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American Gothic, 1995 TV show

calamity

calamity

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Anyone out there ever see this American Gothic TV series? It's a show based in a small South Carolina town called Trinity, very occult-like. Probably ahead of its time, as it would be more suited for FX today than CBS of old. CBS aired the show for a partial season.

One of the main characters is a little kid (same one who played "the boy" in Swing Blade). It's all about him and the town's sheriff (played by Gary Cole, from Veep, Midnight Caller and Office Space), who is the bad guy--although, he is rather likable sometimes---and his attempts to corrupt him. A young Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story) plays a ghost of the boy's older sister who was murdered by the sheriff.

AG was given the boot after only one season, even though a lot of people thought it was great. But, CBS treated it like a red headed step child. They skipped episodes and switched times or simply didn't show it when it was scheduled to be broadcast, sometimes for weeks at a time. It's pretty obvious they killed the show intentionally, maybe due to complaints by Southern evangelicals. The show definitely did not put "Southern values" in a good light.

I just bought the box set after watching several episodes on YouTube. I saw a couple of them back in '95 and really liked the show. But, I never found it again. I guess it was on Sci Fi for a season or two, but I missed that.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone here saw the show, and I'm curious to know what you thought of it.
 
I remember it but rather vaguely having seen a few shows but not the entire series. I do recall that it was interesting and something different.

For what I remember - plus your description and reading about it - I have to agree with you that it was ahead of its time by a good decade or more. Think about this - CBS has CRIMINAL MINDS - which next to HANNIBAL may be one of the most vile and violent series very put on TV. I mean it drove one of its stars, Mandy Patinkin - from the show after only two years because he could not take the darkness. But its now one of their big dramas and does very well for a decade.
 
haymarket said:
I remember it but rather vaguely having seen a few shows but not the entire series. I do recall that it was interesting and something different.

For what I remember - plus your description and reading about it - I have to agree with you that it was ahead of its time by a good decade or more. Think about this - CBS has CRIMINAL MINDS - which next to HANNIBAL may be one of the most vile and violent series very put on TV. I mean it drove one of its stars, Mandy Patinkin - from the show after only two years because he could not take the darkness. But its now one of their big dramas and does very well for a decade.
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CM is very well done, indeed. It uses a lot of professionals from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies as consultants and, as a result, it goes where few shows dare to tread. Gothic was much more Stephen King like. In fact, I see a lot of SK rip-offs in the series, as the sheriff reminds me a lot of the "walking man" villain in The Stand.

I just finished watching an episode which copied a lot of the 1991 Cape Fear movie, right down to the pony tail on the guy released from prison. It broke away from that plot line though in significant ways, which made it unique to the American Gothic theme. Instead of the ex-convict getting revenge on a dirty lawyer, he was getting it on the guy who really molested his daughter, as the story makes clear that the convict murdered the wrong man when he shot the person he thought was molesting her. But, I digress.
 
calamity said:
Anyone out there ever see this American Gothic TV series? It's a show based in a small South Carolina town called Trinity, very occult-like. Probably ahead of its time, as it would be more suited for FX today than CBS of old. CBS aired the show for a partial season.

One of the main characters is a little kid (same one who played "the boy" in Swing Blade). It's all about him and the town's sheriff (played by Gary Cole, from Veep, Midnight Caller and Office Space), who is the bad guy--although, he is rather likable sometimes---and his attempts to corrupt him. A young Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story) plays a ghost of the boy's older sister who was murdered by the sheriff.

AG was given the boot after only one season, even though a lot of people thought it was great. But, CBS treated it like a red headed step child. They skipped episodes and switched times or simply didn't show it when it was scheduled to be broadcast, sometimes for weeks at a time. It's pretty obvious they killed the show intentionally, maybe due to complaints by Southern evangelicals. The show definitely did not put "Southern values" in a good light.

I just bought the box set after watching several episodes on YouTube. I saw a couple of them back in '95 and really liked the show. But, I never found it again. I guess it was on Sci Fi for a season or two, but I missed that.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone here saw the show, and I'm curious to know what you thought of it.
Click to expand...

It was one of my favorite shows of the '90s. I now live where it was shot, and know where all of the locations are.

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