Eerie Indiana

''Eerie, Indiana'' is an American horror science fiction television series that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1991, to December 9, 1993. The series was created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer, with Joe Dante serving as creative consultant.

A total of nineteen episodes were produced. The final episode aired for the first time in 1993, when the series was syndicated on The Disney Channel. The show was rerun on The Disney Channel from October 7, 1993 to late March 1996. In 1997, the show generated a new fan base, when the Fox Kids Network aired the series on Saturday mornings from January to September, gaining something of a cult following despite its short run. The renewed popularity of the series encouraged Fox Kids to produce a spin-off '' Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension'', lasting only one season in 1998.

Overview

The series revolves around Marshall Teller, a teenager whose family moves to the desolate town of Eerie, Indiana, population of 16,661. While moving into his new home, he meets Simon Holmes, one of the few normal people in Eerie. Together, they are faced with bizarre scenarios, which include discovering a sinister group of intelligent dogs that are planning on taking over the world, and meeting a tornado hunter who is reminiscent of Captain Ahab. They also confront numerous urban legends such as Bigfoot and a still-living Elvis Presley. Although the show was host to a plethora of jokes, it also featured a serious tone.

After thirteen episodes, one of which did not air during the network run, the series was retooled with Jason Marsden's "Dash X" added to the cast, while Archie Hahn's Mr. Radford revealed to be an imposter, with John Astin revealed as the "actual" Mr. Radford. The final produced episode was a tongue-in-cheek, fourth-wall-breaking sequence of events depicting Dash X's attempts to take over as star of the show.

Characters

Main

* Omri Katz as Marshall Teller
* Francis Guinan as Edgar Teller
* Mary-Margaret Humes as Marilyn Teller
* Julie Condra as Syndi Marie Priscilla Teller
* Justin Shenkarow as Simon Holmes
* Jason Marsden as Dash X

Recurring

* Mr. Radford (the imposter – revealed as Fred Suggs) – (Archie Hahn)
* Mr. Radford (the real one) – (John Astin)
* Winifred Swanson and Mother – (Belinda Balaski)
* Sergeant Knight – (Harry Goaz)
* Mayor Winston Chisel – (Gregory Itzin)
* The Anchorman – (Doug Llewelyn)
* Elvis Presley – (Steven Peri)
* Bertram Wilson – (Nathan Schultz & Dan Stanton)
* Ernest Wilson – (Nicholas Schultz & Don Stanton)
* Harley Schwarzenegger Holmes – (Christian and Joseph Cousins)
* Lodgepoole – (Henry Gibson)

Production

Episodes

The show's producers planned to make an episode entitled "The Jolly Rogers", which featured a group of pirates in search for buried treasure in the Teller house.

* "The Hole in the Head Gang" is the first episode in which the episode titles are shown on screen.

Reception

''Eerie, Indiana'' was well received by critics when it debuted on television. ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave it a "B" rating and Ken Tucker wrote "You watch ''Eerie'' for the small-screen spectacle of it all—to see the way, in the show's first few weeks, feature-film directors like Joe Dante (''Gremlins'') and Tim Hunter (''River's Edge'') oversaw episodes that summoned up an atmosphere of absurdist suburban dread."

In his review for ''The Hollywood Reporter'', Miles Beller wrote "Scripted by Karl Schaefer and José Rivera with smart, sharp insights; slyly directed by feature film helmsman Joe Dante; and given edgy life by the show's winning cast, ''Eerie, Indiana'' shapes up as one of the fall season's standouts, a newcomer that has the fresh, bracing look of ''Edward Scissorhands'' and scores as a clever, wry presentation well worth watching." In his review for the ''Orange County Register'', Ray Richmond wrote "It's the kind of knowingly hip series with equally strong appeal for both kids and adults, the kind that preteens will watch and discuss."

''USA Today'' described the show as "Stephen King by way of ''The Simpsons''", and Matt Roush wrote "''Eerie'' recalls ''Edward Scissorhands'' and even—heaven help it—David Lynch in its garish nightmare-comedy depiction of the lurid and silly horrors that lurk beneath suburban conformity." In his review for ''The Washington Times'', David Klinghoffer wrote "Everything about the pilot exceeds the normal minimal expectations of TV. Mr. Dante directs as if he were making a movie, and a good one. In a departure from usual TV operating procedures, he sometimes actually has more than one thing going on on screen at the same time!"

''The New York Times'' and ''The A.V. Club'' noted the show is heavily inspired by elements from ''Twin Peaks'' and ''The Twilight Zone''.

Broadcast history

As of 2022, the series is available to stream on Amazon Freevee and Tubi.

Spin-off series

In other media

Books

Following its rebroadcast on Fox in 1997, Avon began publishing a series of paperback books based on the television series. They featured new stories with Marshall and Simon continuing to solve various perplexing phenomena in Eerie. Books in the series were written by authors Michael Thomas Ford, Sherry Shahan, Jeremy Roberts, John Peel and Robert James.

