Today was a mammoth DVD release day, loaded with all sorts of "super-expanded editions" of major films and full season sets of various TV shows. But the big highlight of the day -- particularly given that Halloween is less than a week around the corner -- was the release of the complete series American Gothic on DVD.
This was where I first saw Gary Cole, before he was the boss in "Office Space," or the captain on the not-so-good Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade, or "Bingo Bob" Russell on The West Wing, etc. Here, he played a manifestation of pure evil on Earth. And he did so masterfully. He made the show. I believe there was a little bit of an ongoing storyline, but now, 10 years after it aired on TV, I can't really remember any of it. I just remember what a delight it was to tune in and watch Sheriff Lucas Buck be purely, diabolically evil every week.
I have fond memories of a play I was in rehearsals for at the time, where half the cast and crew was hopelessly addicted to American Gothic. Every week, we'd come in taunting each other with the show's recurring tagline ("someone's at the door"), and gossiping about the perversely delightful evils that the sheriff was up to this week. I'm still friends with a couple of people who worked on that play, and we're all very psyched to watch "our show" again. One friend in particular tries to budget only one TV DVD a month, and she has resolved that American Gothic is the one for this month.
Ah, it takes me back.
3 comments:
Coincidentally enough, a few days ago I was just thinking about this show but for the life of me couldn't remember the name. I'll have to add the DVD to my amazon.com wishlist.
You did watch the second half of Crusade, didn't you? That's the part JMS wanted to show first and was actually pretty good.
Yeah, I did watch all of Crusade, and did get the vibe that it was juuuuust starting to head somewhere meaningful and interesting. But it really didn't get there before cancellation.
Of course, Babylon 5 itself was mostly pretty bad in its first season.
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