September 20, 1991 Santa Cruz Sentinel reviews Eerie, Indiana

[froodle]

'Eerie, Indiana,' NBC's oasis of quality in a strange year.

WELCOME TO EERIE, Indiana. Population: 16,661. Things look normal on the surface here. In fact, this is where advertisers come to test products on a supposedly "average" small town. Look closer, though, and things seem a bit ... strange. The Postman carries a gun. There's a guy living down the block who looks and talks just like an aging Elvis. A large shaggy monster - Big-foot? - rummages through trash cans in the early morning hours. And behind closed doors, a mother who sells plastic "Foreverwear" containers vacuum-packs her twin sons in for a good night's sleep each evening, preserving their youth.

It's kind of a "Twin Peaks" for kids and it's all about what happens when a young boy moves to town and begins discovering all the strange things going on here. Directed by Joe Dante, the show has just enough satirical bite to attract adults and enough spooky thrills to wow the kids.

The catch is that you never know whether all the strange stuff is going on in the kids' head or if it's really happening. It may be the best new show of the season. But, as always here in Eerie, things don't quite make sense. Instead of giving the show a prime slot, NBC has placed "Eerie, Indiana" at 7:30 p.m. on Sundays, opposite the mega-hit "60 Minutes" on CBS. A suicide slot where no show has survived in recent years.