EERIE, INDIANA: A ONE SEASON TEENAGE VERSION OF X-FILES

[froodle]

Creepy. Weird. Strange. Eerie! Eerie, Indiana was a cool show back in the 90s that could have been considered a teenage version of the X-Files, but it actually aired before the X-Files. The show followed a teenage “weirdness investigator” as he looked into the strange happenings in his small hometown. So, even though X-Files had yet to begin, the show makes you think X-Files meets Goosebumps. The show stars a teenage version of Mulder, but the content isn’t as scary or intense as it's meant more for kids. Since Eerie ran just one season, it’s sadly been mostly forgotten.

When Marshall Teller, the teenage weirdness investigator, moves with his family to Eerie, Indiana, he quickly starts noticing very strange things about the town. Elvis lives there. People disappear. Dogs are trying to take over the world, and the only thing stopping them is their lack of opposable thumbs. Naturally, he and his friends take an interest. They find that Eerie is the center of weirdness for the entire universe.

Helped along by his friends Simon and Dash, the trio investigate each of the weird events of the town. Most often, though the show does attempt to be a family friendly X-Files-type show, the episodes turn a bit comedic. For example, teenage Marshall gets turned into an old man in one episode. In another episode, an AI ATM continually gives money to Marshall, just to be friendly.

Back in the 1991-1992 season, Eerie ran for 18 episodes on NBC. Later, when re-showing on the Disney Channel in 1993, the final unaired episode 19 finally came out. The show once again re-aired in 1997 on Fox Kids where it finally got a bit of a fan following, earning it a spin-off show that was mostly similar to its predecessor.

I’m assuming the show’s lack of ratings were due to difficulties in finding a target audience. Your 18-49 demographic likely would have thought the show a bit silly. Families with kids, though, should have enjoyed it as fun, family viewing, similar to the recent Just Add Magic on Amazon Prime.

I would have thought that, had the show aired on a more kid friendly channel, it would have performed better. Unfortunately, since it re-aired on Disney and Fox Kids and still couldn’t quite cut it, maybe that’s not the case. In the show’s defense, though, airing on kid friendly channels did get a following enough for more episodes to get created in the form of the spin-off. By that point, the creative team which included Joe Dante of Gremlins fame and the shows stars were gone. The spin-off wasn’t to the standard of the original, and its failings can’t prove that the original wouldn’t have fared better as an original on a family friendly network like Disney or Fox Kids.

While the show did posthumously earn a spin-off, the real show should have had the chance to continue. It was a fun and interesting show and, given the chance to find an audience, could have made for a good longer series.