★★★★★ 0/5

Harper’s Island

Great television murder mysteries enthral us. This is a kind of small screen soapie version of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

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harpers_islandGreat television murder mysteries enthral us: Twin Peaks, the “Who Shot JR?” episode of Dallas – even “Who Shot Mr Burns?” endure as shining whodunits. The newest take on the genre, Harper’s Island, is really nothing so new at all, but thankfully it kinda knows it. Set on an island “37 miles from Seattle” this is a short-run, 13 episode drama. Each week a character is extracted. By the end of the series we’ll learn who the dastardly killer is, and effectively, it will be over. In this age of commitment to serialised television at least we know what we’re in for.

This mystery revolves around guests gathered for a wedding. If memory serves me correctly, that’s the same premise of the soapie Out of the Blue at Manly Beach. But with its bigger budgets, Harper’s Island is looking to be an unabashed homage to the horror genre. This is a kind of small screen soapie version of I Know What You Did Last Summer. There are plenty of pretty 20-somethings with jealousies, bar brawls and indiscretions. Everyone is both potential victim and suspect here, harbouring dark secrets with cyber- stalking thrown in to boot (do not attempt this at home).

In principal roles are Katie Cassidy (Supernatural) who is due to marry Christopher Gorham, better known as Ugly Betty’s boyfriend, Henry. Even Harry Hamlin makes a guest appearance. There’re plenty of others who look like they’ve just walked off the set of The Bold and the Beautiful or Passions too.

The look of the series is glamorously dark, with green forests, old timber mansions and designer wardrobe. Not quite The Shining or Twin Peaks but it tries… It also doesn’t come close with its level of tension either, with melodramatic and laboured dialogue. They even use the old cliché line, “Let’s get out of here!” which would be awfully fun if the drama ramped up its sense of cheek.

That’s the main problem with the first episode – despite the fun idea it doesn’t go far enough. The two deaths this week are inventively staged. One is worthy of being downright squeamish. You can’t help but wish it got to its MA15+ murders a little faster. B-grade TV that aspires to kitsch? Almost.

Still, it’s certainly different from most of the other offerings around.

3_starsHarper’s Island premieres 9.40pm Sunday on TEN.

46 Responses

  2. Can anyone plz tell me what has happened to Harpers Island in perth? We have had two great episodes and now The Biggest Loser is on. Have they canned it or just canged the day?

  3. “9.40pm Sunday on TEN” not in the ACT!! Biggest loser USA is what’s on our program!

    I’m gonna be very dissapointed if they’ve dropped it two episodes in!!

  4. How come in Perth we have only had 2 episodes and now they are advertising The Biggest Loser USA what the hell is going on>?
    they had better not can this Harpers Ferry I love it already

  6. I liked this last night. It was incredibly cheesy and full of pretty much every horror cliche there is… but damn was it fun. Can’t wait to see who’s the next to go.

  7. Well, maybe not the success they thought it would be:

    “”Harper’s Island: What Happened to the CBS Mystery Show? Harper’s Island : CBS’ ratings-challenged murder mystery series has been put on hiatus for next weekend. The network is replacing Harper’s Island with a rerun of the popular Mentalist series.

    For now, it looks like Island will return the following Saturday night on May 23rd in its (now) regular timeslot. Could this be a bad omen that CBS won’t end up airing all of the remaining eight episodes? Possibly. The show’s first Saturday outing attracted just 4.65 million viewers and a 1.0/3 rating share of the 18-49 demographic. That’s about what the network usually gets for its Saturday night repeats. One would hope that the network would just go ahead and let the season finish. Will the show be back next year with another mystery? Almost certainly not.

    Note: We got our dates mixed up and this post originally indicated that tonight’s episode would be missing. It’s been updated to reflect the correct dates. Sorry for the confusion. “”

  8. @ Burt
    They did say if it was a success they’d do a similar series next year with different story and characters, but close-ended.

    Maybe they shouldn’t advertise the fact that it’s limited run to the US audiences, they aren’t used to that sort of thing.

  9. yeah i awlays know what u did last summer really sucked!!! but this show looks like i still know what you did last summer, which i loved!! so cant wait!

  13. I just realized Harpers is going up against Castle on 7, starting a week apart but this show has 13 ep v 10 for Castle, its going to be an interesting race.

    Guess I’ll have to record on and watch the other…

  15. The show is rating poorly for the CBS network in the US, so it definitely will be a one off show, but if its US ratings were huge, I’m sure they’d have found a way to continue it.

  17. I love the idea of fixed short run series, so have been watching Harper’s and enjoying it a lot. If only they’d done that with Prison Break…

  18. omg i get goose bumps just watching the promos on TEN. my fav movies in the whole world are i know what you did last summer, and i still know what you did last summer. the 3rd one was completely crap so i just pretend it doesnt exist 😀

  20. i wasn’t going to watch it but when i saw it has christopher gorham, katie cassidy and jim beaver i changed my mind, plus being a small commitment does make it easier.

  23. Sounds like it has much in common with Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” to use the more politically correct title.

  25. I like shows that have a fixed running time, lets them tell the story how they want to without being restricted by the network then forced to tack on ‘filler’ eps to make up the 22 ep season.

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