Last night, ABC premiered their new Happy Town TV show. Despite the cute name, the series isn’t a happy go-lucky sitcom but is actually a dark murder-mystery drama. Most importantly, will ABC be happy enough with the ratings to keep it on the air?
Happy Town takes place in a small Minnesota community called Haplin that, years ago, was plagued by unsolved kidnappings. Now, a horrific murder puts everyone on edge once again and uncovers deep feelings and resentments. Has the mysterious “Magic Man” returned to claim more victims? From the creators of October Road, this series features Sam Neill, M.C. Gainey, Geoff Stults, Lauren German, Amy Acker, Steven Weber, Ben Schnetzer, Sarah Gadon, Jay Paulson, and Robert Wisdom.
After receiving mostly moderate to negative reviews, Happy Town debuted to weak numbers. Per the overnights, the ABC premiere attracted a disappointing 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demo and just 5.23 million viewers. That put the series in second place in the demographic and third place in total viewers.
Those numbers also represent a loss of nearly 40% in the demo from lead-in Cougar Town and a 20% loss in total audience. What’s more, last week’s disappointing Ugly Betty finale did better with a 1.8 rating and 5.56 million. On top of that, a sizable amount of the Happy Town audience tuned out before the first episode was even over, likely meaning they won’t be back next week.
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A new show typically loses at least 10-15% of its audience in week two and Happy Town hardly has any viewers to spare. As you might have guessed, none of this is a good sign for the show’s future.
Eight episodes have been filmed and hopefully, ABC will air them all. If the ratings fall as expected however, the network could pull the series early. Unless these ratings get a lot better, it’s highly unlikely that ABC will want to go back to Happy Town next season.
But, what do you think? Is Happy Town worth watching or should it just be cancelled now? If you watched, what did you like or dislike about it?
Image courtesy ABC.
Keep Happy Town on the air. How do those crap “reality” shows continue to flourish while quality shows like Happy Town get canceled? Don’t let this one go. One of the best new shows on TV.
Please continue playing HAPPY TOWN!!! I loved the first three episodes so far, the mystery and ethical questions beginning to be posed make for a very entertaining show!! I love Happy Town! Best new show this season in my opinion!!
Tonight’s episode was great – the show started off interesting enough and keeps getting better. I hope ABC decides to keep it. It’s nice to have something different, especially now that Lost is ending.
PLEASE GIVE IT A CHANCE ABC! It’s really good its just on a little late at night and is probably why it didn’t have as many viewers as cougar town. It’s a great show! Don’t cancel on me!
I think Happy Town is a very good show! I love it! Great plots, twists and characters. It’s almost as good as Harper’s Island! Which was the best show on television!!
I’ve just watched the first episode and I’ve loved it!!! I just want to know what’s going to happen.
I liked both episodes. Mystery…Love it. We need more. Give it a chance……….P..L..E..A…S..E!
I liked the first episode, I was really looking forward to the second one. But after the second episode ended I was left thinking “huh?”
Love it. There arent enough scary mystery stories on TV. Too much reality and silly comedies. I loved Harpers Island too. We need more of this type of show. There are different types of people out there and there needs to be something for everyone.
Jerri, I agree fully with you there are way too many silly reality and comedy shows out there and we need more of a variety.
Let Happy Town Play !
While I don’t think Happy Town is going to win any awards it’s at least as good as Harper’s Island last year. Frankly, I REALLY like the idea of a one season mystery show every spring/summer as it gives me and my fellow employees all something to talk about every week. Figuring out the mysteries, guessing who the killer is, fun stuff.
I say let the show play out for the season and next year put something similar on.
I totally agree with you they should just play the show out and let it gain more viewers. My mother, grandma, and I talked about Harpers island constantly as it was played i love mystery shows and i love talking about them with my family and friends. They really should just play out the show and put a similar one on next season.
This also allows people who can’t get out during the Summer to have something interesting to watch.
This show needs to end now. It’s horrible, terrible annoying characters, messy plots, cheesy one liners etc.. It’s just bad. They cram too much into every episode. I watched the second episode and I think I’ll leave it there. That was enough for me. The only character that was somewhat interesting was Sam Neill’s character. He is way too good for this show. I don’t think it will last much longer, not after plunging 29% from last week to just over 3 million viewers…I think many people feel the same way I do. Too bad because I wanted to like… Read more »
BEST SHOW ON TV
I just want to thank Happy Town for getting me back into reading my book. With Law & Order:SVU becoming stale and CSI:NY in reruns, Happy Town was the last distraction that I had from getting back into studies of 19th century literature. After a cold uninteresting welcome from the folks of Haplin, Henry James has welcomed me back with much more inviting arms, with great writing, more suspense, and characters that don’t try to make every third line a catch phrase, not to mention who serve a purpose to the plot other then being yet an other red herring.… Read more »
I loved it and could hardly wait for it to watch this week, but alas it comes on so late that I feel asleep before 10 pm and missed the start. I was, however, able to see the ending (the last 40 mins). I hope it stays on the air
I think Happy Town is a great show that deserves a chance. I did like Harper’s Island and right now I don’t think it is as good but i think it will get better