Variety's Michael Schneider tweets that ABC's Happy Town will be pulled from the schedule after this week's episode and sent to burn off its remaining 5 episodes in the summer, beginning on June 2.
No surprise there. Its ratings started badly and got worse.
Update: Here is the ABC press release:
** EPISODE DATE CHANGE **
RACHEL CONROY’S STARTLING DISAPPEARANCE EVOKES NEW FEARS THAT
THE MAGIC MAN IS BACK TO MENACE HAPLIN, ON ABC’S “HAPPY TOWN”
“Slight of Hand” – When Rachel Conroy mysteriously vanishes, an eerie cloud settles over Haplin, as clues point to the return of the elusive Magic Man. Surprisingly, Tommy finds an unlikely ally while desperately searching for his wife. Meanwhile, Handsome Dan announces he has to leave Haplin, then unexpectedly turns up elsewhere. Henley manages to get her stolen property back from Greggy Stiviletto and uses it to blackmail a member of Haplin’s powerful “first” family. Finally, Tommy investigates some gruesome evidence that ironically could mean good news for many of Haplin’s families, on “Happy Town,” WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
Editor’s Note: This program was originally scheduled for Wednesday, May 19, but was replaced by “PRIMETIME: What Would You Do?.” It will now air on Wednesday, June 2, with the remaining four episodes of “Happy Town” airing on consecutive Wednesdays through June 30.
“Happy Town” stars Geoff Stults as Tommy Conroy, Sam Neill as Merritt Grieves, Lauren German as Henley Boone, Steven Weber as John Haplin, Amy Acker as Rachel Conroy, Sarah Gadon as Georgia Bravin, Robert Wisdom as Roger Hobbs, Jay Paulson as Eli “Root Beer” Rogers and Ben Schnetzer as Andrew Haplin.
Guest starring in “Slight of Hand” are Frances Conroy as Peggy Haplin, M.C. Gainey as Sheriff Griffin Conroy, Abraham Benrubi as Big Dave Duncan, Warren Christie as Greggy Stiviletto, Peter Outerbridge as Handsome Dan Farmer, Stephen McHattie as Carl Bravin, Sophia Ewaniuk as Emma Conroy, Marcia Bennett as Rose Perkins, Deborah Grover as Joanie Jenkins, Diane Gordon as Esther Klapman, Anna Ferguson as Irene Vaughn, Joanna Douglas as Officer Shell Jenkins, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos as Lincoln Stiviletto, Steve Arbuckle as Baby Boy Stiviletto, Matt Hopkins as Womper Stiviletto, Kedar as Kelvin Tolliver, Barry Flatman as Robert Ward, Arlene Mazerolle as Sarah Ward, Andrew Scorer as Levon, Greg Bryk as Dr. Pete, Marlee Otto as Lauryn Ward, Kris Saric as officer, James Kirchner as foreman, Natasha Priest as Bready worker number one and Jacob Neayem as Bready worker number two.
“Slight of Hand” was written by Meredith Averill and directed by Darnell Martin.
I wonder what they will replace it with. I'm not sure that they really have anything to use as filler that will do much better, unless they move What Would You Do?
No surprise here, although I can't help but wonder why they even bothered to pull it at all, with the upfronts on Sunday.
ABC press release added, at least the first week will be WWYD, no word on future weeks.
Check the editor's note.
Well, that was quick.
I'm so smart!
I'll play grammar nazi here: Its ratings, not it's.
There are only 4 Happy Town episodes left? That means a what, 6-7 episode run? Might as well not have done it at all…
Not a shocker. It's sweeps now and they can't keep this on the air with those kinds of numbers. I've watched the 1st 2 episodes and it isn't as horrible as alot of people make it out to be. With the obvious comparisons to Twin Peaks, I think alot of people were already looking for reasons to hate it right off the bat. Anyways, I will watch the burnoff.
Gee Happy Town not only copied Harpers Island's basic premise, but also its low ratings and quick deletion from the regular schedule.
I knew going into this show that it wouldn't last over 8 episodes, but I was hoping it would play out like an interesting mini-series.
I hope ABC doesn't do what they did with Defying Gravity. Say they'll burn it off in the summer and never actually do that.
The bird attack made me remove it from my DVR. It was beyond cheesy and I'll watch anything (loved Young Americans and Lone Gunmen). That's an indicator that it was going to crash and burn.
Next week is WWYD. Following week was already scheduled TRANSFORMERS movie
It's back the week after
That's a nice crystal ball you have there. Can you ask it about this week's lottery numbers, too?
i threw in the towel after the first episode, when i was introduced to too many quirky yet indistinctly quirky characters that i couldn't follow along–admittedly i was a bit drowsy during my time-shifted TiVo viewing.
i followed Harper's Island through the end. it got better once it shifted nights, but these type of serialized shows need to grab and hold viewers. i think flashforward suffered a similar slow ramp-up from which it can't recover lost viewers
incidentally, i'm only watching twin peaks now on Crime&Investigation network
any supernatural or horror elements to this show? if so i might give it a shot. i tried harper's island, but aside from jim beaver and that melrose place gal, there was nothing going for that mini.
Glad I gave up on that mid way through the first episode.
I went in wanting to like this show because the genre appeals to me and I love Amy Acker. By the 15 minute mark I was shaking my head over the ridiculous writting. I gave it another episode because pilots are rarely the best the show has to offer, but the second episode may have been worse then the first one. This is a mercy killing, the show needs to go and the poor actors released to find something else. Anything even community theater would be an improvement.
They will probably end up airing it online
At this point repeats of the half-hour comedies or a drama series would do equal if not a tad better in the ratings.
I'm actually disappointed by this. I actually like the show.