TV Tuesdays: Eerie, Indiana (1991-1992)

In our sporadic feature, known as TV Tuesdays, we take a long look at short-lived television shows. Some may have been forgotten for good reason, while others just might have been prematurely killed by impatient networks. Every week, we will review an episode of said show, in chronological order, from beginning to end. At the end of the series, we'll summarize our thoughts on the show as a whole, giving it a final score. Without further adieu, let's get started with the intro for our next televised failure.

If you walked up to any given person and asked them what they thought of the non-hit early nineties television show “Eerie, Indiana”, you would probably get a lot of blank stares and confused looks. After all, you'd be referring to the show that finished 94th out of 98 shows in terms of viewership that season...to say that it didn't even register on most people's radar still sounds like we're putting it mildly. It's one of those shows that was virtually destined to disappear from the moment it aired.

I would have been like everyone else had my mom and I somehow caught wind of it in the early going. I honestly can't say for sure how many episodes I saw—after all, it's been over two decades since it aired, and I was only 7 years old at the time—but we never forgot the debut episode, in which a woman keeps her twin sons “fresh”, and young, by sealing them in life-size plastic food containers every night. Was every episode this unabashedly weird and over-the-top?  That is the kind of question that brought me back to this creepy little city exactly 25 years after the last first-run episode aired.

Unsurprisingly, the show never took off, and was axed after just one nineteen-episode season (though, rather curiously, an equally short-lived spinoff entitled “Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension” was produced just six years later). However, time has been somewhat kind to the series...although it's still not well-known, it has received quite a few loving nostalgic revisits via bloggers and was even mentioned in a list of the 50 Scariest TV Shows of All Time by Complex.com (a baffling mention since many episodes are simply lighthearted and bizarre, but hey, press is press!). A 2003 DVD release no doubt brought it to the attention of others, but has since gone out of print, with prices hitting $50 or more for the entire series.

Was this show the youngsters answer to “Twin Peaks” as it is frequently touted? Or has time rightfully buried a show that deserved the rather abrupt fate that it got? We'll find out, together, over the course of the next nineteen weeks, as I take a look at an episode every Tuesday until no more remain. Join me, won't you?

TV Tuesdays: Perversions of Science (1997)

In our sporadic feature, known as TV Tuesdays, we take a long look at short-lived television shows. Some may have been forgotten for good reason, while others just might have been prematurely killed by impatient networks. Every week, we will review an episode of said show, in chronological order, from beginning to end.  At the end of the series, we'll summarize our thoughts on the show as a whole, giving it a final score.  Without further adieu, let's get started with the intro for our next televised failure.

I stumbled across “Perversions of Science” as a horny, teenaged boy way back when the series first aired. As a kid, I never had access to cable at home, because my mom never wanted to pay for it (looking back, she probably couldn't afford to).  But then I got a babysitting job watching two neighbors down the street, who happened to have HBO. Thankfully, by the time these episodes aired, in the wee hours of the morning, the kids would always be asleep--unfortunately, in most cases, so would I. Nevertheless, I always tried to stay up to watch it every night that I knew it was on.

To put it bluntly, “Perversions of Science” was a pretty bad show, at least, from what I remember. Even my fifteen-year-old self remembers the general cheesiness of the costumes and prosthetic effects, not to mention the ‘90s era CGI which looks awful when compared to the computer effects of today (which still look completely unconvincing, though in a much different way). I almost always ended up disappointed at the utter lack of violence and/or nudity across most episodes, which always struck me as kind of odd; it's a show, made for a network known for pushing the boundaries, that absolutely refused to push any of its own. I wasn't shocked when it came to an end after only one ten-episode season, and, like most everyone else who had seen it (a number that could probably fit into one city bus), had blocked out its very existence from my mind by the time I hit my twenties.

Despite my personal, teenaged memories that I have of the show, I must confess that I'm still rather shocked that this series has never had an official DVD release. In the age of the Internet, where everything is available at the push of a button, I'm also kind of surprised that “Perversions of Science” has still been relegated to cable television obscurity. Could a show that was produced by the likes of Walter Hill, Robert Zemeckis, Joel Silver, and Richard Donner really be all that bad? Tobe Hooper and Walter Hill even direct episodes, for goodness sakes!  What about a show with the acting talents of Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Combs, Keith Carradine, and Jason Lee? (Seriously, this show will probably set a record for the number of times you'll exclaim, “Where have I seen that guy/girl before?”)  I would think HBO could make some money selling units (and rentals) just by putting all the famous people involved with it on the front cover; it really reads as a who's-who of horror and cult films.

