Having just seen the first episodes of Harper’s Island and Southland, I had decided that, between the two (they both aired on Thursday nights at 10PM EST), Southland was the clear victor in terms of quality, and that Harper’s Island was probably going to end up being a waste of time.

Now that we’re about five weeks in, I have to say that I still stick by some of my first thoughts – Southland is an excellent show, with some of the best acting and writing on television right now.  However, what has changed is my opinion of Harper’s Island, which has now moved to Saturdays at 10PM to try and get away from all that Thursday night competition.

With each new episode of Harper’s Island, the show gets better and better.  The promise of “at least one new victim every week,” seemed like a gimmick (and it kind of is), but each episode has managed to surprise me with who’s going to die and how.  And the victims are going out in gorier and gorier ways every week.  Just this week, body parts were fished out, one by one, from a river, while someone stepped into a trap and got a blade jabbed into their forehead.  Definitely not what I’m used to seeing in prime-time.  A couple of week’s ago, someone’s face got blown off with a shotgun.  This is violent stuff, and as it progresses, it hints at something more supernatural than I expected – this may be more of a horror show than I thought!

The characters are getting more and more interesting, the deaths are getting more elaborate, and the show is getting better and better!

If you haven’t been watching Harper’s Island (and, based on the ratings, you’re not), check out all the episodes on the official site by clicking the image below!  CBS has said, despite the ratings, the show will air all twelve episodes, so it’s not like we’ll be left hanging (though some of John Wakefield’s victims sure have been!).