TERROR TEE-VEE: A Countdown to Halloween (Day 7)

Tonight's Basil Gogos art features the Wolf-Man played by Lon Chaney, Jr.

“My name is Marshall Teller. I knew my new hometown was going to be different from where I grew up in New Jersey, but this is ridiculous! Nobody believes me, but Eerie, Indiana is the center of weirdness for the entire planet.”

EERIE, INDIANA

It’s another innovative series that couldn’t make it out if it’s freshman season…young Marshall Teller of the series might suspect a conspiracy—we, the viewer know it’s just ratings.  Perhaps, it was an idea that came too soon. It predated The X-Files by a few years—a fact I found very strange as my memory told me the opposite.  (Part of the big conspiracy, Marshall would say.)

The show follows the young teenager whose family moves to rural Eerie, Indiana from the big city and how the boy discovers, investigates and solves the many paranormal mysteries and horrors of his new home town.

It was a smart, sharp show that featured high quality creators and talent that was able to seriously tackle absurd subject matter and keep it menacing while doing so.  A rare feat for any show, let alone a supernatural horror/comedy.  It may have even been the best to do it since Kolchak.

Eerie gained a second life when Fox Kids aired the show on Saturday mornings—this new cult following prompted Fox to produce a sequel series that lasted only a season entitled EERIE, INDIANA: The Other Dimension.  This “rebirth” also launched a book series tha was set in and helped expand the Eerie universe.

You can find the series on DVD or HULU last I heard and, I’m sure in some other hidden corner of the web.  So, should you find yourself looking for it, either out there on the web or in the safety of your DVD player, I would select the following three as the Eeriest(?): 

“Foreverware”

is the first episode of Eerie, Indiana, but it’s unforgettable and blamed creepy.  Foreverware saleslady Betty Wilson comes to Marshall’s home to enlighten the newcomers to the wonders of Foreverware.  You see, Betty has twin boys, whom she’s kept fresh and young because she’s burped them into containers every night for decades!

“Mr. Chaney”

is the episode of the show where Marshall wins the lottery and is selected the new “Harvest King” which involves him going into the woods to face the Eerie wolf—and none of the previous “winners” have ever returned.  In other words, to appease the beast, the town has come up with a system to sacrafice one of their own?

“Reality Takes a Holiday”

is the final episode of the series and it is a 4th wall breaking trip that plays up to the series paranoid premise.  Marshall checks the mailbox on the way to the movies one day to find a script—the script to this very episode of the show he’s in.  He soon unfurls this further to see behind the scenes and meet the actors playing each character in the show.  It’s a lovely mindbending twist that further proves the show was to sentient for it’s own good.