Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I wanted to watch this after hearing comparisons to last year's campy (yet extremely entertaining) Harper's Island. Apart from beginning with a very gruesome death, the similarities end there. Where Harper's Island took delight in murdering its 30 head-strong cast and whittling it down to a mere handful by the end of its run, Happy Town takes a different route dissecting town-life and its many oddities. Case in point - the murderer is revealed in episode 2. This opening murder opens hundreds of threads and tensions running throughout the town. We have the town sheriff going doolally from chasing a previous psychopath who kidnapped one child each year for half a decade and then vanished along with the six children; the first lady and her dynasty threatening and manipulating townsfolk to try and find a child who went missing; a family of hicks who seem to never cause trouble so much as be in the wrong place at the wrong time; a house full of old ladies who calmly gossip about murder before moving on to the more interesting topic of the mysterious British man living on the second floor. The mythology of the Magic Man, the name of the perpetrator who kidnapped all those children, is slowly revealed throughout the 8 episodes all the while important things such as blackmail, sex, murder, drugs and rebellion occur besides other important things such as pizza dough, famous movie lines and cinnamon. The show has so many of those Twin Peak like moments - strange, totally irrelevant, relevant moments that stick more than the revelations going on around this massive cast of characters. The bizarre gallery of humans assembled in Haplin is quite an exciting array of caricatures, clichés and stereotypes. That is probably the show's biggest problem - too many characters. In the first episode, we're introduced to no less than 15 major characters and a further 5 in the next episode. It leaves you wondering who is doing what, who's actually important and trying to remember names. Sadly, it doesn't work too well. Not only have they got too many main characters but the script suffers from some truly boring dialogue which is a shame when the cast is quite fantastic. A lot of the cast is underused (Rachel Conroy, Amy Acker, has about one line in the first two episode and Peggy Hanlin, Francis Conroy, barely gets to do more than look dotty) so when major events occur, you aren't that invested in the outcome. The clunky manner that the conversations run along that are supposed to further the plot leaves you often confused and bored. One thing the show does well is imagine the town of Haplin. It has its own geography and language and when deputes cover up crimes for their friends or old women prevent young girls leaving town, you can believe that it could happen. Stand-out characters include; "Handsome" Dan, a psychotic cop hell-bent on catching the magic man out; Merrick Grieves, Sam Neill's very stiff Brit; Henley Boone, the new girl in town who is keeping her cards close to her chest. I struggled through the 8 episodes to see if it would ramp up any sort of suspense or display a sense of immediacy like that of Harper's Island but unfortunately, it remained rather one track to the end.

One of the great things about this series is the depth of the plot. Sure, there is plenty of character development and great acting from the cast but this would have been moot if not for the dark underbelly the town of Haplin has. After seeing the first 7 episodes I am happy to say that I can't wait to see more, which is sadly something I cannot say for most of the new shows coming out this season. My favorite characters are Farmer and Grieves, two intriguing dude with their own unique back-story. Their are other characters that offer their own wackiness, but these two help drive the plot forward. In this sense these two are great tools for the writers, allowing the story to move forward and other characters to learn more about what is going on. One of my only annoyances in this story is how bad the police of Haplin are. Sure, it is a small town, but you'd hope that the cops would be competent enough not to compromise a crime scene and corrupt evidence. Perhaps it is more a reflection on the nature of small-towns, but I think I'd prefer to move out if the police were as incompetent as those guys. In spite of this, it does add a certain amount of comedy to the story. In conclusion, I love this series because of the numerous mysteries yet undiscovered. It is these mysteries that give the story life and a place for the series to go after the first season is over.

I have never been one to judge a TV show until I've watched at least three or four episodes. I like the quirky characters in Happy Town, and the acting is good. I see potential here and intend to keep watching it just in case it turns out to be "must see TV." I don't trust many reviewers, including Matt Roush at TV Guide. He tends to jump to quick conclusions that make you decide not to watch the show, and then, all of a sudden, six episodes later, he says it's "starting to pick up," and then he's raving about it, and I've missed the beginning episodes.He's done this with a couple of shows and I'm not going to trust him anymore. This time, I'll judge on my own, and now that some shows are moving toward their season finales, I'll watch this one online.It may not ever rise to Twin Peaks level, but it IS quirky. Give it a chance. Of course, since I'm 60 years old, I tend to be more easily impressed than the younger folk. >grin<

I got a sneak peak at the first two episodes of this show at a friend's house (who worked on the show) and it's really great. It's very different from the original 2 hour pilot from May that other people have mentioned. The characters are quirky and fun, and the world they set up is an interesting one that definitely balances mystery with the intrigue of small town politics, and leaves a lot of room to grow in future episodes.Geoff Stults is great as Tommy, and all the other characters are compelling to watch, especially Sam Neil as Merritt Grieves, and the guy who plays Dan Farmer (Peter Outerbridge). Lauren German is lovely as Henley (the new girl in town), and Steven Weber and Frances Conroy are wonderfully menacing as the heads of the town-founding Haplin family.Saying it's 'the next Twin Peaks' sets an impossibly high bar, but it really does look like a worthy successor and will be a lot of fun to watch. I can't wait to see the rest of the episodes!