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.
| Eerie, Indiana | |
|---|---|
 The Complete Series DVD cover | |
| Genre | Horror Mystery Science fiction Supernatural |
| Created by | José Rivera Karl Schaefer |
| Starring | Omri Katz Justin Shenkarow Mary-Margaret Humes Francis Guinan Julie Condra Jason Marsden |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 19 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | John Cosgrove Terry Dunn Meurer |
| Cinematography | John Hora (pilot only) Jonathan West |
| Editors | Alan Baumgarten Terry Blythe Tom Meshelski Jon Poll |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Production companies | Unreality, Inc. Cosgrove/Meurer Productions Hearst Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 15, 1991 – December 9, 1993 |
| Related | |
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[1] to late March 1996.[2][3] 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.[4][5] 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.[6][7]
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,[8][9] 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.[6]
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
Writing
Each episode was strewn with in-jokes and references to old films, particularly horror films:
- In the episode "Heart on a Chain", a scene begins with a shot of spider web before panning right to action taking place. Whilst looking at the spider web, one can faintly hear a high-pitched voice crying "Help me! Help me!", a sly reference to the 1958 version of The Fly. Also in this episode, Marshall's creepy English teacher is called Miss Annabel Lee, a reference to the morbid Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name. Right at the end of the episode, the Grim Reaper is seen in the background.
- In the episode "Mr. Chaney", Marshall meets a werewolf that, while in human form, goes by the name of "Mr. Chaney", a nod to Lon Chaney Jr. who played the title role in the 1941 version of The Wolf Man. In this same episode, there is a reference to the 1981 film The Howling, a film about werewolves directed by Joe Dante, himself an occasional director of the show. There is also a mention of David Lynch's TV show Twin Peaks with Marshall exclaiming at one point 'It's you!' and the Grey Haired Kid, holding a log with which he just hit Mr. Chaney, replying 'Well, it ain't the Log Lady.'
- In the episode "Just Say No Fun", the name of the school is B. F. Skinner Middle School in reference to the eponymous psychologist.
- In the episode "America's Scariest Home Video", an actor from a classic mummy movie is transported into the Teller home. The actor's name is Boris Von Orloff, a reference to Boris Karloff, who played the title role in the 1932 film, The Mummy.
- In the episode "The Retainer", the orthodontist's name is Dr. Eukanuba, a reference to the dog food brand and the episode's plot about evil dogs.
- In the episode "No Brain, No Pain", a leather clad woman with sunglasses utters, "I'll be back", before hastily leaving Marshall and his friends. Her appearance and quote reminisces Arnold Schwarzenegger's role as The Terminator. She was also referred to as "Mrs. Terminator" by one of the boys. Incidentally Simon's little brother's middle name is "Schwarzenegger". Additionally, an instrumental variation of the song "My Sharona" is played during portions of the episode, while the song is referenced several times. Marshall's family eats at the Dragon of the Black Pool Chinese restaurant, a direct reference to the film Big Trouble in Little China.
- In the episode "Reality Takes a Holiday" Marshall says, "I don't have a dog named Toto. But, if I did, right about now I'd be telling him – Toto, I don't think we're in Indiana any more", a reference to The Wizard of Oz. Later in the episode, Dash X says, "he's the kind of guy who actually believes that there's no place like home".
- In the first episode, "Forever Ware'" Marshall says, "Dad's job is one of the reasons we moved here, because, statistically speaking, Eerie's the most normal place in the entire country". This is a reference to the Middletown studies which served as a sociological case study of Muncie, Indiana in the 1920s and 1930s. Several references are also made to the popular children's show Sesame Street. For example, the two twin boys are named Bertram and Ernest, or Bert and Ernie for short.
- Also in the first episode, Marshall jokes "Where's Donna Reed when you need her?" This is a reference to The Donna Reed Show where Reed played the typical 1950s housewife and foreshadows the arrival of Betty Wilson, whose look and characterization are heavily inspired by said show. Donna Reed also played the grandmother of Omri Katz's character in Dallas between 1984 and 1985.
Episodes
A total of nineteen episodes of Eerie, Indiana were produced before the show's cancellation. The episode "The Broken Record" was the only episode which did not air before the show's retooling and was omitted during the show's initial run on NBC. The episode aired for the first time on television when the series was syndicated on The Disney Channel in 1993.
