Eerie, Indiana - General Discussion

[MusubiMyHomie]

I was a teen when this show first aired on NBC from 1991 to 1992, but I never watched it until now, and I'm enjoying it.

Lionsgate, which currently owns the show, has posted Eerie, Indiana's entire run on YouTube for free with ads. I watch everything on YouTube with an ad blocker, so Eerie, Indiana is commercial-free, thank fuck.

It's basically Kolchak: The Night Stalker—[Tim Robbins in The Hudsucker Proxy voice] but for kids!—and with a new-to-the-neighborhood teen paperboy instead of a washed-up, middle-aged reporter in a wrinkled seersucker suit as the hero who uncovers supernatural crises and tries to put a stop to them.

I'm not familiar with the Roger Corman era and the Howling era of Joe Dante, but I like the original Piranha and a lot of his movies from that whole stretch that lasted from the first Gremlins to Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Dante didn't create Eerie, Indiana, but he directed five episodes and was its creative consultant, so a lot of the suburban horror comedy vibe I like so much about the first Gremlins, The 'Burbs, and the "Kirsten Dunst in peril" section of Small Soldiers is present on this show.

I finished watching the entire run of Deep Space Nine for the first time last year, so because of that, I'm looking forward to the episode later on in Eerie, Indiana's run where the late Rene Auberjonois guest-starred as the Donald—a Satanic antagonist whom the writers based on none other than Donald Trump.

I just watched the third episode, which Dante didn't direct, but it's my favorite episode so far. It's about a sentient ATM that bonds with Simon, Marshall the paperboy's lonely nine-year-old best friend—played by future Picket Fences cast member Justin Shenkarow—by gifting him so much money that it ends up bankrupting the town of Eerie.

I ran into an old blog that reviewed every Eerie, Indiana episode in detail. It's called The Eerie Examiner, and I like that its reviewer, and not just me, noticed a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sight gag in the ATM episode about how sleazy and creepy Gregory Itzin's character—Mr. Chisel, the boss at the bank that's experimenting with sentient ATMs—is when he's not in public:

Quote

Syndi answers the phone and starts having a very flirty conversation with whoever is on the line.  A few moments later, she hands the phone to her dad:  "It's Mr. Chisel."

After the ATM episode, I heard an audio commentary Shenkarow recorded about the episode for a podcast called Ready 2 Retro. I wanted to hear the commentary simply to get clarification that the actor who starred as Marshall's dad did a dual role as the dad and the Max Headroom-inspired ATM—Shenkarow confirmed that he played both parts—and I was pleased to hear that Shenkarow has fond memories of Eerie, Indiana and that its set wasn't a rotten experience for him. (A lot of these sitcom sets can be rotten experiences for child actors.) I wasn't too thrilled to find out from the commentary that Shenkarow turned into an NFT bro though.

I don't want to see someone revive Eerie, Indiana because Hollywood is too dependent these days on old IPs—Eerie, Indiana has already been revived twice in the forms of a much cheaper, Canadian-made sequel show that was set in an alternate-universe Eerie and a series of YA novels—but if the show gets a reboot, it ought to do an episode about how evil NFTs are.

Edited April 29, 2023 by MusubiMyHomie
I forgot that my complete DS9 rewatch ended last year right before DS9 left Netflix, not this year. Stupid me.

[EtheltoTillie]

Oh we loved this!  We were nerdy adults when it aired. 

[JAYJAY1979]

I was a kid when it aired... on Sunday nights on NBC I believe.

One of those shows that would have thrived on syndication, or if it debuted a few years later.

[Tom Holmberg]

Good series.  Maybe too good.  If you haven't watched it, try "Middleman" (2008), another series that ended too soon.

[MusubiMyHomie]

9 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

"Middleman" (2008), another series that ended too soon.

That show was sheer elegance in its simplicity.