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.
It is a shame that this show didn’t get a chance to gain an audience. I found myself getting into it because there was absolutely nothing else on for we “old timers” – those of us who are between 50-60 and can’t stand another stupid reality show. Bring it back……
the world does not revolve around the 18-49 crowd….Would love to see this show brought back.
I completely agree and I am in that bracket you describe, being a 25 year old male that can’t stand the reality crap that we are given by TV, which we all pay way too much for!!!!!!!!!!! Why so many explanation points? Because Elaine Benes from the best show ever says so. That is Seinfeld if we haven’t forgotten what a show is really like. By the way, since most people pay nearly a $100.00 or more for TV a month, why should we have to put up with all the commercials. Is it just me or is TV bad… Read more »
I loved this show . My Husband and I looked forward to watching it . How can you tell if a show is going to be a good one and get ratings if you never give it a chance in the 1st place ?? It seems a shame to me .
This was like my favorite show , it was so interesting way better then most of the shows out there replacing it. I say you have a second season ! I want to find out who the magic man is.!
the show was great i don’t watch to many tv show but this one i liked hope u put it back on
I looked it up. Nielsen ratings are not in any way accurate. The sample isn’t random. They hand pick the households, and the majority of the diaries are from the state of California. The people mostly keep a written diary of the shows they watch, which will obviously lead to a skew, as the shows they watch during the day and in the evening will not get recorded. Thats likely why news shows do so well. The electronic devices only record that which is watched at its time slot, not recorded in any way. Only households that have been in… Read more »
Its a great show. The thing is, I don’t believe that Nielsen ratings are n any way the right idea in gaging a show’s performance. most people these days just tape shows. So who even knows what is being watched. besides that, the people they measure don’t seem to be very typical. I rather think theat the people who are included in Nielsen ratings are not the everyday tv viewer.
I loved this show,It wasnt even shown here In Australia. but I was able to find it.I am a huge Amy Acker fan, so I wanted to see what it was all about.I thought it was a little slow in the first episode but then as the story started to unfold we got to see more.This gave me the feeling like Twin Peaks did(i loved that show).just as i was getting into it and trying to work out whochole really was and the alice was alive I found out it was cancelled.NOT FAIR ABC SHOW US THE END ….I need… Read more »
I love this show. I can’t believe it is cancealed. I have been waiting to see what happens. I hate it when shows are pulled before they are finished. My husband and I watch and enjoy this show. This is terrible.
when my wife and i were not home together we dvr’d the show.. we loved the show. actually there are many shows we love and they keep pulling them off like happy town, prison break, ghost whisperer , why do they have to take off all the good shows and leave the bad ones on.. does not make any sense to me.
I’m just going to stop watching ABC shows… Every time they put out a good show, it gets pulled or cancelled! Heroes was one of my favorite shows, ABC cancelled without finishing the story. Flash Forward was great, ABC cancelled it after the first season. Now, I found a new show called Happy Town and it seemed to fill the void, but now that’s been pulled!! ABC sucks and I’m never watching another show on that network again, who’s with me?
I’m with you David. Time to start watching more shows on FX or USA. They keep their shows on and finish up story lines!
i agree. i never watch ABC but i loved Happy Town. i’m not giving them another chance.
I happen to come across this show on Hulu, and really started getting into it.Then to find out that the show is canceled made me really upset.This was one of the best shows I have been able to see in a long time and to be left hanging on not knowing if the girls are still alive,where they are and more about what is going on in Happy Town really is not fair.Sometimes a show may to a little longer then 8 episodes to catch up with an audience in order for the ratings to be where they expect them… Read more »
I sincerely love this show. I was eagerly waiting with great anticipation for this series to begin. I set my DVR to record it every week. It was absurdly disappointing when I found out the series quit running…and right in the middle when things were getting really good too! GRRRRR I hate that! I am an avid paranormal/thriller/horror/syfy movie lover and when I found out there was a series coming out that was close in genre I was ecstatic! It’s ashame that shows like this one don’t come around too often. Some of the other shows out right now are… Read more »
Me and my boyfriend LOVE this show. we dvr it and watch it together… I think it HAS to come back on.. Maybe this fall would work better for most people.. whoever hasnt watched it i suggest they do. This show is one of my fav. next to desperate housewives and greys anatomy.. but then again they cancelled my other fav. show october road so my luck they will cancel this one to!!
I was very very sad not to know what finally happened; the show was just picking up speed. The mother isn’t really dead and she could be the magic man!
Why put the show on then pull it, it seems why a person likes a show like Happy Town it end with no clue to why. I hate it when networks put on shows u start watching and waiting for the next week for it to return and then its gone! Please return it and finish the series!!!
Happy Town was a great show. It reminded me of Harper’s Island and I really enjoyed that too. How can you determine if the ratings weren’t good when so many people DVR their shows and watch them later. I bet there are more people that DVR’d the show than watched it live. Did that negatively affect the ratings?