With news circulating that Buffy The Vampire Slayer is returning, Charlotte Smith-Jarvis looks back on this, and the other summer TV hits of her youth.Ah the 90s…I miss you. While many of us will look back on our childhood with rose-tinted glasses, I genuinely feel like I grew up in one of the best eras for music, TV and film in modern history. Summers were spent playing 40/40 knock and Curbsy. It didn’t seem to get dark until 11pm (a trick of the mind surely). Oasis pumped out of the radio. And the six-week school break stretched before us, full of endless possibilities – and plenty of viewing pleasures.
One of them had to be Buffy The Vampire Slayer- a camped up teen hit which gave us Angel (David Boreanaz), Sarah Michelle Gellar (who went on to do a few films but now sticks to the food business), and American Pie alumni Alyson Hannigan. Oh- it featured the Gold Blend advert man Anthony Head too as vampire slayer Buffy’s ‘watcher’. Forgetting the badly choreographed martial arts, terrible special effects and cheesy romantic sub-plots, it was compulsive viewing in the holidays, airing from 1997 to 2003.
Now it’s having a ‘reboot’. But no, we won’t be seeing Sarah Michelle et al donning leathers and kicking ass again. The new Warner Brothers take on it is allegedly coming to the big screen, produced by Atlas Entertainment (The Dark Knight) and penned by Whit Anderson, most recently noted for her work on Ocean’s Eight.
I can’t help thinking there are other shows I’d have preferred to see on the big screen though. Let’s put those rose-tinted glasses on and travel back in time.
Eerie Indiana 1991 to 1992 and re-aired 1993 to 1996
Not many episodes of Eerie were aired but, it felt like it was around forever. Its blood-curdling, Hammer Horror-inspired theme, off-the-wall subject matter, and bizarre storylines made it an instant classic that my friends and I remember as being one of the best kids programmes ever.
I was especially fond of lead character Marshall Teller, played by Omri Katz, who went on to star in one of my favourite Halloween films of all time, Hocus Pocus, with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker.
The premise was simple. Marshall moves to Eerie, Indiana - a town where Bigfoot and werewolves roam the woods and Elvis is still alive.
Each episode in the short series centres around a myth or legend, seeing Marshall and his new BFF Simon Holmes kicking up dust on their bikes and trying to save the world/town.
It was downright creepy and I watched it under a blanket between devouring Point Horror books.
Of all the TV shows of my childhood, this is the one I’d love to see made into a movie the most.
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