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The Eeriversary is on the 15th of the month and this also marks the start of our annual rewatch. If you'd like to watch along, the R2 DVD is about £15 on eBay or Amazon, and in the US is free to stream for Amazon Prime customers. Check out our "where to watch Eerie Indiana" tag for more options.

We'll be starting with the pilot episode, ForeverWare, on 15 September at 7:30pm BST, and the rest of the schedule is below:


2021:09:15: ForeverWare

2021:09:22: the Retainer

2021:09:29: ATM with a Heart of Gold

2021:10:06: the Losers

2021:10:13: American's Scariest Home Video

2021:10:20: Just Say No Fun

2021:10:27: Heart on a Chain

2021:11:03: Broken Record

2021:11:10: the Dead Letter

2021:11:17: the Lost Hour

2021:11:24: Who's Who

2021:12:01: Marshall's Theory of Believability

2021:12:08: Tornado Day

2021:12:15: Hole in the Head Gang

2021:12:22: Mr. Chaney

2021:12:29: No Brain, No Pain

2022:01:05: Loyal Order of Corn

2022:01:12: Zombies in PJs

2022:01:19: Reality Takes a Holiday
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We're one month out from the Eeriversary and the start of our annual rewatch. If you'd like to watch along, the R2 DVD is about £15 on eBay or Amazon, and in the US is free to stream for Amazon Prime customers. Check out our "where to watch Eerie Indiana" tag for more options.

We'll be starting with the pilot episode, ForeverWare, on 15 September at 7:30pm BST, and the rest of the schedule is below:


2021:09:15: ForeverWare

2021:09:22: the Retainer

2021:09:29: ATM with a Heart of Gold

2021:10:06: the Losers

2021:10:13: American's Scariest Home Video

2021:10:20: Just Say No Fun

2021:10:27: Heart on a Chain

2021:11:03: Broken Record

2021:11:10: the Dead Letter

2021:11:17: the Lost Hour

2021:11:24: Who's Who

2021:12:01: Marshall's Theory of Believability

2021:12:08: Tornado Day

2021:12:15: Hole in the Head Gang

2021:12:22: Mr. Chaney

2021:12:29: No Brain, No Pain

2022:01:05: Loyal Order of Corn

2022:01:12: Zombies in PJs

2022:01:19: Reality Takes a Holiday
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Your themed episodes for the month of May are "Tornado Days" and "Reality Takes a Holiday"
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5. Tobey Maguire Played a Ghost

Before Tobey Maguire learned the Cider House Rules (which were about abortion or something) or re-invigorated then later ruined Spider-Man, he starred in an episode of Eerie, Indiana. In “The Dead Letter” Maguire plays an old-timey clothes-wearing ghost who enlists Marshall’s help in delivering a love letter to his former sweetheart. In a scene that is both touching and creepy, the young man is reunited with his love who is now a haggard old woman– it’s like a scene from Harold and Maude, or Madonna’s life.

4. The Show’s Co-Creator Also Wrote The Motorcycle Diaries

After Eerie, Indiana was cancelled, Jose Rivera (who co-created the show with Karl Schaefer) wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed film The Motorcycle Diaries. While the exploits of the famous Argentine revolutionary and noted T-Shirt logo model Che Guevara might seem like quite a departure from depicting children battling werewolves and zombies, it might interest you to know that Rivera began his career as a celebrated playwright. He also wrote for Family Matters, but you probably find that less impressive.

3. They Rebooted the Show Six Years Later

With the original show finding a new audience through syndication and a series of novelizations, a reboot of the original concept (that could also be considered a spin-off because it’s technically another dimension) was produced. In Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, the original protagonists Marshall and Simon were replaced by their Bizzaro-world equivalents Mitchell and Stanley, played, of course, by entirely different actors. Sadly even the alternate universe iteration of the show lasted only one season.

2. Bob Balaban Directed Several Episodes

While famed director Joe Dante acted as a consultant for the show, and directed many episodes himself, another name you might recognize contributed heavily to Eerie, Indiana. Bob Balaban, who people know mainly for his acting roles in Christopher Guest’s films, Seinfeld, and Gosford Park, just to name a few. But Balaban is also an accomplished director, having helmed feature films such as the insane and underrated Parents, as well as My Boyfriend’s Back, the zombie romantic comedy that came out way, way before that sort of thing became trendy. He has also leant his cinematic chops to a myriad of TV programs including Oz and Tales From the Darkside. He directed three of the nineteen episodes of Eerie, Indiana.

1. It Had the Craziest Final Episode of All Time

Most TV shows try to up their game for the final episode, whether it’s Bob Newhart waking up in bed with his former TV wife, or Breaking Bad doing a bunch of things we’re not allowed to freely talk about on the internet yet. Even shows like The Prisoner or Lost that steered their finales firmly into the surreal didn’t have the chutzpah to do what Eerie, Indiana did. In a sly nod to The Twilight Zone episode “A World of Difference” Marshall discovers a script for a show called “Eerie, Indiana” and suddenly finds himself on the set of a TV show where his entire reality is revealled to be a fiction. His parents and friends are all actors and refer to him as “Omri Katz” (the name of the actor who plays Marshall). It’s probably the most existentially disturbing finale of any TV show, let alone a one intended for kids.
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Way back when, in the time of preteen, Eerie, Indiana was a show that absolutely delighted me. For much of my life, it’s occupated that ill-defined space in my mind of something I remember fondly but also not too well. There was a kid, his town was weird af and it was funny but also suspenseful and mysterious. I figured I’d never really get to understand why I liked it so much — who would have time to watch a children’s show from the ’90s, and how exactly would I watch it??

Then Covid-19 plus Amazon Prime teamed up and gave me a venue and means to re-enter the extraordinary town of Eerie.

Predating X-Files by about two years (though I guess I watched it around ’97 or so) the show is about a malcontent named Marshall (Omri Katz) investigating the strange and supernatural occurrences of his new midwest town. The premise is wide and the plot is episodic, but there’s a snappy continuity to the show that makes for wonderful worldbuilding. Anything can happen in Eerie, from alien visits, to deals with demons, warped alternate dimensions, sentient tornados and erranding for Old Timey Ghost Tobey McGuire. The show starts to crackle once The Kid with the Gray Hair (Jason Marsden) shows up about halfway in, and the first season ends with one of the very best episodes of I’ve ever seen, of anything, across all TV (seriously), “Reality Takes a Holiday.”

Then, apparently, Eerie, Indiana got canceled.

That’s the most interesting part of my binge watch, I suppose. For a decade or so I thought I had just stopped watching the show because the timeslot had changed or maybe I just watched less TV one year to the next and fell off, but no, the reason my memory of it stopped so abruptly is because the show did as well. What a shame though, huh? The adventures of Marshall and his sidekick Simon (Justin Shenkarow) operate under a formula that grounds the viewer but promotes ingenuity in plot. Nothing ever gets too serious, and there’s a tenor to it that allows the main duo to travel all the way to the edge of insanity and safely back. There are creative choices in this show that amaze me, like when a movie mummy is accidentally pulled out of the TV, but instead of a shuffling monster Mars and Simon find themselves saddled with a really confused actor. An episode in particular that I must shoutout is “The Lost Hour” which stuck with me for two decades. It’s a time-travel adventure with a bold twist that expanded my sense of story and possibility. I’m glad I got to come back around to Eerie, Indiana. It’s not next-level good good, but without a doubt one of the better single season shows out there.
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