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. The first three episodes aired on Thursdays, but was moved to Saturdays during the week of April 28. Because of this, Global Television Network premiered the following episodes two days prior to the United States.
The series was initially intended to be an anthology series featuring a new setting and characters in the second season. However, on July 14, 2009, CBS cancelled the series after one season.[7] The show gained a strong cult following since its release, with some critics and fans noting it as being ahead of its time.[1][5][8]
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.
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 as an executive producer. Schlossberg remained on board as a co-executive producer along with Karim Zriek and Dan Shotz.[15]
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.[16]
The actors and actresses were not told about their characters' deaths until the day that each script was given.[17] 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,[18] and Harry Hamlin, as his contract was for a single episode.[19]
In 2003, John Wakefield murdered six people on Harper's Island off the coast of Seattle. Seven years later, guests gather on the ferry to Harper's Island for the wedding of Henry Dunn and Trish Wellington. Trish's cousin, Ben Wellington, is missing, but they decide to go anyway. Unbeknownst to those on board, Ben has been tied to the drive shaft of the boat and is dismembered by the propeller when the engine starts. On the voyage to the Island, Henry and his life-long best friend, Abby Mills, discuss her concerns about the trip; her mother was one of the victims John Wakefield murdered seven years earlier. Also among the wedding guests is Henry's Uncle Marty who is secretly traveling with $250,000 and a gun. The party arrives at The Candlewick Inn and Abby reacquaints herself with her old surroundings. Hunter Jennings, Trish's ex-boyfriend, arrives in secret on the Island per Mr. Wellington's summons, intending to break up Trish's marriage to Henry. Uncle Marty confronts Mr. Wellington about these plans and his treatment of Henry. While out for a walk later, Marty falls through a footbridge and is cut in half by an unknown killer. Once the evening winds down, Abby returns to her room to find a newspaper article taped to her bathroom mirror about her mother's murder at the hands of John Wakefield.
While out for a run, Abby is startled by her ex-boyfriend, Jimmy, and another Harper's Island local, Shane, who are out hunting deer. Trish meets with Hunter again and reaffirms her intention of marrying Henry. Meanwhile, the Reverend Fain is caught in a rope trap and decapitated in the woods by an unknown assassin. A festive scavenger hunt begins at the Candlewick and Abby catches up with Kelly, another local whose mother was murdered by John Wakefield. Trish confides in Lucy that Hunter is on the island and that she doesn't know what to do. In an effort to thwart Sully's advances on Chloe, Cal ventures out alone in the woods to find them and he is caught in a rope trap. Sully comes upon Cal, declares he is unable to free him and tells Cal that he will be back with help, but neglects to do so. Later that evening, Chloe expresses her concern that Cal is still missing and Sully leads them to him. Trying to keep the peace between Shane and J.D., Henry extends an invitation to Jimmy and Shane to attend the beach party that evening. However, the truce is short-lived when Henry arrives back at his room to discover a deer's head in his bath-tub. Nikki arrives at Kelly's house to pick her up for the beach party but finds her dead, hanging from the rafters. Shane arrives at the party and gets punched by Henry for the "deer in the bathtub" prank. During their altercation, Lucy's dog scampers off into the woods. Running after her, Lucy falls into a pit where she is set on fire.
Sheriff Mills informs Abby that Kelly committed suicide but she refuses to believe it. When Abby breaks the news of her death to J.D., he does not react; leaving Abby concerned and suspicious because she saw him with Kelly on the night that she died. When Shane hears the news of Kelly's death, he immediately suspects J.D. and sets out for revenge. As J.D walks along a country road, Shane runs him down with his pick-up truck and abducts him. Henry discovers that Trish's ex-boyfriend, Hunter Jennings, is staying at a nearby hotel. Forging Hunter's signature, Henry sends Trish a note to meet him at a room in the Candlewick Inn. Trish approaches the door to the hotel room, but she hesitates and leaves. Inside the hotel room, Henry smiles to himself at this sign that Trish has chosen him over Hunter. Abby goes to Shane's house and finds J.D. held captive in his barn. Abby tries to persuade the crazed Shane that Kelly died, not by suicide, but was murdered at the hands of John Wakefield. Sheriff Mills arrives, saving Abby and J.D, and arresting Shane. That evening at dinner, Trish and Henry present a unified front to her father. Hunter blackmails Mr. Wellington, threatening to tell Trish of their arrangement unless Mr. Wellington pays him $50,000. Mr. Wellington agrees and Hunter leaves the Island with his money. As he sails away from Harper's Island, Hunter is killed by a rigged shotgun on the boat.
