MovieChat Forums > Happy Town (2010) Discussion > Stupid show got what it deserved.

Stupid show got what it deserved.

posted 10 years ago by wolfgangvonposakilla
5 replies | jump to latest

I really detest the concept that goes behind these sort of shows. This board is rife people claiming that: "If it wasn't cancelled it was going to be awesome".

Really? Do you really believe that?

When they go about creating this sort of mystery show, the DO NOT use the following method: To first concieve the entire overarching storyline, with a clear sensable explanation to every question, working out the plotholes and then chopping it up into seasons and releasing it.

What they are doing is this: deliberately bombarding the viewer with questions and creating an weird atmosphere for no other sake than the weirdness itself. When they catched enough viewers in their nets, ONLY THEN do the creators start thinking about how to sort out the mess they created and turn it into a story, usually with disastrous results.

The reason this failed is that people saw it for what it was - the somanieth attempt at recreating the succes of Lost - and they went: " nope, not getting fooled again".

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wolfgangvonposakilla 10 years ago

Lost was in many ways an epic show: great production value, good actors/acting, beautiful locations/cool sets, very suspensfull, exciting and fun (though at times incredibly dull too but I guess the same can be said for nearly every long running drama)

But while in the end, all the little questions were answered and all the pieces of the puzzle fit more or less, the big end explanation/reveal was for me and many others very underwhelming. The writers basically gave us no more than what we started with: All the weird stuff happened because...unique electromagnetic energy... Oh and deities and purgatory and other vague stuff. Had they envisioned the end before even starting to film episode 1 this might not have happened.

So even though lost was a major succes it also sort of failed at the same time as the moment it ended it had polarized it's viewers: One half thought afterwards it was one of the best shows ever, those people are now having a hard time finding something that can follow in it's footsteps. And the other half thought afterwards it was crap and swore never to watch a mystery/similar show ever again.

[–] DusterJ79 10 years ago

the show failed because American's are stupid, bottom line end of story, they'd rather tune in and watch some garbage reality show like America's Got Talent, or American Idol than watch a show that requires them to use the inches of empty space between their ears.

My buddy summed it up best.... "Dude, I just don't understand what's going on here. How come this is happening."

The fact is you're supposed to watch the show and talk about it, you're supposed to want to see what happens next, I hate television shows that try to wrap up all their storylines in a single episode.

Was the show trying to present a lot of questions.. yes, was the show supposed to answer all those questions in the first 6 or 7 episodes... no, that wasn't what the show was all about.

Nobody knows if it could have been good or bad because it wasn't given a real chance, it was canceled mid season. Oh well, lost opportunity because American's are mindless drones who think anything other than reality (cough scripted) television is exciting..

[–] Fusion72 10 years ago

the show failed because American's are stupid

The show is made and commissioned by Americans for presumably American audiences. They're not stupid. 'Happy Town' has it's faults, that on it's own, didn't merit a decent audience. Even those that watched it, including myself, can see the show was inconsistent.

[–] matt197981 10 years ago

This show was a bad Twin Peaks ripoff I couldn't make it past the first episode. Glad the real Twin Peaks is coming back