Titles

#''Return to Forever Ware'' (Mike Ford) (October 1997) : Marshall and Simon get jobs cleaning a strange couple's basement out and discover that they were Forever Ware representatives and also used the infamous Tupperware to keep themselves young.
#''Bureau of Lost'' (John Peel) (October 1997) : Eerie's Bureau of Lost suffers a power failure, and all of history's famous figures who went missing and/or died under mysterious circumstances (Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, Amelia Earhart, among others) are on the loose and planning to commit crimes.
#''The Eerie Triangle'' (Mike Ford) (October 1997) : Marshall and Simon try to solve the mystery of why Eerie, Indiana's town founder is not mentioned in the history books and if it has anything to do with a possible alien invasion cover-up in the 1950s.
#''Simon and Marshall's Excellent Adventure'' (John Peel) (November 1997) : Simon and Marshall suspect a new boy, Jazen, who seems to disappear into thin air as he is about to be caught, of being a time traveler.
#''Have Yourself an Eerie Little Christmas'' (Mike Ford) (December 1997) : Marshall and Simon find themselves in a Dickensian London town on Christmas Eve—and discover that they are trapped inside a snow globe and will remain so unless they can find a way out.
#''Fountain of Weird'' (Sherry Shahan) (January 1998) : Marshall and Simon find themselves at the Old Fogey's Farm, run by Dr. Beelzebug, who has discovered a way to stop people from aging. But he uses hormones from young people to do it—and he plans for the boys to be his next donors.
#''Attack of the Two-Ton Tomatoes'' (Mike Ford) (February 1998) : Everyone in Eerie begins eating a new line of super-juicy, super-big vegetables to get healthy, but Marshall and Simon soon find that the produce is turning the people into plant monsters.
#''Who Framed Alice Prophet?'' (Mike Ford) (March 1998) : A mysterious painting leads Marshall and Simon on the trail of an artist who makes her paintings too real.
#''Bring Me a Dream'' (Robert James) (March 1998) : When anything the Tellers dream of is delivered to Marshall's door, it's fun at first—until the delivery van starts leaving nightmares.
#''Finger-Lickin' Strange'' (Jeremy Roberts) (May 1998) : The new chef at World o' Stuff's lunch counter is a sensation: everybody raves about her cooking, but Marshall and Simon discover why the new chef's lunch leaves people wanting more.
#''The Dollhouse That Time Forgot'' (Mike Ford) (June 1998) : Syndi and Mrs. Teller just love the old dollhouse they found at a yard sale, but Marshall and Simon aren't impressed. Still, when they see an interesting doll in a shop window, they make it a present for Syndi. But when Syndi puts the doll into the house, weirdness ensues. And when Marshall sneaks into a real-life house that looks like the dollhouse, he realizes that he's shrinking. What's the connection between all this and the peculiar new girl in school who looks just like Syndi's doll?
#''They Say'' (Mike Ford) (July 1998) : Marshall and Simon help an old woman who tells them about The Gathering of They, a secret society behind the myriad of generalizations, advice, and superstitions in society.
#''Switching Channels'' (Mike Ford) (August 1998) : In an adaptation of the series premiere of ''Eerie, Indiana: The New Dimension'', two boys named Mitchell and Stanley find their television tuned into another dimension, where two boys named Marshall and Simon are looking for a portal into another reality.
#''The Incredible Shrinking Stanley'' (Robert James) (September 1998) : Stanley and Mitchell go to the Eerie Laundromat after Stanley's washer breaks, but when Stanley comes in contact with the laundromat's soaps and powders, he begins to shrink, and unless Mitchell can fix it, Stanley will continue to grow small until he vanishes.
#''Halloweird'' (Mike Ford) (October 1998) : Mitchell's dad is planning a special Halloween show on radio station WERD, a spooky story about invaders from Mars. Then Mitchell and Stanley find some terrific costumes at a local shop, and offer to help the proprietor organize a Halloween parade in return for letting them use the costumes for Halloween, unaware that they are about to get caught up in the weirdest adventure of all. Because some of the people in Eerie aren't really people—and Dad's radio show might just turn out to be true.
#''Eerie in the Mirror'' (by Robert James) (November 1998) : Stanley and Mitchell accidentally break a mirror, but, rather than seven years' bad luck, the mirror creates an inverted reality of Eerie, Indiana. Can Mitchell and Stanley set things right without coming in contact with their inverted selves?
#''We Wish You an Eerie Christmas'' (Robert James) (December 1998) : When the Tellers find themselves on the verge of losing their home, Mitchell's Christmas cheer turns sour, and only the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Not-So-Far-Into-The-Future can help him.

Legacy

Alex Hirsch cited the series as an influence on his own ''Gravity Falls'' series.

References

External links

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1990s American horror television series
1990s American mystery television series
1990s American science fiction television series
1991 American television series debuts
1993 American television series endings
American English-language television shows
American television series about teenagers
fictional populated places in Indiana
Indiana culture
NBC television dramas
television series about families
television shows set in Indiana