''Harper's Island'' is an American
horror mystery limited series created by Ari Schlossberg for
CBS. Schlossberg,
Jeffrey Jackson Bell and
Jon Turteltaub
Jonathan Charles Turteltaub (born August 8, 1963) is an American film director, writer and producer.
Early life, family and education
Turteltaub was born on August 8, 1963, in New York City, one of two children born to comedy writer Saul Turtel ...
served as executive producers. The series features an
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast to the po ...
led by
Elaine Cassidy alongside
Christopher Gorham,
Katie Cassidy,
Cameron Richardson,
Adam Campbell,
C.J. Thomason, and
Jim Beaver. The plot follows a group of family and friends that travel to the titular locale for a destination wedding, only to learn that there is a killer among them. At the center of the mystery is Abby Mills (Elaine Cassidy), whose mother was one of several people murdered by John Wakefield seven years prior.
The series premiered on April 9, 2009, and was marketed as a thirteen-week limited event. The final two episodes aired on July 11. By the end of its run, ''Harper's Island'' averaged 9.36 million viewers, ranking #50 in
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. The first three episodes aired on Thursdays, but was moved to Saturdays during the week of April 28. Because of this,
Global Television Network
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...
premiered the following episodes two days prior to the United States.
The series was initially intended to be an
anthology series
An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...
featuring a new setting and characters in the second season. However, on July 14, 2009, CBS cancelled the series after one season. The show gained a strong cult following since its release, with some critics and fans noting it as being ahead of its time.
Plot
The show takes place on Harper's Island, where John Wakefield went on a killing spree and murdered a number of people before supposedly being killed by the island sheriff, Charlie Mills. One of the victims was the sheriff's wife. After her death, Sheriff Mills sends their daughter, Abby, to live with family in L.A. and she hasn't returned since. After 7 years, Abby is finally returning to the island for her best friend Henry's wedding, but now the killing starts again and everyone is a suspect. The guests manage to unlock secrets of the island and of Wakefield as the series progresses.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Elaine Cassidy as Abby Mills, the groom's best friend
*
Christopher Gorham as Henry Dunn, fiancé of Trish Wellington
*
Katie Cassidy as Patricia 'Trish' Wellington, the radiant bride-to-be
*
Gina Holden as Shea Allen, Trish's big sister and
Maid of Honor
*
Cameron Richardson as Chloe Carter, one of Trish's bridesmaids
*
Adam Campbell as Cal Vandeusen, Chloe's boyfriend and a doctor
*
Matt Barr as Christopher "Sully" Sullivan, Henry's best man
*
C.J. Thomason as Jimmy Mance, a local fisherman and Abby's high school sweetheart
*
Jim Beaver as Sheriff Charlie Mills, the sheriff on Harper's Island and Abby's father
Recurring
*
Richard Burgi as Thomas Wellington, real estate mogul and Trish and Shea's father
*
Victor Webster as Hunter Jennings, Trish's ex-college boyfriend
* Dean Chekvala as J.D. Dunn, Henry's brother
*
Harry Hamlin as "Uncle" Marty Dunn, Henry and J.D.'s uncle and surrogate father
*
David Lewis as Richard Allen, Shea's husband
* Cassandra Sawtell as Madison Allen, Shea and Richard's daughter
*
Claudette Mink as Katherine Wellington, Trish and Shea's stepmother
*
Brandon Jay McLaren as Danny Brooks, a groomsman and Henry's best friend from college
*
Chris Gauthier as Malcolm Ross, a groomsman
*
Sean Rogerson as Joel Booth, a groomsman
* Amber Borycki as Beth Barrington, a bridesmaid and Trish's former college roommate
*
Sarah Smyth as Lucy Daramour, a bridesmaid and one of Trish's childhood friends
*
Ben Cotton as Shane Pierce, a local fisherman who pretty much hates everyone
*
Anna Mae Routledge as Kelly Seaver, Shane's ex-girlfriend
*
Ali Liebert as Nikki Bolton, Abby's friend who manages The Cannery
* Beverly Elliott as Maggie Krell, the manager of The Candlewick Inn
*
Callum Keith Rennie
Callum Keith Rennie (born 14 September 1960) is a Canadian actor, based in British Columbia. His breakthrough role was as punk rocker Billy Tallent in the music mockumentary ''Hard Core Logo'' (1996), followed by a starring role as Det. Stanle ...
as John Wakefield, the perpetrator of the 2001 murders
Guest
*
Julia Anderson as Tyra Coulter, a police officer from Seattle who is new to the force
*
Jay Brazeau as Ike Campbell, a medical examiner
* Nicholas Carella as Patrick Lillis, the sheriff's deputy
* Clint Carleton as Ben Wellington, Trish and Shea's cousin and Thomas' nephew
* Chilton Crane as Karena Fox, a local
psychic medium
* Terrence Kelly as Reverend Fain, the priest of the church
*
Melanie Merkosky as Robin Matthews, newly hired journalist and main character of the ''Harper's Globe'' online series
*
Maxine Miller as Julia Mitchell, a local elderly woman
* Aaron Pearl as Deputy Garrett, the sheriff's other deputy and jail guard
*
Sarah-Jane Redmond as Sarah Mills, mother of Abby and wife of the sheriff, one of the victims of the 2001 murders
*
Michael Rogers as Darryl Riggens, a police officer from Seattle
* Dean Wray as Cole Harkin, the survivor of the 2001 murders and the sheriff's former deputy
Development
In March 2008, CBS ordered a 15-minute pilot presentation of the project. In May 2008, the show was retooled, with
Jeffrey Bell coming on board as
showrunner and
Jon Turteltaub
Jonathan Charles Turteltaub (born August 8, 1963) is an American film director, writer and producer.
