Eerie, Indiana (1991)

Original Air Dates: October 27, 1991 and April 12, 1992
Run Time: 24 mins apiece

The short-lived TV series “Eerie, Indiana” will always have a special place in my heart. A mix of sci-fi/ supernatural/ mystery genres aimed at young adults, “Eerie” was definitely ahead of its time when it premiered on NBC in 1991, a full two years before the “adult” show its most compared to, “The X-Files.” Since it was not only released in the prime of my adolescence (I was a young, bright-eyed lad of 13 when the show first aired) but also took place in and made reference to my home state right in the title, I was easily hooked. Like so many fond remembrances from our youth, however, a reconnection with this series as an adult has sadly shown me that my memories of the show were viewed through rose-colored glasses.

“Eerie” follows a young boy named Marshall Teller, who moves with his family to Eerie (population 16,661, whether this was before or after his family joined the community is unclear, natch), a small town in Indiana with some seriously strange goings-on. While my understanding is that Eerie was not specifically based on the template of any one town, its name was obviously a play on the real-life town of Erie, Indiana, although I haven’t found any information or documentation that the real-life town embraced its fictitious counterpart in any way.