Gonna admit, I am being lazy and just reviewing two episodes at once here and I watched them back in April, and honestly I didn't want to watch them again, even though these are 20 minutes long.
It kind of dawned on me that not only is a monumental waste of time, but also a show aimed at children, and I am almost 30 years old.
That being said, I want to get through it so that I wont feel bad when I start reviewing important stuff like the Final Destination franchise or all the WWE DVD's on Netflix. So back to the show.
Episode 2: The Retainer
Again, I am not not going to go back and watch this again so all I can really remember is that this episode was not quite as atmospheric as the old episode. It is also clearly aimed at kids. If the first episode was to get parents to maybe watch as well, they abandoned that as quick as episode two. This episode is about a creepy dentist (played by the late Vincent Schiavelli, who was always creepy) who is installing retainers in kids that can make them hear dog's thoughts or some shit, I don't really remember much other than the talking dogs. If memory serves, they dog's were trying to take over the world and they might have eaten Marshall and Simon's fat friend. Like I said, this one was clearly aimed more at kid's but it was still directed by Joe Dante, so I am not sure what direction they wanted to go here. I could see this on a Saturday morning, or on Nickelodeon or the Family Channel (is that still a thing?) but at 7:30 on a Sunday night on NBC? That is pushing it.
Episode 3: The ATM with the Heart of Gold
Okay, we are really going off the deep end now. This episode wasn't even eerie. It could have just been called Indiana, and trust me, I live here, that would not be a show worth watching. So Marshall's dad creates an ATM machine that can feel human emotions for some reason. There is even a big unveiling held at the bank where the machine is installed...that actually does sound like something that would happen in Indiana. We are entertained easily. Well, the ATM gets his feelings hurt because no one will talk to him. Let me type that again, the ATM gets his fucking feelings hurt because no one will talk to him. Again, I am forgetting the shows reasoning behind making an ATM with human emotions, but I am pretty sure it was just as dumb as anything you can think of. Anyway, Simon's parents parents are apparently giant pieces of shit because he is always over at Marshall's house on account of their constant fighting. For reasons I can't remember Simon becomes friends with the ATM (see why I had trouble coming back to these?) and the ATM basically bankrupts the town. Also, this episode could have been called Dipshit, Indiana, because no one can seem to put two and two together when all the bank's money is gone but an eight year old kid can suddenly afford to buy a car and hookers. Okay, he might not have bought hookers, but it has been a few months. Eventually everything get's resolved and the town get's all its money back
I know this is a kid's show, but with three episode's in, i was hoping for a little more continuity or character development at this point. We are randomly introduced to people that never appear again like the fat kid that may or may not have been eaten by dog's and we still have no explanation as to why Simon and Marshall are such good buddies or why no one else in this town thinks that anything strange is going on other than these two kids. What is particularly bothersome about Simon is that as far as I can tell, he has lived there his entire life, so it is obviously noticeable that something is up in this town even if you are a native.
Maybe I am just spoiled by how serialized popular shows have become in the past ten years or so and can't really remember shows like this being so episodic. But even shows like the X-Files, that later became too bogged down in its own serialized mythology, still had great stand alone episodes and even early episodes had a developing relationship between the two leads. With Eerie, Indiana I just feel like I am thrown into this world with no explanation. Again, I am talking a show where a fucking talking ATM became best friends with a preteen boy and gave him money, so maybe I am asking for too much.
Okay, I have three more episodes that I watched today, so I am going to aim to get those done this weekend and then I can more on to more mature stuff like season three of Deadliest Warrior.
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