Apr 13

Written by: Bill Bonfanti
4/13/2009 4:56 PM 

Harper’s Island is a new mystery event on CBS that airs on Thursdays at 10 pm EST and after watching the first episode, I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Harper's Island is not your typical TV show because it is meant to be only 13 episodes long, it is more like a mini –series. The show is about a young couple who are set to be married on Harper’s Island with all of their friends and family present for the celebration. What they don’t know however, is there is a serial killer loose who may or may not be the same serial killer who terrorized the island seven years earlier, even though he is supposedly dead. Every episode characters will be murdered and everyone will be a suspect, until finally the killers identity is revealed in the last episode airing July 2^nd. Harper’s island isn’t all murder and mayhem though; there are plenty of Soap Opera moments mixed in with the killings. It’s like Friday the 13^th meets The O.C.

I was very curious about the concept of the show and the fact that is meant to be only 13 episodes but I certainly didn’t have my hopes up. I figured it would probably be cheesy with bad acting and worse writing. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I really enjoyed the first episode and will definitely tune in every week.  The first episode starts out with the of the bride and groom gathering on a boat ready to leave for on which the wedding is going to take place. We meet Abby Mills (Elaine Cassidy), the groom, Henry Dunn's () best friend. The story behind Abby is that her mother was one of the murder victims on seven years ago and this is her first time returning to Harper’s Island where she will have to deal with her past. As for the rest of the characters, they all seem to have their little secrets that will be revealed as the show progresses. It is your classic horror movie set up, except that the audience has 13 episodes to figure out the identity of the killer versus 90 minutes. If done right (and I think it will be), this could actually turn out to be the incredible “mystery event” that CBS has been promoting the hell out of.

I hope that Harper’s performs well because I’ve thought for a long time that the big 4 networks (sorry CW) could really benefit from showcasing series that are not meant to have a long shelf life. Think about it. Perhaps if ABC had gone into Life on Mars with the idea that it is a 1 season only show and promoted it as such, the ratings would’ve been better. There are plenty of viewers out there who would devote themselves to serialized shows if they knew an ending was in sight.

 

Tags: