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.
Contents
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
Marketing the series proved to be difficult for NBC. Though its leads were children, writers Jose Rivera and Karl Scaefer intended for the show to be watched by a wider audience. NBC encouraged the production team to continue focusing on more mature elements, which led to a re-tooling of the show halfway through its run to focus on more serialized storytelling rather than its previously episodic approach. Joe Dante, fresh off the success of the Gremlins series, was brought on to direct several episodes, and the show was shot on film instead of tape. Despite these efforts, and perhaps due to the expense of the show, it was canceled after only 18 of its 19 episodes aired.
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.
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.
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 uses the hormones of young people to keep his old clients youthful...and plans on using the boys for his experiments.
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.
Legacy
Alex Hirsch cited the series as an influence on his own Gravity Falls series.
