Happy Town

Don't let the name fool you.

Happy Town is an ABC television series that aired in the spring of 2010, and was canceled after only one season.

Underneath the surface of Haplin, Minnesota -- nicknamed "Happy Town" (and which is in Haplin County) -- is a dark secret involving the "Magic Man" (so-called because of his ability to make people just vanish into thin air), who had a reign of terror in Haplin seven years in the past. After a murder in town, it begins to look as though the Magic Man has come back.... Among those who want to solve the mystery of both the murder and the Magic Man are Tommy Conroy, the son of the town sheriff, and Henley Boone, a seeming newcomer to Haplin County, who has secrets of her own... secrets that connect her to the already-existing secrets of Happy Town....

Has a Character Sheet.

Tropes used in Happy Town include:

• Affably Evil: Apparently Dan Farmer.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Andrew for Georgia.
• Alliterative Name: The Magic Man, Baby Boy Stiviletto, Big Dave Duncan, Joanie Jenkins, and M. E. Murtaugh.
• Cassandra Truth: Georgia tells Andrew why she has a bruise on her forehead, but he dismisses it as a joke and assumes her father is responsible.
• Dies Wide Open: Big Dave
• Damsel in Distress: Georgia possibly getting drugged and then ending up at the Stiviletto house.
  • Henley getting attacked by a eerie bird that crashes through her window while she's driving and she ends up crashing.
• A Death in the Limelight: Episode six starts off with a flashback focusing on Dave's childhood with Tommy and the friendship is played up more than in previous episodes. By the end of the episode, Dave is dead by Tommy's hand.
• Feuding Families: The Haplins and the Bravins.
• Green Eyes: Henley.
• Hair of Gold: Georgia.
• Happily Married: Tommy and Rachel.
• Hot Mom: Rachel Conroy, played by Amy Acker.
• I'll Kill You!: Andrew threatens to kill Georgia's father, convinced that he was the one who gave Georgia the bruise on her forehead, despite Georgia's protests.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: After admittedly not having ever fired a gun on the job and having only a half-second to aim, Tommy shoots Dave right through the heart in a moment of self-defense.
• Intergenerational Friendship / Odd Friendship: Between Henley and Merritt Grieves.
• It's Personal: Convinced that Georgia's father Carl was the one who bruised her, Andrew takes matters into his own hands by wreaking his own car and telling his friends Carl was the one who did it, so Andrew and his friends go to Georgia's home to confront Carl, though things don't go quite as planned when Carl stabs Andrew instead.
• Meaningful Name: "Happy Town" is the nickname for Haplin County Haplin, Minnesota, located in Haplin County, and an ironic one at that, what with the mysterious disappearances and all...
  • The Magic Man got his name from his ability to make people disappear without a trace.
• Like A Daughter To Me: Georgia to Tommy and Rachel.
• Missing Mom: Rachel literally becoming one in the end of 1x03, thanks to the Magic Man.
• Mysterious Past: The entire town.
• Naive Newcomer: Henley. Subverted because she's not who she says she is and she's there for a purpose.
  • She is "Chloe."
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Magic Man.
• Papa Wolf: Tommy's Berserk Button is naturally pushed when he finds out about Georgia possibly getting drugged and then ending up at the Stiviletto house. He goes over to the Stivilettos' and kicks their asses. Though Georgia is not Tommy's daughter, she is the babysitter of Tommy's and Rachel's daughter Emma and is like a daughter to them.
• Rule of Three: The third floor of the boarding home Henley stays in is off-limits. And locked. But Henley manages to duplicate the key, and she finds a room filled with caged birds and a box underneath the floorboards. Inside the box is a strange, goat-shaped hammer.
  • There are three different character storylines so far: newcomer Henley Boone learning about Happy Town and its dark secrets, son of the sheriff Tommy Conroy's search for leads on the Magic Man and who "Chloe" is, and regular high school student and babysitter Georgia Bravin dealing with her secret relationship with Andrew Haplin and with her few run-in brushes on the mystery of the Magic Man.
  • Merritt Grieves is able to aquire all his antique items for his shop through a journal. He has three steps in order to do so, following writing down the things he wants onto the pages: all he has to do is close it, tap it three times, and turn it around. Then his journal is emptied so that he can start all over again.
    • That's possibly just a story he tells to entertain a young girl. The journal does seem to be magical in some way, though.
• Secret Relationship: Georgia and Andrew, though Georgia is tired of keeping up with the Romeo and Juliet charade.
• Spiritual Successor: To Twin Peaks.
  • It's a bit like what would happen if October Road was evil.
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Henley could quite possibly count.
• Title Drop
• Town with a Dark Secret: The premise of the show.
• You Are Fat: Dave is initially treated with a fair degree of sympathy and respect, but after Tommy finds out Dave killed Jerry Friddle, a furious Tommy hurls a number of insults about Dave, including some about his weight, which of course had nothing to do with the issue at hand.