April 30, 2009 (2009-04-30) (Canada) May 2, 2009 (United States)
4.61
Driving into town, Jimmy and Abby reminisce and begin to rekindle their relationship. Once in town, Abby visits the local newspaper, Harper's Globe, to pick up a childhood picture of Trish and Henry as a wedding gift. While waiting, Abby is unsettled by the discovery of old editions featuring stories about the Wakefield murders. Robin Matthews tells her that someone was inquiring about them, but the person never came to pick them up. While out fishing, Henry and his groomsmen come across Hunter's boat. They discover his body and the bag of money with the gun. While deliberating on whether or not to report it, Malcolm rashly sinks the boat instead, taking the money and gun, instigating the other bachelors to reluctantly follow suit. When they return to the Candlewick Inn, the men agree to conceal the $250,000 that they misappropriated and deal with it after the wedding. When two armed men in suits come by the bar at the Inn, the groomsmen decide to hide the money immediately. Booth heads out into the woods to bury the money and Malcolm follows him. Booth accidentally shoots himself in the leg and bleeds to death in front of Malcolm. At the bachelor party, the friends are relieved to discover the two suited men are merely security guards for the stripper. Malcolm hides the bag of money in his room and mourns Booth. At Trish's afternoon tea, she discovers that her late mother's china has been vandalized. At the bachelorette party, a tarot reader warns Abby that she must leave the island. Abby goes to Jimmy's house and stays the night. Upset over the loss of her mother's china, a drunk Trish falls into the hotel swimming pool and becomes trapped when the pool cover closes. Trish loses consciousness and begins to drown; but her brother-in-law, Richard, arrives and rescues her.
May 7, 2009 (2009-05-07) (Canada) May 9, 2009 (United States)
4.60
The day before the wedding, Henry encourages Trish to spend time with her father while he handles the final preparations. Later, he finds a decaying animal carcass on the altar. Deducing that J.D. is responsible, Henry confronts him and tells him that he never wants to see him again. J.D. foreshadows that he has "one more surprise" for Henry. Meanwhile, Sheriff Mills and his deputy investigate the disappearance of Reverend Fain. Their search ends when they dredge up his dismembered body from water by fishing line. Concurrently, Abby visits her father's house and discovers newspaper articles about John Wakefield. She looks them over and reasons that the Sheriff thinks Wakefield is still alive. On a bike ride in the woods, Trish and her father trip a swinging log booby trap that knocks them off their bikes. They come upon a figure in the woods who sets a German Shepherd on them. They kill the dog in a struggle, then escape and return to the Candlewick Inn. During the wedding rehearsal begins, Henry stands with Trish and Mr. Wellington at the altar. When Abby turn off the lights, a head spade inserted into the chandelier above Henry, Trish, and Thomas drops from the fixture and pierces Wellington's skull.
May 21, 2009 (2009-05-21) (Canada) May 23, 2009 (United States)
3.85
The Sheriff commences his investigation into Mr. Wellington's murder and soon deduces that someone wanted him, specifically, dead. Henry tells Abby about J.D.'s possible involvement in Wellington's murder. J.D. denies having anything to do with the murder and restates the idea that John Wakefield is still alive. J.D leads Abby into the woods to reveal the body of Uncle Marty tied up in a tree. They tell Henry about Marty's murder and their belief that John Wakefield could be involved in it and other recent deaths. Abby takes Henry to her father's attic to show the research on Wakefield. They confront the Sheriff, who continues to reassure them that Wakefield is dead. J.D does not believe him and decides to dig up Wakefield's grave, but the Sheriff locks him in the pantry. As the Sheriff questions the rest of the wedding party, Abby and Henry dig up Wakefield's grave to find human remains. At the Inn, Madison lets J.D. out of the pantry who runs through the woods and enters the cabin of a disfigured man. Sheriff Mills starts to suspect Richard for the murders due to his affair with Katherine Wellington. Richard admits that he hated Wellington and the affair was his way of humiliating his father-in-law. Afterward, knowing that he is the prime suspect in the murder, Richard calls his lawyer. While is on the phone, Richard gets harpooned through the chest.
May 28, 2009 (2009-05-28) (Canada) May 30, 2009 (United States)
3.82
Seven years earlier, Abby goes to her father's house to collect some things when she is startled by a disfigured man named Cole Harkin, who tells her that her father can not be trusted and tells her to ask her father why Wakefield came to the island. When she does, Sheriff Mills explain that Abby's mother used to date Wakefield until he got violent with her, and she ran away to the island to get away from him. Wakefield tracked her to get her back, but Sheriff Mills ordered his deputies to assault Wakefield, but Wakefield fought back, leaving one of the deputies badly hurt. Rather than charge Wakefield for assault, he has him arrested for an attempted murder of a police officer. Wakefield was let out prison for good behavior and came back for revenge.
