'Happy Town' TV Series Review

‘Happy Town:’ If It’s So Happy, Why Does Everyone Keep Leaving?
Viewers and Characters Alike Are Vanishing From ABC Summer Drama

Written by: Karen Benardello


‘Happy Town:’ don’t let the name fool you. Apparently, most of America hasn’t been fooled by the new ABC mystery drama, which stars Geoff Stults and Steven Weber, as well as several actors familiar to horror audiences, including Lauren German and Sam Neill. The show, which was created by Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg and was the first to premiere to promote the network’s new summer season, hasn’t been keeping audiences happy, and for good reason.

Set in the small Minnesota town of Haplin, named after a prominent family in the community, ‘Happy Town’ picks up after several years of peace after the Magic Man disappears. The Magic Man, as the unknown person was nicknamed for his ability to make people vanish without a trace and without leaving behind any evidence or witnesses, is suspected to have returned to Haplin.

Haplin Deputy Sheriff Tommy Conroy (played by Stults) has a seemingly happy life with his wife and daughter. That is, until his father Griffin (played by M.C. Gainey), the town’s Sheriff, snaps in his office in the police station and cuts off his left hand. Tommy takes over as acting sheriff at the instance of Peggy Haplin (played by Frances Conroy).

Henley Boone (played by German) is the newest resident in town, as she hopes to use the inheritance given to her by her recently deceased mother to open a candle shop. She rents a room at Dot Meadows’ boarding house, where she is joined by another new resident, Merritt Grieves (played by Neill). Henley constantly talks to an unknown person on the phone, saying she’ll leave Haplin once she reveals her true identity.

On May 17, while the show was on a two-week hiatus after airing just three episodes, ABC announced that it had cancelled ‘Happy Town.’ However, the network said it will run the remaining five episodes of the season, with the last one airing July 7. The news comes even though the show lost half of its viewers during the first half of its run. But the decision is understandable, considering the pilot only drew in 5.2 million viewers.

It’s no wonder that the show saw a drop in ratings with each episode, as it seems as though the writers haven’t carefully thought out the series before they started writing it. For example, it’s revealed in the second episode that Tommy’s friend Dave was the one who murdered Jerry Friddle, the man who was killed with a metal stake during the series’ opening sequence. Also, when Henley runs her car off the road because she hit a bird, she is rescued by a mysterious man in the third episode. In the next episode, the women at her boarding house reveal he’s the recently-paroled Greggy Stiviletto, who was in jail for manslaughter. It’s almost as though the writers knew the show wasn’t going to last, and they wanted to give the storylines resolutions.

While ‘Happy Town’ wasn’t as well planned and written as ‘Harper’s Island,’ the serial-killing mystery drama which was broadcast on CBS last summer, the ABC drama still has its merits. German and Neil both portray their roles rather well, not giving away the reasons why they’re in Haplin. Since neither was given away a lot of background information on their characters, they both leave audiences guessing.

While ‘Happy Town’ won’t be receiving any Emmy Awards this year, it does provide some shock entertainment value. Those who started watching the season when it first premiered may want to keep watching to find out what happens to the town of Haplin and to see if the Magic Man is caught, but most people will likely forget about it when they’re sitting on the beach.