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.[10]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Forever Ware" | Joe Dante | José Rivera & Karl Schaefer | September 15, 1991 | 1001 |
|
Marshall's mother, Marilyn, meets a chipper neighbor woman named Betty and gets roped into buying Forever Ware, Tupperware-style plastic containers that keep food fresh -- and Marshall and Simon soon learn that this extends to human life when they meet Bertram and Ernest, Betty's sons who have been stuck as kids since 1964. | |||||
| 2 | "The Retainer" | Joe Dante | José Rivera & Karl Schaefer | September 22, 1991 | 1002 |
|
Marshall's friend Steve dreads visiting the Eerie, Indiana orthodontist (Vincent Schiavelli) and is fitted for a retainer that gives him the power to read dogs' minds and uncover their plot to overthrow their human masters. | |||||
| 3 | "The ATM with the Heart of Gold" | Sam Pillsbury | Matt Dearborn | September 29, 1991 | 1003 |
|
Simon, feeling left out with no friends but Marshall, comes across an ATM that gives him money to be more popular – which also causes Eerie, Indiana to sink into a financial depression and Marshall's father and his business partner to be accused of embezzlement. | |||||
| 4 | "The Losers" | Joe Dante | S : Michael R. Perry S/T : Gary Markowitz | October 6, 1991 | 1004 |
|
Marshall and Simon investigate a string of disappearances when Marshall's dad loses his briefcase. | |||||
| 5 | "America's Scariest Home Video" | Sam Pillsbury | Karl Schaefer | October 20, 1991 | 1006 |
|
Stuck having to baby-sit Simon's younger brother on Halloween, Marshall and Simon fool around with their video camera, which leads to Simon's brother switching places with a mummy movie actor (Tony Jay). | |||||
| 6 | "Just Say No Fun" | Bryan Spicer | Michael R. Perry | October 27, 1991 | 1008 |
|
Marshall suspects that the school nurse is using her eye exams to brainwash the student body (and principal) into becoming humorless zombies. | |||||
| 7 | "Heart on a Chain" | Joe Dante | José Rivera | November 3, 1991 | 1007 |
|
Marshall and a classmate, Devon (Cory Danziger) fall for the new girl, Melanie Monroe (Danielle Harris) who needs a heart transplant. When Devon dies in a gruesome accident, Melanie receives Devon's heart -- and her personality changes almost overnight. Is Melanie secretly upset over Devon's death, or does Devon's soul live on in Melanie's body thanks to the transplant? | |||||
| 8 | "The Dead Letter" | Tim Hunter | James L. Crite | November 10, 1991 | 1009 |
|
Marshall finds an old letter in the basement of the library -- and is haunted by a boy from the 1920s named Trip McConnell (Tobey Maguire) who won't leave until Marshall delivers the letter to his now-elderly sweetheart. | |||||
| 9 | "Who's Who" | Tim Hunter | Julia Poll | November 17, 1991 | 1011 |
|
A young artist (Shanelle Workman) in a dysfunctional family of slovenly males begins to change her life for the better when she uses an Eerie brand pencil to draw her masterpieces — and ends up stealing Marshall's mother when she draws a picture of her and signs it. | |||||
| 10 | "The Lost Hour" | Bob Balaban | Vance DeGeneres | December 1, 1991 | 1010 |
|
Marshall does not like the Indiana practice of ignoring Daylight Saving Time, and sets his clock back an hour anyway. When he wakes up the next day, he finds himself all alone in another dimension, save for an elderly milkman, a runaway teenage girl (Nikki Cox), and a group of garbage collectors who want the two of them dead. | |||||
| 11 | "Marshall's Theory of Believability" | Bob Balaban | Matt Dearborn | February 2, 1992 | 1012 |
|
Nigel Zirchron (John Standing), a professor renowned as an authority on the supernatural, comes to Eerie to observe an extraterrestrial object he believes will land here. Marshall immediately sees an opportunity to blow the lid off the Eerie weirdness, but the professor may not really be all that he claims to be. | |||||
| 12 | "Tornado Days" | Ken Kwapis | Michael Cassutt | March 1, 1992 | 1013 |
|
As the tornado "Old Bob" approaches Eerie, the citizens prepare for their annual tornado day picnic to appease him. But Marshall and Simon insist on staying home, and a tornado-chasing meteorologist, Howard Raymer (Matt Frewer) crash-lands on their front lawn, looking to take down Old Bob himself. | |||||
| 13 | "The Hole in the Head Gang"* | Joe Dante | Karl Schaefer | March 1, 1992 | 1014 |
|
Marshall and Simon investigate an old mill rumored to be haunted, only to discover that it is a hoax set up by a mysterious young man who does not want anybody nosing around until they accidentally uncover a rusted gun, containing the ghost of Grungy Bill (Claude Akins), Eerie's worst (as in "most incompetent", not "most evil") bank robber. | |||||
| 14 | "Mr. Chaney" | Mark Goldblatt | José Rivera | March 8, 1992 | 1015 |
|
Marshall is chosen to be the Eerie and Mr. Chaney (Stephen Root) as the "Harvest King" and must go face the Eerie wolf in the forest. The trouble is that none of the previous harvest kings have ever returned. | |||||