Early life, family and education
Turteltaub was born on August 8, 1963, in New York City, one of two children born to comedy writer Saul Turtel ...
as an executive producer. Schlossberg remained on board as a co-executive producer along with Karim Zriek and Dan Shotz.
Bell subsequently rewrote the first episode, which Jon Turteltaub would direct. During the retooling process, six of the pilot presentation's fifteen original cast members were replaced, including
Ryan Merriman (Henry Dunn),
Samantha Noble (Trish Wellington),
Bill Dow (Sheriff Mills) and
Bill Pullman (Uncle Marty). The roles of Thomas Wellington and Hunter Jennings were also recast.
Actors who remained with the show from pilot-presentation to the aired television pilot include
Elaine Cassidy,
Cameron Richardson,
Adam Campbell,
C.J. Thomason,
Matt Barr, Cassandra Sawtell,
Brandon Jay McLaren,
Chris Gauthier and Sean Rogerson. The series was shot on
Bowen Island, an island municipality about two kilometers west of
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, and at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
.
The actors and actresses were not told about their characters' deaths until the day that each script was given. The only two actors to know the length of their contracts were
Richard Burgi, as his death was seen as a major turning point in the series, and
Harry Hamlin, as his contract was for a single episode.
Episodes
Ratings
Despite falling ratings, CBS aired all ''Harper's Island'' episodes, although the show was moved from its original night and time to Saturdays. At the end of the 2008-2009 television season the show ranged at #50 being viewed in approximately 9,360,000 homes in North America.
In Australia, ''Harper's Island'' ratings were very low, being beaten by competing shows on other networks. Throughout its run, the series alternated times slots. In Canada, the show continued to air Thursday nights on
Global Television Network
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...
. In Denmark, ''Harper's Island'' was moved after episode 5 from Thursdays at 10:50 pm to around midnight. In Ireland the show stayed on its original Monday night airing at 10:00 pm. In the United Kingdom, the show's ratings started off under average but as the series progressed it became the
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...
channel's number one show on Sundays, and therefore maintained the 9:00 pm slot. In Finland, the program was aired at 9:00 pm during the whole season. The series has been aired multiple times on
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
's
RTM channel
tv2, every Wednesday and Thursday nights airing at midnight.
''Harper's Globe''
''Harper's Globe'' is a social
web series, designed to complement ''Harper's Island''. The series is created by
EQAL (creators of ''
lonelygirl15'', ''
KateModern'', ''
LG15: The Resistance'') and
CBS Interactive
Paramount Streaming (formerly CBS Digital Media, CBS Interactive, and ViacomCBS Streaming) is a division of Paramount Global that oversees the company's video streaming technology and direct-to-consumer services; including Pluto TV and Paramo ...
. The show premiered its weekly episodes on March 18, 2009, and ran for a total of sixteen weeks. It stars
Melanie Merkosky, who played the character Jennie in ''lonelygirl15''.
Creator Miles Beckett says of the series, "The story of ''Harper's Globe'' is about a girl named Robin, with a very mysterious past, who's gone to Harper's Island to work for the newspaper, Harper's Globe, and to digitize articles from the newspaper and to create a community online for the Harper's Globe newspaper and the citizens of Harper's Island. And then she gets pulled into the story as it begins to unfold on the island."
The character Ben, who was the first character to die in ''Harper's Island'', was first seen in a ''Harper's Globe'' episode. The series also features appearances by Harper's Island characters Sheriff Mills, Nikki Bolton, Maggie Krell and John Wakefield.
Home media
On September 8, 2009,
CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by
Paramount) released ''Harper's Island: The DVD Edition'', a complete series box set on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Special features included audio commentaries on four episodes, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, CBS on-air promos, and the complete ''Harper's Globe'' webisodes. The DVD set was released on February 8, 2010, for Region 2, and released on March 4, 2010, for Region 4. The series received its first Blu-Ray release on November 18, 2024 from Via Vision Entertainment.
Streaming
The entire series was available on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
between summer 2014 and July 1, 2015, when it was removed from the service after the Netflix license had expired. The show became available on
Amazon Video, free for Amazon Prime members, otherwise available for purchase.
The series is also available on
Pluto TV and on
The CW
The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
's free streaming platform, CW Seed. It is also available on
BBC iPlayer in the UK.
References
External links
*
''Harper's Island''at
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
''Harper's Island''{Dead link, date=May 2024 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes at
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
2000s American drama television series
2009 American television series debuts
2009 American television series endings
2000s American television miniseries
American English-language television shows
Serial drama television series
Slasher television series
2000s American horror television series
2000s American mystery television series
Television shows set in Washington (state)
Television series about fictional serial killers
Television series by CBS Studios
Television shows filmed in Vancouver
Mystery drama web series
CBS television dramas