News: CBS to premiere new "realistic" serial slasher Harper's Island

April 9, fans of murder mysteries and serial shows like Lost may have something to look forward to: Harper's Island, a new series created by Ari Schlossberg, hits the airwaves of CBS to begin a thirteen-episode rampage. 

The series, which expresses the fact that one of the cast members will be killed off in each episode, will conclude at the end of its only season. With a cast of relatively no-name actors, it will be interesting to see if the show's gimmick succeeds, as a show such as this will need to be mainly character-driven in order for the audience to care if any of the cast make it off the island.

Harper's Island sounds promising, though, because of its attempts to bring horror onto CBS, a channel which is severly lacking in that department. It remains to be seen how violent the show will actually get, although the more the better for drawing in viewers.

I expect that the show's first episode will have a high Nielsen rating, with the audience very curious as to how the show will pan out. If they stay tuned in, however, will depend on how well the show sticks to its promises.

Yet for some reason, I can't shake the fact that we've seen something like this on TV before. Does anyone remember a relatively obscure series that ran on FOX in the summer of 2001 called Murder in Small Town X? This was a reality television show which took contestants to a city that was being subject to mysterious murders. It was the job of the contestants to figure out who the killer was before they were "killed" themselves. 

It only lasted that one season, but it was a really unique twist on the reality TV series and seemed to help inspire Harper's Island. Either way, though, I will be tuning in for (or DVRing) the first episode of Harper's Island to see if the fuss that CBS is making about it is worth it. I'm sincerely hoping this becomes a horror-Lost, because that would just make my year. Watch for a review of it here, and bring discussion!