| 15 | "No Brain, No Pain" | Greg Beeman | Matt Dearborn | March 15, 1992 | 1016 |
|
Marshall and Simon help out a homeless man (Paul Sand) after witnessing him being attacked by a woman (Anita Morris) with a ray gun, which proves difficult when all the homeless man can do is speak gibberish and build bizarre contraptions. Meanwhile, Dash X helps the mysterious woman find the homeless man. | |||||
| 16 | "The Loyal Order of Corn" | Bryan Spicer | Michael Cassutt | March 22, 1992 | 1017 |
|
Marshall's father, Edgar joins a strange club called "The Loyal Order of Corn". Meanwhile, Dash X gets a job at the club and seeks answers about his past from the mysterious bartender (Ray Walston). | |||||
| 17 | "Zombies in P.J.s" | Bob Balaban | Julia Poll | April 12, 1992 | 1018 |
|
Facing bankruptcy due to a possible audit, Radford welcomes a new partner: a pompous businessman known as The Donald (René Auberjonois), who brainwashes the town into buying everything at The World O' Stuff during a midnight madness sale and is set on stealing their souls with an upcoming shopping spree at the mall. | |||||
| 18 | "Reality Takes a Holiday" | Ken Kwapis | Vance DeGeneres | April 12, 1992 | 1019 |
|
In this self-referential episode, Marshall finds a television script in the mail and suddenly finds himself behind the scenes of Eerie, Indiana where his friends and family are the actors and actresses on the show, everyone refers to him as Omri Katz, and Marshall soon discovers that Dash X is going to kill off Marshall/Omri so he can take over the show/reality. | |||||
| 19 | "The Broken Record" | Todd Holland | José Rivera | December 9, 1993 | 1005 |
|
Todd, Marshall's shy, nerdy friend with a verbally abusive father (Tom Everett), suddenly turns into a rebellious punk rocker after listening to one of Marshall's favorite records, but are the music's hidden messages really to blame or has Todd had enough of his father's attitude? Meanwhile, Edgar and Marilyn worry about Syndi taking part in a police ride-along. | |||||
* ^ "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."[11]
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."[12] 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."[13]
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."[14] 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!"[15]
The New York Times and The A.V. Club noted the show is heavily inspired by elements from Twin Peaks and The Twilight Zone.[16][17]
Broadcast history
In the UK, Eerie, Indiana was shown on Channel 4 from March to July 1993.
In 2012, the entire series was added to the Hulu website.
Reruns of the series began in August 2012 on the now-defunct Fearnet, airing weekend mornings on their "Funhouse" block.
As of 2022, the series is available to stream on Amazon Freevee and Tubi.[18]
Spin-off series
In 1997, the show generated a new fan base, when Fox's children's programming block Fox Kids aired the series. The following year, a spin-off series was produced entitled, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension. The series was filmed in Canada and focused on another, younger boy while still following the concept of the original show. The spin-off lasted one season. The first episode of the spin-off, "Switching Channels", features a crossover between the two shows via a TV set.
Home media
On October 12, 2004, Alpha Video released Eerie, Indiana: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. The 5-disc box set features all nineteen episodes of the original series.
| DVD name | Ep # | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Eerie, Indiana: The Complete Series | 19 | October 12, 2004 |
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.[19]
Titles
- Return to Forever Ware (Mike Ford) (October 1997) ISBN 0-380-79774-7: 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) ISBN 0-380-79775-5: 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) ISBN 0-380-79776-3: 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) ISBN 0-380-79777-1: 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) ISBN 0-380-79781-X: 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) ISBN 0-380-79782-8: 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) ISBN 0-380-79783-6: 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) ISBN 0-380-79784-4: 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) ISBN 0-380-79785-2: 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) ISBN 0-380-79786-0: 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) ISBN 0-380-79787-9: 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) ISBN 0-380-79788-7: 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) ISBN 0-380-80103-5: 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) ISBN 0-380-80104-3: 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) ISBN 0-380-80105-1: 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) ISBN 0-380-80106-X: 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) ISBN 0-380-80107-8: 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.[20]
References
External links
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