Baltimore Sun on Eerie Indiana

[froodle]

The new TV season begins with blasts from the past. Even the one show that's something new, "Eerie, Indiana," on NBC Sunday night, makes fun of the '50s in its debut.

"Eerie, Indiana": Now here's a welcome bit of inventiveness. NBC's "Eerie, Indiana," which begins its 7:30 Sunday night run this weekend on Channel 2 (WMAR), is like stumbling across "The Twilight Zone" in a 13-year-old's post-modern imagination.

Marshall Teller, played by "Dallas" veteran Omri Katz, has just moved from New Jersey to this Midwest burg. Where everyone else sees absurd normalcy, he sees absurd absurdity. In the pilot, he and a buddy break up a sinister ring of housewives selling a Tupperware-like product with a cult-like fanaticism.

Teller's family is played totally against sitcom type without resorting to silly caricatures. The mother's a domestic klutz, the father a remote bumbler. It's up to Marshall and his 10-year-old friend Simon, played by Justin Shenakarow, to save these people from their blind spots.

"Eerie, Indiana" is a true post-"Simpsons" show, funny and pointed at the same time, comic commentary on contemporary life for all ages. But remember, keep your eyes open at all times. Elvis might be alive and well in Eerie.