidden top floor of the boarding house, what is Chloe up to and is the magic man a supernatural killer as opposed to a human one.

As well as the acting talents of Sam Neill we have the beautiful star of 'Angel and Dollhouse' Amy Acker with Steven Webber and 'Men in Trees' star Abraham Benrubi.

Filmed in Canada this is definitely one to keep watching.

Happy Town came as a pleasant surprise, however I just could not help but wonder if the writers dipped their hands into one of Stephen King's creepy classic "NEEDFUL THINGS". Sam Neil's role as "Merritt Grieves", is so seemly similar with Max Von Sydow's sinister "Leland Gaunt". Hey, as long as the formula produces a creepy yet delicious dish for TV. M.C. Gainey who played the Town Sheriff (he also played as the pilot in the movie CON-AIR) was my MVP for the 1st episode, great acting, I would have given it to Sam, but, his role in this series looks wickedly good.The pilot episode started slow BUT soon picked up pace, I am looking forward to next week's show....The ladies living in the B&B resembles a coven, don't you think?