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 loved Happy Town it reminded me of the CBS summer mystery. Abc always does that. They get a good show I get really into it and then they pull it. Examples- October Road, Eastwick, What about Brian? the list goes on and on. Shame on you ABC.
I dont like watching new series anymore. I never know if the season will finish out and most of the time they leave you hanging. Either that or they (network) scramble to make a quick lame finale.
What the heck?! Why?! Just because the general population like to watch people being idiotic doesn’t mean that some of us actually like to think when we watch tv. This was one of the more stupid things that ABC has done.
C’mon ABC give Happy Town a chance. Happy Town was easily the best new series I’ve seen in a long time. It has great characters and a great plot(s). I for one will miss it if it’s truly cancelled.
This is sad. I like the show and there are so many reality shows out there that should be cancelled. I don’t like to watch reality shows, I have enough reality in real life and don’t want to watch it about others.
Please bring it back or at least show the final episodes. It takes more then 3 weeks to get a following on a show. They never gave the show a chance and now we are paying for it.
I’m so disappointed that they cancelled or are in the works of cancelling Happy Town. It pulled me in at the end of episodes looking forward to the next week show. I totally agree with Destry, this show was not given a fair chance with time slot and being put on late season. Keep Happy Town!!
Sam Neil i an amazing actor, and I would watch anything he is promo’ed in just for that reason. That said, those who are not watching Happy Town ARE missing the boat. It’s well written, has interesting twists and turns, and is far more plausible than Lost has ever been or ever can be. ABC is just pulling yet another “Harper’s Island” on Happy Town’s fans – get them hooked and pull the rug out from under them. Very sad. The only way to redeem itself (ABC) in my eyes is to 1) run the remaining Happy Town eps with… Read more »
SYFY should grab this show up if they can..
I am really loving this show and I will be upset if /when they pull it.. I just think the combination of it being on a 10:00 (too late for some people), and the fact it was released in late spring/early summer (when people are spending less time in front of the tv).. just set this show up to fail.. if they put it on earlier in the evening and released it in the fall when its super natural aspect would add to the whole upcoming halloween hype would bring in a ton of viewers.
I hate abc I really do like they canceled eastwick I loved that show >.< and now happy town WTF
I like Sam Neil and I would watch just about anything he is in. I think that the network is canceling this show because that voyeuristic “What Would You Do?” is a non scripted and cheaper production.
I hate reality shows. I love shows with a touch of magic and mystery. It reminded me a little of Stephen King’s “Needful Things”.
Bring Happy Town back.
From now on, IM gonna wait for the season to end, if it lasts, I will just look for it on DVD…..
Ya know, when this show first aired I said I wasn’t going to watch it. The reason was because EVERY TIME a who dunnit type series starts that I like the network ALWAYS pullls the plug before the mystery is solved. I liked the show Reunion about the reunion held at the hotel where one guest was killed and each week they reviewed a past year in the livs of the cast to see if we could figure out the killer and the victim….GREAT PREMISE,,kept me watching,,,but they pulled it Same thing with Harpers Ferry, I never did see the… Read more »
My friend mentioned this show and how good it was. I really enjoyed it and I am very dissapointed that the big wigs decided to cancell the show. They do deserve another chance…
Wow!!!! Really? You pull this off the air, and other networks have crappy shows like Two and a half men, and Criminal Intenet? Give it a chance, we love the show, and frankly the rest of your T.V. sucks.