After just two weeks on the air, ABC has decided to pull Happy Town from the schedule. The TV show will be back but, for how long?
Happy Town follows the residents of a small town in Minnesota. After being plagued by kidnappings years ago, it seems the mysterious “Magic Man” has returned to start a killing spree. The cast includes features Sam Neill, M.C. Gainey, Geoff Stults, Lauren German, Amy Acker, Steven Weber, Ben Schnetzer, Sarah Gadon, Jay Paulson, and Robert Wisdom.
The series got off to a poor start two weeks ago with a 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.25 million viewers. Last week, for episode two, viewership took a nosedive to a 1.2 in the demo and 3.79 million viewers.
To no surprise, ABC has pulled Happy Town for the remainder of May sweeps. After tonight’s episode, the series goes on hiatus for two weeks and will return on June 2nd.
While this wouldn’t necessarily be a sign that the show will be cancelled, the ratings are. They’re terrible and there’s every expectation that they’re just going to get worse — especially with warmer weather coming and people spending less time in front of the TV.
After tonight’s episode, there are just five episode left. With numbers like these, fans of Happy Town will be lucky if the network shows the rest of them, never mind a second season.
Next week’s episode will be replaced by an edition of Primetime: What Would You Do?. On May 26th, ABC will present the network premiere of the Transformers movie.
What do you think? Why isn’t Happy Town performing better? Is it just not a very good TV show or are viewers just missing the boat?
Image courtesy ABC.
I, for one, LOVE this show. There is really nothing else on like it and that alone makes it a standout for me. The acting is good, the story line is good, the time slot could have been better but still, I am a faithful viewer. I don’t understand why ABC would allow us to view only 3 episodes and then make such a decision based solely on the results for those 3. They need to allow their audience the chance to spread the word about how awesome this show is and see if it boosts the ratings at all.… Read more »
I love this show as well. I don’t watch much television so my choices are very selective. This was one I really liked and made sure not to miss. It grabbed my attention from the start and I was looking forward to many suspenseful nights in front of my television. I am extremely disappointed in ABC for pulling it this early. They are the losers here. Could have been a great one for them. Maybe someone else will pick it up sometime? One can only hope.
I really like the show and hope it makes a return. I liked the show because it was different from most shows theses days. It really kept my attention with the suspense. I was just getting into it…please bring it back!!
I loved the show! I sure hope it makes it! Plus it has some of my favorite peeps from October Road, which didn’t last either, and that show was excellent too! I don’t get it.
The show is good! It was interesting, and they left me hanging and wanting more. What else can you ask for hook, line, & sinker. How do they know who is watching anyway. I DVR all my shows and watch them when I can. Anyonw with insite to how they get ratings other than the mailed surveys?
This show was terrible! I watched every episode yet had no idea what was going on, it needed better explinations. Yes it was good that they tried a new style of tv show, but it just wasnt fully thought through.
Just because you cannot follow a simple TV show, doesn’t make it “terrible”. Maybe go back to kindergarden, they teach you how to put puzzles together there.
ok im honestly SICK of freaking ABC cancelling every show that im INNNN LOVEEEE with. first, flashforward, and now happy town? they seriously need to stop making good shows, getting people hooked and then cancelling. i need to know what happened to the wife and why she dissapeared! this show is actually pretty good and shoudltn be cancelled.
Give the series a chance. I was just getting interested!
Network ADD? Every time I find a new show that is not a clone of every repetitive formula used by networks,they are cancelled before given any real chance of success.
I liked the interesting storyline that seemed to be developing and it reminded me somewhat of Steven King’s “Needful Things”. I guess another DVR deletion is necessary.
I agree with one of the previous posts there just wasn’t any build up or advertising for this show. I watch all types of shows and feel I am a pretty good judge of quality as I just don’t like one type of show i.e comedy, drama… I watch and ejoy them all if it is a good show and Happy Town has caught my interest and I have been looking forward to where this show goes. I hope it stays and more people watch.
I am very disappointed that HAPPY TOWN has been pulled. If given a chance, I believe many people will love the show, as I do. At first, I thought by the title it was another silly comedy show, but once I tuned in, I realized it to be very well thought out and quite suspenseful. What a shame the new show are all geared around simple plots. This is absolutely adult entertainment, and we need that to help our brains function. I hope the powers to be will reconsider pulling it, and perhaps do more advertising.
Sorry to say, but I think the biggest problem with Happy Town is it’s on ABC.
When it was compared to Twin Peaks; one of the best canceled series ever, I watched the first two episodes. For me, it was a qualified “good”, but I believe a cable channel could of/would of taken a few more chances and made it so much better.
I looks like an interesting premise, but I found it a bit too formula and cliche driven.
Which, I believe, is ABC’s processed white bread and margarine.
Not again!!!!!!!!!!! Another Eastwick disaster!! Everytime there seems to be an interesting new show, ABC pulls it. Advertise more and what about playing the first 3 episodes again. I can remember seeing an episode play of another show in it’s regular time slot and replaying on Friday or Saturday night.
I think the problem was not enough advertising. I may have seen 2 commercials at most for this show. Maybe people are not aware of it. To make matters worst they are making people wait 2-3 weeks in between episodes.
JUST WHEN A BODY THINKS THEY FOUND SOMETHING NEW AND DIFFERENT, WHAM!! THEY PULL IT.
I DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE EVEN BOTHER WATCHING TV ANYMORE
I THOUGHT THE SHOW WAS GREAT.
HOPE THEY GIVE IT A CHANCE.