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Harper's Island

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63%
Metacritic

Created by
  
Ari Schlossberg

Original language(s)
  
English

No. of episodes
  
13 (list of episodes)

Network
  
CBS

7.5/10
IMDb

65%
Rotten Tomatoes

Country of origin
  
United States

No. of seasons
  
1

Final episode date
  
11 July 2009

Harper's Island wwwgstaticcomtvthumbtvbanners195236p195236

Starring
  
Elaine CassidyChristopher GorhamKatie CassidyCameron RichardsonAdam CampbellC.J. ThomasonJim Beaver

Genres
  
Horror, Miniseries, Mystery, Horror fiction

Cast
  
Katie Cassidy, Christopher Gorham, Elaine Cassidy, Matt Barr, Cameron Richardson

Harper s island one by one theatrical trailer


Harper's Island is an American horror mystery limited series created by Ari Schlossberg for CBS. Schlossberg, Jeffrey Jackson Bell and Jon Turteltaub served as executive producers. The series followed 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 (played by Elaine Cassidy), whose mother was one of several people murdered by John Wakefield seven years prior.

Contents

The series premiered on April 9, 2009. The final two episodes aired on July 11, 2009. By the end of its run, Harper's Island averaged 9.36 million viewers, ranking #50 in Nielsen ratings. The first three episodes aired on Thursdays, but was moved to Saturdays during the week of April 28. Because of this, GlobalTV premiered the following episodes two days prior to the United States.

The series was shot on Bowen Island, an island municipality about two kilometers west of Vancouver, British Columbia, and at the University of British Columbia.

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.

Harper s island trailer


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 LA 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.

Main

  • Elaine Cassidy as Abby Mills, The Good Girl, the groom's best friend.
  • Christopher Gorham as Henry Dunn, The Groom, fiancé of Trish Wellington.
  • Katie Cassidy as Patricia 'Trish' Wellington, The Bride, the radiant bride-to-be.
  • Cameron Richardson as Chloe Carter, The Flirt, one of Trish's bridesmaids.
  • Adam Campbell as Cal Vandeusen, The Outsider, Chloe's boyfriend and a doctor.
  • C.J. Thomason as Jimmy Mance, The Old Flame, a local fisherman.
  • Jim Beaver as Sheriff Charlie Mills, The Sheriff, the sheriff on Harper's Island and Abby's father.

    • Recurring

  • Matt Barr as Christopher "Sully" Sullivan, The Best Man, Henry's best man.
  • Gina Holden as Shea Allen, The Maid of Honor, Trish's big sister and Maid of Honor.
  • David Lewis as Richard Allen, The Brother-in-Law, Shea's husband.
  • Cassandra Sawtell as Madison Allen, The Flower Girl, Shea and Richard's daughter.
  • Claudette Mink as Katherine Wellington, The Stepmother, Trish and Shea's stepmother.
  • Dean Chekvala as J.D. Dunn, The Black Sheep, Henry's brother.
  • Brandon Jay McLaren as Danny Brooks, The College Buddy, a groomsman and Henry's best friend from college.
  • Chris Gauthier as Malcolm Ross, The Hustler, a groomsman.
  • Sean Rogerson as Joel Booth, The Nerd, a groomsman.
  • Amber Borycki as Beth Barrington, The Single Girl, a bridesmaid and Trish's former college roommate.
  • Sarah Smyth as Lucy Daramour, The Socialite, a bridesmaid and one of Trish’s childhood friends.
  • Ben Cotton as Shane Pierce, The Townie, a local fisherman who pretty much hates everyone
  • Anna Mae Routledge as Kelly Seaver, The Outcast, Shane's ex-girlfriend.
  • Ali Liebert as Nikki Bolton, The Biker Chick, Abby's friend who manages The Cannery.
  • Beverly Elliott as Maggie Krell, The Wedding Planner, the manager of The Candlewick Inn.
  • Callum Keith Rennie as John Wakefield, The Legend, the perpetrator of the 2001 murders.

    • Guest stars

  • Richard Burgi as Thomas Wellington, The Father of the Bride, real estate mogul and Trish and Shea's father.
  • Victor Webster as Hunter Jennings, The Other Man, Trish's ex-college boyfriend
  • Harry Hamlin as "Uncle" Marty Dunn, The Uncle, Henry and J.D.'s uncle and surrogate father.

    • Minor

  • Dean Wray as Cole Harkin, The Survivor, the survivor of the 2001 murders and the sheriff's former deputy.
  • Terrence Kelly as Reverend Fain, The Preacher, the priest of the church.
  • Aaron Pearl as Deputy Garrett, The Guard, the sheriff's other deputy and jail guard.
  • Nicholas Carella as Patrick Lillis, The Deputy, the sheriff's deputy.
  • Sarah-Jane Redmond as Sarah Mills, The Mother, mother of Abby and wife of the sheriff, one of the victims of the 2001 murders.
  • Michael Rogers as Darryl Riggens, The State Cop, a police officer from Seattle.
  • Julia Anderson as Tyra Coulter, The Rookie, a police officer from Seattle who is new to the force.
  • Jay Brazeau as Ike Campbell, The Doctor, a medical examiner.
  • Clint Carleton as Ben Wellington, The Cousin, Trish and Shea's cousin and Thomas' nephew.

    • 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 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.

    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 extremely underwhelming, 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 GlobalTV. 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 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'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. 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. Although the show was shot in HD, no Blu-ray Disc version of the show has been announced. The DVD set was released on February 8, 2010, for Region 2, and was released on March 4, 2010, for Region 4.

    Streaming

    The entire series was available on Netflix 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.

    References

    Harper's Island Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA