EERIE, INDIANA

EERIE, INDIANA

(NBC, September 15, 1991-April 12, 1992)

Cosgrove/Meurer Productions, Hearst Entertainment, Unreality

Created by Jose Rivera and Karl Schaefer, with film director Joe Dante as a creative Consultant, Eerie, Indiana was a series about a small town. A bizarre small town. Marshall Teller (Omri Katz) and his family moved to the town of Eerie full of weird citizens, real urban legends, and other strange happenings. Marshall befriended Simon Holmes (Justin Shenkarow), the only other seemingly normal kid in town, and together they faced things like Bigfoot, world-conquering dogs and Elvis Presley (Steve Peri), alive and well. Halfway through the season, the show was retooled to introduce Dash X (Jason Marsden), an amnesiac gray-haired teen searching for the clues of his past.

Marshall, Simon and Dash X.

The show blended serious and comedic tones, contained numerous in-jokes and movie references, and had several episodes directed by feature film directors; all of which made it a critical darling. Unfortunately, the series failed to find much of a sustainable audience and it was cancelled after a single season of 19 episodes; one left unaired in its original run. The show aired in reruns on The Disney Channel from 1993-1996 before moving to Saturday mornings as part of the Fox Kids block in 1997. There, the show reached a new audience and a newfound popularity. It inspired FOX to greenlight a spin-off called Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension utilizing the same premise with a new cast set in an alternate dimension. Unfortunately, the new show failed to capture the same popularity and it also ended after a single season.