Not so happy in Happy Town

The trailer looked tempting but viewers haven’t taken to Happy Town, the drama mystery featuring Sam Neill and Frances Conroy on ABC in the US.

ABC is pulling it from its schedule after just two episodes, then burn off the remaining five episodes in summer.

Reviews weren’t so fab either:

LA Times said:
There are legitimately chilling, funny and suspenseful moments in the early episodes of “Happy Town,” but the many fine performances are battered to death by a welter of plot twists and cheesy revelations that come speeding out of the sky like those murderous crows in “The Birds.” And, in case you were wondering, there is a sinister bird stalking Haplin. Whether it’s channeling Hitchcock or “The Omen” is hard to tell, but between the magic man, the widows, the Stiviletto brothers and the bird, “Happy Town” quickly becomes more Mad magazine than “Twin Peaks.”

Hollywood Reporter said:
“Town’s” premise remains an enigma at the end of its first episode; there are a lot of introductions to be made and not so much time for plot. Is the bogeyman called “The Magic Man” returning? What’s on the forbidden third floor of the boardinghouse? And who is Chloe, a name so powerful the sheriff (whose station house is quite well-staffed for a town with no crime) babbles it all day before doing something unspeakable to himself? But the most confusing aspect of the series is its tone thus far. Perhaps viewers are meant to sympathize with the nice townfolk one minute, then giggle adoringly at phrases like “you’re cuter than a mouse’s pocketbook” the next, but let’s hope not. The minute “Town” demands an audience that gets scared along with the locals, all is lost. But so long as we get to dine on the same scenes Neill is chewing on, then count me in for dinner.

Source: Hollywood Reporter