here's a review from cinescape.com

By: SCOTT COLLURA
By: Contributing Editor


I’ll admit it: I love SURVIVOR. I’m not proud of it, no. But they do say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. So, yes, I have spent many a wasted hour entranced by the adventures of Rudy, Richard, Colleen, and every other nobody who suddenly became somebody at the drop of a CBS casting agent’s hat.


Fortunately, however, I have managed to avoid most other so-called “reality” TV shows. So it was with great trepidation that I approached the task of watching and reviewing Fox’s latest entry in the never-ending pantheon of reality TV -- MURDER IN SMALL TOWN X. I must admit that the promos for the program have been mildly intriguing, with Fox promising a “real” murder that would have to be solved by “real” people. This show was to have a distinctly horrific spin to it, and I was afraid that my fanboy devotion to the horror genre might combine with my pedestrian addiction to SURVIVOR, causing me yet another three months of compulsive reality-TV viewing.


I shouldn’t have worried so. It turns out that MURDER IN SMALL TOWN X is the worst kind of TV show out there – reality or otherwise. This is the type of program that bites off bits from other movies and shows and tries to call them its own. Aside from the obvious inspirations – SURVIVOR, THE REAL WORLD, et al – there are other video victims here. Elements of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT are swiped even before the title sequence runs, while MTV’s less popular FEAR is also pirated.


The show begins in the town of Sunrise, Maine with several murders taking place before our eyes; we are apparently seeing what the unknown killer himself sees. Immediately, however, any sense of “reality” is dispelled from the program since it’s obvious that an actual videotaped murder is not going to find its way to broadcast television. (Let us not forget that it was only the stupid people of the world who believed BLAIR WITCH was real.)


The premise grows even more ridiculous as ten so-called investigators are brought in to solve the crime. They are, of course, the competitors of the show, trying to make it through the various tests and obstacles that will be placed before them over the next ten weeks in order to win the $250,000 reward that has been posted. This gang – Stacey, Alan, Angel, Shirley, and the rest - are nothing but latter-day LET’S MAKE A DEAL contestants, though rather than having to crack wise with Monty Hall, they instead need to interact with a town full of usually-out-of-work actors who are portraying the various local yokels and suspects in the crime. It’s dinner theater with a twist!


An actual police detective (Gary Fredo) plays host and guide to these investigators, advising and steering them to clues and leads. But while the Scooby Gang is out sniffing around town, each contestant is aware that the ultimate SURVIVOR gimmick awaits them at each episode’s end: the group must vote for one of their own, who will then head out into the dark night alone, with mini-camera mounted to torso, in order to face possible “murder” themselves. Agatha Christie, meet Jeff Probst.


The fact that MURDER’s creators (George Verschoor, Robert Fisher Jr., Gordon Cassidy) have all served tenures for MTV’s THE REAL WORLD does not mean that this program will offer the same titillating nonsense that has kept that show alive for a decade. For example, it’s doubtful we’ll be seeing MURDER’s resident babe, 21-year-old model Lindsey, strip down for a co-ed shower in between fingerprinting missions. I mean, what do you think made TEMPTATION ISLAND such a hit for Fox earlier this year? Not the local police activity, of that you can be sure.


Yeah, there are some cheap scares in this first episode, particularly the BLAIR WITCH rip-off at the beginning and the climax where one of our investigators meets her end. And the weak-minded may start to enjoy the guessing game of whodunit as the weeks drag on and the characters become more familiar. But truthfully, this game/show would probably be a lot more fun to actually play rather than watch. Besides, in that case you might even get the chance to take an MTV-style shower with Lindsey – in between sleuthing sessions of course.