When I first heard of Harper’s Island, I didn’t give it much thought. In fact I might have dissed it in a previous post on the TV seasons. Yet let’s take a look at the minds behind the show: Executive producer Jeffrey Bell (Angel, The X Files) and co-exec producers Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik (Jericho). I have to give pause one moment and wonder anew about this show. Some of the cast includes Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), Christopher Gorham (Jake 2.0, Ugly Betty) and Elaine Cassidy. I was also surprised to see Harry Hamlin and Richard Burgi in it. Oh, and Jim Beaver plays the town sheriff. That’s Bobby Singer from Supernatural!
The show doesn’t air until April 9th and runs through to July 2nd, but last Sunday we were treated to the entire first episode of Harper’s Island and I have to say I was actually engaged by the opening set up for the show.
It’s about a wedding party between the awesome hot rich girl Trish Wellington (Katie Cassidy) and a regular Joe kind of guy, Henry (Christopher Gorham). The party is loading up on a boat in Seattle headed to Harper’s Island. From a guys point of view, the show is loaded with some pretty nice eye candy. I think CBS is playing to its older audience.
In the episode, we aren’t that far along when the first murder takes place.
A party goer drops their empty beer bottle into the water. We follow the bottle down and we find ourselves looking at a man tied to the propeller shaft of the boat. He’s been given scuba gear so he can experience this moment, which I find to be a lot of work to kill someone, and yet, it appeals to a certain part of me. Poor guy. Gets himself a role on a new show, and only lasts about a minute!
Anyway, the boat shoves off and no one notices the splotch of red water behind the boat and victim No. 1 is down for the count.
It’s a 13 week series and we’re told that people drop like flies except for the main characters. By the end of the 13 weeks, only a few are left. Meanwhile, we have to ponder who in the wedding party or which island local is the murderer. From the boat murder, I’d think it was a party goer. But that’s just my first wild stab at this.
Despite my original aversion, I want to look at this as a possible mystery show that will keep us guessing about who the killer is and if possible, will keep us interested in the outcome with tangible clues and misdirects. We know we love misdirects. It keeps us on our toes.
Unfortunately, yours truly had to run to catch a train and I missed the panel with Katie Cassidy. Trust me, I’m real unhappy about that, but it was a real surprise treasure of an intro episode. Now we get to start a ‘who’s the murder suspect‘ post!
Note: In my limited exposure to the panel, I did not see mention of Jon Turtletaub (Jericho) at WonderCon, but the CBS website has a video of him extolling the virtues of the show and they have him labeled as the Executive Producer of Harper’s Island. You do the math. This could be cool.
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