The TV world has never really had a memorable horror series. Traditionally, the genre has been better suited for one-off miniseries than multiple-season affairs, making Stephen King the king (no pun intended) of TV scares. “The Twilight Zone” currently stands as the best the medium has seen.

Enter “Happy Town.” ABC is giving horror another shot with a series that closely resembles the dearly departed “Twin Peaks.” “Happy Town” is set in the small community of Haplin, Minn., where everything seems peachy-keen for its residents. But Haplin, like any small town, has some dark secrets. A number of residents have gone missing, a fact attributed to an entity known as the Magic Man, which the local authorities seem more content to cover up than to investigate.

The first 15 minutes of the “Happy Town” pilot made their way to Hulu last week, and while I never found myself enraptured by what I was seeing, I didn’t turn it off, either. The series certainly doesn’t start with a bang, and the opening scene, which shows two youngsters getting hot and heavy in a car late at night before the girl sneaks back to her house, lacks originality. But more importantly, it wasn’t awful. Sure, some of the dialogue was a bit hokey, and some story developments are easily predictable, but these problems come across more as symptoms of a show trying to find its proper footing than as outright elements of poor television.

One thing’s for sure, though: The setting of “Happy Town” works in the show’s favor. Above all else, what makes for good horror is isolation and claustrophobia. Characters battling elements, supernatural or otherwise, in a setting that doesn’t allow them a wide range of free movement is the hallmark of terror. And, what’s more claustrophobic than a small town?

“Happy Town” isn’t an A-plus show at the moment, but it’s trying to be. And given television’s lack of quality horror at the moment, I’m willing to give it a shot.

“Happy Town” premieres Wednesday, April 28 at 9 p.m. on ABC.