To promote its new drama−mystery series "Happy Town," ABC has been using the arch slogan, "Don't let the name fool you." On Twitter.com last week, Sam Simon (one of the creators of "The Simpsons") quipped, "Hey, ABC, if your promo has to be, ‘Don't let the name fool you,' maybe ‘Happy Town' isn't such a good name." The show, which attempts to create intrigue from a vague murder mystery and random suspicious behavior, fails to live up to any of the sly disquietude its name attempts to evoke.
"Happy Town" takes a lot of its cues from the landmark series "Twin Peaks" (1990−1991), in that a seemingly innocent character moves to a quirky small town where everything is slightly off. Years prior, the town of Haplin, Minn., had been ravaged by a mysterious figure called the Magic Man, who caused a handful of Haplin residents to disappear without a trace. Now, following a strange murder — the town's first in years — the Magic Man may or may not have returned to wreak some kind of havoc on some of the many characters the show introduces.
The fresh−faced Henley (Lauren German), who is Haplin's newest citizen, has told everyone that her mother recently passed away, and she plans to use her inheritance to open a candle shop. However — unsurprisingly — Henley isn't as innocent as she seems; the end of the pilot reveals that her real name is Chloe, which links her to the strange outbursts of the town's sheriff (MC Gainey). Meanwhile, the sheriff's son, Tommy (Geoff Stults), has, of course, some kind of unsavory past that he's trying to leave behind with the help of his wife (Amy Acker) and young daughter (Sophia Ewaniuk).
Though Tommy perhaps gets the most screen time, the "Happy Town" pilot spends so much time establishing the shiny−with−a−vein−of−spooky tone of Haplin that it forgets to appoint a protagonist. Instead, a handful of characters are introduced with only the task of being off−putting. The innkeeper, Dot (Lynne Griffin), is the textbook sweet−but−eerie old lady who really, really doesn't want Henley checking out the third floor. Sam Neill slums it as the stately boarder who intones all of his dialogue, relying on his British accent to do the scaring. John Haplin (Steven Weber), the magnate who owns the bread factory that drives the town's economy, definitely has something up his sleeve, judging by his wild mane of hair and unhinged wife.
In order to make things frightening, the writers throw in everything but the kitchen sink. A strange symbol — a question mark with a halo — is aligned with the Magic Man and then reappears as a tattoo on Henley's shoulder, á la the "single helix" on "Heroes." The sheriff has no memory of his strange visions, which eventually turn violent. And, just in case the audience gets bored, there's even a "Romeo and Juliet"−type love story between Haplin's son and Tommy's daughter's babysitter.
It's hard to care about any of these plotlines, and not just because there's no audience surrogate to latch onto. The writing on the pilot is so laden with clumsy exposition, empty spookiness and weak humor that none of the characters even really talk like humans. Presumably, the exposition will ease up after the first couple episodes, but there's nothing in the pilot that indicates the writers will ever let viewers think for themselves. Even the score, which ramps up every time the sheriff has a vision, seems to tell the audience how to feel.
"Happy Town" may well develop into an interesting mystery when the Magic Man and his (or her) evil plan become clearer. At this point in the season, however, the narrative needs to be distilled and find its footing. To be successful, this show can't simply be every slow−burning mystery series — it has to be unique.