After Abby, J.D., and Henry examine the clues in the sheriff's attic, the guests begin to form a theory about the murders. J.D. is arrested on suspicion of murder when Sheriff Mills finds Marty's phone in J.D.'s bag. Meanwhile, Malcolm stresses over the possibility that police will find the bag of cash he's concealing. He evades discovery until Sully and Danny arrive. After both groomsmen inflict guilt over Booth's death because of Malcolm's desperation for cash, Malcolm goes to the basement of the Candlewick Inn to burn the money in the garbage incinerator. Malcolm is then decapitated by an unseen murderer and his body is discarded in the fire. Later, while worrying about her father's disappearance, Madison is lured to a vacant room of the Inn where the door shuts behind her.
8
"Gurgle"
Rick Bota
Tyler Bensinger
June 4, 2009 (2009-06-04) (Canada) June 6, 2009 (United States)
3.56
The wedding party are preparing to leave Harper's Island when Shea announces that Madison is missing and several stay behind to help find her. Back at the police station, J.D. and Shane fight in the cells where they are locked up. Deputy Garrett attempts to break up the fight until an assailant kills Garrett and destroys the shortwave radio. J.D. manages to escape, leaving Shane locked in the cells. While looking for Madison, the wedding party find Malcolm's skull in the incinerator and Richard's body. Abby gets a phone call from Madison's phone, saying if anyone leaves the island Madison will die. The power goes out across island and phone reception stops working. In the woods, Sheriff Mills tries to find Cole Harkin but instead his leg is badly cut in a booby trap. Cole shows up and helps him to the cabin. At the Candlewick Inn, Maggie gives the Inn's shotguns to everybody. Jimmy arrives to tell everyone the boat has left without them. Abby and Jimmy head over to the police station to use the shortwave radio, but find it broken with Shane in the cell. In the cabin, Cole Harkin tells Sheriff Mills that he has found Wakefield's journal and goes off to get help before he is killed by an arrow. He drops the journal and a lantern, starting a fire. Abby and Jimmy rescue Sheriff Mills and the journal from the fire. Henry and Danny manage to activate the generator and discover that half of the wedding party is missing. Sully, Beth, Cal and Chloe try to escape from the island even after they have been told that Madison will be killed if anyone leaves. Sheriff Mills tries to get Abby and Jimmy off the island but instead runs into the others as they try to find J.D. Abby finds J.D. with his stomach cut open, and before he dies he says the killings are all about Abby.
June 11, 2009 (2009-06-11) (Canada) June 13, 2009 (United States)
3.20
After reading John Wakefield's journal, Abby finds out she could be his daughter. After over-hearing this information, Shane tells everyone still staying in the Candlewick Inn that he believes Abby is the murderer, causing the party to start turning on her and each other. This tension causes Abby to realize that she is at the center of the killings. After denying Abby a place inside the Inn, Shane is attacked by Henry but restrained by his friends. After Cal and Chloe attend to Sheriff Mills' leg injury, the two have sex in a separate room. Later, they find Sherriff Mills is missing. Sully and Danny search for Beth and start following a trail of blood, which leads them to a tunnel system. Danny finds Beth's body in one of the tunnels as Abby gets trapped in a separate tunnel while also attempting to locate Beth. After finding her safe in a room, Abby and Madison attempt to find their way out of the tunnels, only to be found by Trish and Shea, who were driving to see the psychic. Meanwhile, Shane discovers someone has killed Katherine by stabbing garden shears through the back of the couch on which she had been sitting.
10
"Snap"
Steve Boyum
Christine Roum
June 18, 2009 (2009-06-18) (Canada) June 20, 2009 (United States)
3.79
Madison leads the group to believe that the Sheriff is the man who kidnapped her, causing them to suspect that he is in fact the murderer. The group decides to leave the island on Jimmy's boat, but the dock explodes, destroying the boats and seemingly killing Jimmy. The group takes refuge at The Cannery, where Nikki shows up in fear. Later, Maggie decides to leave and is later hung from the Cannery sign in front of the group. After creating a small diversion, Cal and Sully are able to take Nikki's car to get to Cal's sailboat. Hours later, the Sheriff's truck delivers the gang an unconscious Jimmy. This prompts Abby to go back to the Candlewick Inn, where she finds her father. She blames him for the murders, but he tells her it has been Wakefield all this time. Abby witnesses her father die at the hands of Wakefield, who confronts her.
