I have fond memories of Eerie, Indiana (1991-1992), although I'm not sure how many episodes I actually saw. Maybe just one: it aired on NBC on Sunday nights, against a block of must-see sitcoms on Fox: Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Herman's Head, and Married...with Children.
What I remember is: teenagers Marshall Teller (Omri Katz) and Simon Holmes (Justin Shenkerow) are gay-subtext buddies who investigate humorous paranormal mysteries: a mother uses magical tupperware to keep her sons from aging for 30 years; a boy they are babysitting gets trapped in a old horror movie on tv; an ATM machine becomes sentient and showers Simon with money. The mysterious Dash X (Jason Marsden) seems to be the key to the ongoing mystery, but the series ends before it is resolved.
Omri Katz (top photo) went on to star in the Halloween classic Hocus Pocus (1993) and the gay-themed Journey into Night (2002) before retiring from acting. I assume he's gay in real life.
Justin Shenkarow went on to star in Picket Fences (1992-1996), and do lot of voice work. This is the only beefcake photo I could find on his Instagram. There are also about 1,000 photos of him and his mother and none of anyone else, so I assume that he's gay in real life, too.
Bob and I have recently been watching/re-watching Eerie, Indiana, and it's completely different from what I remember.
1. Marshall is hetero-horny. It seems like he gets all dopey over a girl every other episode.
2. Marshall gets all dopey over a boy in every other episode, too. Simon just sits and smiles while Marshall dumps him for the teen hunk du jour: Gabrial Damon, Cory Danzinger, Tobey Maguire, Scott Weinger, and finally Jason Marsden. At the end of the episode, when the boy dies, gets zapped into an alternate reality, or just vanishes from the narrative, Simon quietly takes him back.
But when Simon dumps Marshall for a pair of older boys, Marshall gets jealous and tells himself "This isn't like Simon! He must be brainwashed!"
3. The tone shifts from humorous to somber at the drop of an episode. People die, quite often. A boy is being abused by his father.. A girl is homeless. A man is mentally ill. When you tune in, you never know if you're going to get a sitcom or an After School Special.
4. Marshall's 17-year old sister Syndi (Julie Condry) seems to be in another series. We keep getting snippets of telephone conversations or off-hand comments about things going on in her life, but nothing is ever developed. In her only B-plot, she thinks that she might want to become a police officer, but her surprisingly old-fashioned parents nix the idea: too dangerous for a girl. So she changes to firefighter.
5. Marshall's parents (Mary-Margaret Humes, Francis Guinan) are absurdly wacky, authoritarian, or caring and hugging, depending on the needs of the episode, but at least Francis Guinan is cute. He has 88 film/tv credits on IMDB< and has done a lot of live theater in Chicago, including some plays with gay themes.
He's one of the older guys in a bathrobe in this shot from the stage play Penelope.
Eerie, Indiana is not the show I remember from 1991. It has even more gay texts and subtexts.
See also: Eerie, Indiana: Omri Katz, Paranormal Investigator
I remember the mood whiplash. 90s shows of course were in the "everybody's straight" phase of kids' TV. Some stridently so.
ReplyDeleteThe example I always use is Batman: The Animated Series, just because it took a man who at this point was canon bi in the comics (Robin) and a woman who was just getting her lesbian subtext going (Batgirl) didn't bother that their relationship was more like siblings and just paired them together, then threw it all away when Batman knocked her up.
Power Rangers was the grossest one: Gay actor, character named after the guy who harasses him for it, and make him the biggest chad on the show.
It's always interesting to go back and see shows and movies we liked as children- as adults we notice subtext that was not clear when we were younger- Jonny Quest has two dads for example or the tightness of Robert Conrad's pants in "The Wild Wild West"
ReplyDeleteI was a little late for Jonny Quest, but I did see it on Cartoon Network.
DeleteWhat about the Flintstones? Bamm-Bamm is actually an alien. And Barney always seemed more interested in Fred than in Betty.
TV Guide gave it a "Can't Miss" review in their fall preview guide that year.
ReplyDeleteHave this on DVD, I whip it out on occasion, still enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteOmri is married to a woman and has at least one child. (Doesn’t man he’s not gay, but at least either bi or closeted, which I would think a hairdresser would be open to whatever he is)
There'w no wife or kid mentioned on Wikipedia or IMDB.
DeleteHe has a Facebook and Instagram page. He also runs a dispensary or something now.
DeleteCan't find a lot about Justin, but he was on Millionaire Matchmaker, saying he had trouble relating to women due to growing up in the industry.... Maybe there's some other reason.