Thursday, June 29, 2006

"Eerie, Indiana"

"To whom it may concern. If you're reading this document, it means I'm either dead - or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. My name is Marshall Teller. Not long ago I was living in New Jersey just across the river from New York City. It was crowded, polluted, and full of crime. I loved it. But my parents wanted a better life for my sister and me - so we moved to a place so wholesome, so squeaky clean, you could only find it on TV. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, my new home town *looks* normal enough, but look again. What's wrong with this picture? The American dream come true, right? Wrong. Nobody believes me, but this is the center of weirdness for the entire planet. Eerie, Indiana. My home sweet home. Still don't believe me? You will."


Reaching again into the vault of my mind, I was reminded of this show that aired in 1991. It had almost a full season complement (19 episodes) before it was cancelled. "Eerie, Indiana" was told from the point of view of Marshall, who kept a diary of all the strange things that happened in Eerie (which, not so ironically, was supposed to be the most normal town in the US). Eerie was a place where Elvis was sited regularly, dogs could sometimes talk (and didn't they *ahem* have a bone to pick) and where people (mostly kids) would sometimes disappear and artificially intelligent ATMs made friends with a little boy and gave him lots of spending money. The show was great and inventive, "Twilight Zone" meets "X-Files" (though X-Files didn't premiere until 1993)...and is actually out on DVD!! While it is currently unknown what plans there were for a second season, I'm sure it would have dealt more with "old" Marshall and how he ended up being able to go into the past (or did he exist at the same time...) and more of the shows mythology.

Welcome to Eerie, Indiana, Population: 16,661.

1 comment:

Ashley said...

oh my gosh, I used to watch this when I was a kid. I haven't thoght of this show in forever.