11
"Splash"
Rick Bota
Dan Shotz
June 25, 2009 (2009-06-25) (Canada) June 27, 2009 (United States)
3.53
After threatening Abby, Wakefield arrives at The Canneryand kills Nikki. Shane attacks Wakefield as Trish, Shea, Chloe, and Madison escape to Sheriff Mills' house and hide in the attic. Danny, Abby, and Henry return to The Cannery to find a dead Shane and Nikki and the girls missing. After hearing church bells, the girls and the group at The Cannery meet up and realize that Jimmy is missing and Deputy Lillis is dead. Sully and Cal enter the church, while Wakefield sneaks in and kidnaps Chloe. Jimmy regains consciousness and the group decides to split up to block off the exits to the tunnels Wakefield is using to get around the island. Danny and Sully encounter Wakefield and decide to enter the tunnels. In the woods, Cal finds and rescues Chloe while Abby and Henry are chasing Wakefield. Moments after rescuing Chloe, Cal proposes to her. Wakefield shows up and kills Cal, then throws him off the bridge. Chloe, trapped on the other side of the bridge and realizing that she'll die no matter what, tells Wakefield "You can't have me," and lets go of the bridge and falls to her death. Shea discovers that the Sheriff thought Wakefield had an accomplice, and suspects Jimmy.
July 9, 2009 (2009-07-09) (Canada) July 11, 2009 (United States)
3.63
The group manage to find Wakefield and Abby knocks him unconscious. They carry him to the police station where they lock him up. While at the station, Shea tells the group that Sheriff Mills suspected Jimmy of being a Wakefield copycat, causing the group to analyze Jimmy's behavior and surviving the dock explosion. Jimmy comes to the station, seemingly upset that Trish has fallen off a cliff and is stuck. Wakefield reveals to Abby that she is in fact the reason behind the killings, and that he really loved her mother. He reveals that Abby's mother gave Wakefield's son up for adoption, but Wakefield found him. Meanwhile, Jimmy, Henry, Abby, and Sully go off to rescue Trish, who they find unharmed. Trish found a radio, and with the help of Sully and Jimmy, was able to contact the coast guard who state they are sending help. Back at the station, Wakefield escapes from his cell and kills Danny while Shea and Madison escape. Jimmy and Abby send Madison and Shea to find Trish and Henry. They arrive at the Inn to find that Wakefield has already been there and Trish and Henry are missing. Trish, who is on the run from Wakefield, stumbles upon Henry. He reveals that he is Wakefield's accomplice, kills Trish and greets Wakefield as his father.
July 9, 2009 (2009-07-09) (Canada) July 11, 2009 (United States)
4.05
As children, Henry and Abby share a secret before he goes back home to Tacoma. Wakefield and Henry are discussing their overall plan when they hear Abby approaching, and they leave Trish's body in the woods. Shea and Madison arrive at the boat house where Sully learns Wakefield has escaped. Abby and Jimmy find Trish's body while Sully sends Shea and Madison off towards Seattle on a small boat. Henry takes Sully to find Trish and reveals the truth before Wakefield kills him. Abby and Jimmy reunite with Henry and enter the church where Trish's body is. Wakefield attacks Jimmy while Abby escapes. Henry finds Abby and kills Wakefield, who is surprised. Abby deduces that he is the accomplice and tries to run but is knocked unconscious. Shea and Madison are informed that they are the only survivors, other than a handful of locals. Abby wakes up in a house where Henry explains that they are half-siblings. Attempting to escape, she finds Jimmy, who is tied up. Henry has him sign a full confession in exchange for keeping Abby safe. Henry gets jealous when Abby admits she loves Jimmy and he slaps her. While on the floor, Abby stabs Henry in the foot. Having slipped Jimmy tools to help him unlock himself, Abby leads Henry on a chase, where she tells him that she doesn't want or love him before Henry and Jimmy fall off a cliff. While checking on Jimmy, Henry walks up behind Abby and she stabs him. Abby and Jimmy then leave the island before a montage is shown of congratulation video recordings given by Trish, Sully, Malcolm, Danny, Booth, Cal, Chloe, Abby, and Henry.
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. 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.
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."[35]
The character Ben, who was the first character to die in Harper's Island, was first seen in a Harper's Globe episode.[36] 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.[37] 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,[38] and was released on March 4, 2010, for Region 4.[39]
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.[40] The show became available on Amazon Video, free for Amazon Prime members, otherwise available for purchase.[41]
The series is also available on Pluto TV and on The CW's free streaming platform, CW Seed. It is also available on BBC iPlayer in the UK.
^ abZreik, Karim (2009-06-22). "Karim Zreik's Twitter". Retrieved 2009-06-24. Gasp & Sigh [in response to question as to the names of episodes 12 & 13]
