I know Harper's Island has been panned by everyone from television critics to deranged psychopathic killers with a penchant for islands, but I don't care. For eleven weeks now, I've followed along on this silly ride, and I've been enjoying the hell out of it. It's the horror-mystery aspect of it. Sure, I'm a little disappointed that the killer (so far) isn't one of the main cast members, but I'm having fun watching the cast get taken out "one by one," as creepy-little-girl says each week in the intro.
I was always a huge fan of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None. Plus, I'm a sucker for a long-form story in television. I think this is one of those things television has over the movies. You can't take thirteen hours to tell a mystery in the theaters. That's one of the reasons I'm never as impressed with the done-in-one shows. You have this format that allows for these massively detailed long stories so why not use it? I don't care if you don't think Americans have the attention span for it; I do. And aren't you supposed to be programming for me?
CBS is moving their new murder-mystery series Harper's Island to Saturday nights. Guess the ratings just weren't what the network wanted, so starting next week the show will air on the night of reruns and movies. But don't worry that this is a sign that the show will vanish from the schedule altogether. This was created as a limited-run series and CBS says they'll show all of the episodes, just on another night (though I wouldn't bet on a second season).
I know what these networks are doing. It's all part of their master plan to make Saturday nights a "must-see" night of television again, an attempt to recapture of the glory years of shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Carol Burnett Show, and The Bob Newhart Show. Someday all of the best show will be on Saturday nights and we'll be home in our Slankets watching them.
Sure, sometimes recaps can be unnecessary, but sometimes they're actually welcome, especially if you missed just an episode or two and you want to get caught up. Below is a summary of what has happened so far on CBS' Harper's Island, which airs tonight at 10. It's actually a good little recap for those of us who missed the first two episodes (of course, the full episodes are available too). Catch up before there are so many episodes you say to yourself, "eh, I don't have time to watch this!."
When Ugly Bettymoved production to NYC, not everyone made the jump to the east coast. Most notably, Christopher Gorham, who played Betty's geeky-hot boyfriend, Henry, left the show. However, Michael Ausiello is reporting that Gorham, who has been seen recently on Harper's Island, is reprising his UB role this season.
As Betty fans know, our titular heroine has moved on to her Yeti classmate Matt (Daniel Eric Gold). Since Betty can't seem to focus on one guy at a time, Henry of course has to come back to New York. What confuses me about this entire storyline is that it seems very... familiar.
(S01E01) Look, I'm going to just cut to the chase: You should be watching this show. Well, let me add a caveat to that. If you don't mind watching people get eviscerated, you should be watching this show. I put this on my DVR because it was new, but I didn't know much about it. Just watching the pilot, though, has got me totally hooked.
I love horror movies, and this is basically a thirteen-episode horror movie. It doesn't pull any punches either. Harper's Island isn't like most TV shows, where minor characters get killed off and the main cast always manages to survive: at least one character will be killed off each week. In the pilot episode, we had two deaths. Suffice it to say, they did not go quietly in their sleep.
Warning: Spoilers about who dies in the pilot are ahead.
I know Harper's Island has been panned by everyone from television critics to deranged psychopathic killers with a penchant for islands, but I don't care. For eleven weeks now, I've followed along on this silly ride, and I've been enjoying the hell out of it. It's the horror-mystery aspect of it. Sure, I'm a little disappointed that the killer (so far) isn't one of the main cast members, but I'm having fun watching the cast get taken out "one by one," as creepy-little-girl says each week in the intro.
At 8, NBC has a new Kings.
HBO2 has a True Blood marathon all night.
CSPAN2 has new episodes of Book TV all night.
FOX has the Sprint Cup: Southern 500 race all night.
Oh, fans of this show are going to be ticked.
Sci-Fi has a Eureka marathon all night.
When 
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