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Eerie, Indiana

Entry updated 10 November 2023. Tagged: TV.

US tv series (1991-1992). Cosgrove/Meurer Productions for NBC-TV. Created by José Rivera. Produced by Rivera, Walter Barnett, Michael Cassutt. Directors included Bob Balaban, Joe Dante, and Mark Goldblatt. Writers included Cassutt, Matt Dearden. Cast includes Julia Condra, Francis Guinan, Mary-Margaret Humes, Omri Katz and Justin Shenkarow. Nineteen 30-minute episodes. Colour.

When the Tellers (Guinan and Humes) move to the small town of Eerie, Indiana, their twelve-year-old son Marshall (Katz) soon learns that it more than lives up to its name. Along with his best friend Simon Holmes (Shenkarow), Marshall encounters numerous bizarre phenomena. These include a pair of twin boys living next door who have been kept young by sleeping in Tupperware-like preserving containers called "Foreverware" (see Immortality; Suspended Animation); a revolt of intelligent dogs at the local animal shelter which leads to an ironic end for the head caretaker; a Monster film which draws Simon into its reality for a time; and a young girl who seems possessed by the spirit of the boy whose donated heart she received (see Identity Transfer). Rarely able to get anyone to believe them, the two boys keep what little evidence they can gather in the Marshalls' attic. The series featured many more offbeat stories in similar sf/supernatural vein, with frequent Horror Cinema and Recursive SF in-jokes.

Eerie, Indiana can fairly be described as a combination of the surreal Twin Peaks (1990-1991), airing around the same time in the US, and The Twilight Zone (1955-1964; 1985-1987). Not initially popular despite a good critical reception, it gained more of a following after repeat showings on the Disney Channel in the late 1990s. This led to a sequel series: the 15 episodes of Eerie, Indiana – The Other Dimension (1998) featured another youngster in the town having a similar succession of experiences, but was not successful. [GSt]

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