‘Harper’s Island’
Pilot episode
Thursday, April 9
10 p.m. ET, CBS

Grade: B-

CBS’ new, 13-episode murder mystery is an interesting departure from the usual episodic network fare. Taking a page from British television, “Harper’s Island” already has a July 2 expiration date with the promise that the murderer will be revealed in the final hour of this self-contained series. It’s part mini-series, part novella with a dash of reality competition thrown in — at least one member of the cast will be eliminated each week. The difference of course is that they’ll be sliced and diced rather than voted off this particular island.

Set in the scenic Pacific Northwest, the series follows a group of family and friends who travel to the secluded “Harper’s Island” for a destination wedding. In the premiere episode, Abby Mills (Elaine Cassidy) returns for the wedding celebration of her best friend, Henry Dunn (Christopher Gorham of “Ugly Betty”) and his beautiful and wealthy heiress. fiancée, Trish Wellington (Katie Cassidy of “Supernatural”). It’s the first time Abby has been home since her mother and five others were murdered on the island seven years ago by John Wakefield. Just as Abby begins to confront her demons people once again start dying. As secrets and clues slowly unfold, it’s clear that no one is safe and no one can be trusted.

Among the cornucopia of characters is Harry Hamlin as Henry’s fun-loving Uncle Marty, Richard Burgi (”Desperate Housewives”) as Trish’s domineering dad, Chris Gauthier (”Eureka”) as hustler Malcolm Ross and Jim Beaver (”Supernatural”) as Sheriff Charlie Mills, Abby’s estranged father. Just don’t get too attached to any of them.

Even though the pilot is largely devoted to introducing the plethora of would-be victims, the gruesome murder-of-the-week format doesn’t lend itself to much character development. Instead, “Harper’s Island” revels in the creative death scenes of 1980s big-screen horror staples “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th.” Viewers can expect long walks in the scary woods, characters swimming alone in the dark and even the creepy child factor. A high death toll also means an abundance of inane characters, and “Harper’s Island” certainly has its share. Some of the performances in these side storylines fall a bit flat but hey, how long can most of these characters expect to survive, right? Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the series is how well it can sustain that murder mystery tension over a 13-episode story arc. If “Harper’s Island” does manage to keep horror fans on edge while leaving the Agatha Christie set guessing it may lead to more than just good ratings. It could entice other networks to develop short-run series of their own or try something just as bold. That alone is worth giving “Harper’s Island” a chance.

— JDB