I guess I'm about to find out the answers to all of these questions, and more.  I must admit that this little journey will be my second attempt: I burnt them to a few DVDs a while back after downloading them online (remember, this has still never been officially released to DVD), and after watching two of the episodes, I was disinterested and my wife was bored out of her mind, so we just kind of let them fall by the wayside. This time, I've learned my lesson and am going through the entire series by myself, to prevent problems like that from cropping up again.

Almost twenty years after it originally aired, is the world finally ready for “Perversions of Science”? Or is the series' lack of an official release merely HBO's attempt at covering up a catastrophic failure? Let's dive in and see for ourselves...

TV Tuesdays: Cop Rock (1990)

In our new feature, TV Tuesdays, we will be taking a look at forgotten, short-lived television shows.   Some may have been forgotten for good reason, while others just might have been prematurely killed by impatient networks.  Every week, we will review an episode of said show, in chronological order, from beginning to end.  Without further adieu, let's kick things off with an introduction that was supposed to be posted yesterday.

SERIES INTRODUCTION: COP ROCK

Unlike many of the television shows that I plan to revisit for the sake of this blog, I never witnessed an episode of “Cop Rock” during its initial run.  This is due, in large part, to my age at the time (six years old), but probably an equal amount to the fact that no one really watched it during its initial run.  It sputtered through eleven episodes before being unceremoniously dumped by ABC (and I’m honestly quite surprised that it even made it that far.)

So why did I take a keen interest to watching it for the first time?  Easy.  History is rife with examples of television shows that were axed before their prime, ones that were never given ample time to resonate with viewers, or to wrap up key narratives.  We all know the typical examples of this--”Firefly” and “Freaks and Geeks” to name just two of the more obvious ones--but with all the series’ that have come and gone, it’s only a matter of common sense that some gems still remain forgotten.  I figured “Cop Rock” might end up being one of them, a show so bold and ahead of its time that it merely slipped through the cracks.

Oh, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the entire premise also played a crucial role in gaining my interest: As the title alludes, this is a cop show, but with added song and dance numbers.  Let that sink in your head for a moment, because it gets even more astonishing: It’s completely serious.  This isn’t a spoof of cop shows with ridiculous song and dance numbers used for comedic effect--it actually tries to be a gritty look at police procedurals, with serious musical interludes attempting to drive home that point.

My interest only grew after watching a clip on YouTube entitled “He’s Guilty”, in which we learn the verdict of a drug dealer via a pop-up song and dance: the jurors suddenly become gospel singers, while the court reporter lifts up his desk to reveal a keyboard.  It’s all so absurdly idiotic at first, until it sets in that the song is actually really pretty good, its bizarre presentation only heightening the appeal.  With this, I was convinced; all it took was playing the same song to my wife for her to get excited, too.

Of further interest: It was actually co-created by the one and only Stephen Bochco, he of “Hill Street Blues” fame.  Just given its poor reception amongst critics (TV Guide picked this as #8 in a list of worst television shows of all time), I’m actually surprised that he was allowed to continue working in the industry in the face of having his name on such a bona fide bomb, but it’s a good thing he was:  He would go on to create the wildly-successful “NYPD Blue” just three years later, showing that, when he actually listened to his better judgment, he was capable of creating runaway hits.

Since this is the first show we’ll be taking a look at, here are some details about how it will work: Starting today, we will be unleashing individual episode reviews every Tuesday, until we’ve taken a look at all eleven episodes.  If my calculation is correct, the final episode will actually be posted on May 17th, which also happens to be the same day the official DVD release hits store shelves (note that I am not affiliated with that project in any way, shape, or form, instead opting to watch the series on YouTube)!  Following the last episode, there will be a brief recap of what I thought of the series as a whole, and then that will be that.  Then I’ll take a break of unspecified length before moving on to the next television show.

So why don't you stick around, because we're going to be kicking things off with “Cop Rock” and its first episode, conveniently titled “Pilot” here within the next couple of hours! 

In the meantime, here's the video that sucked me in to this whole project...

"HE'S GUILTY"