Friday the 13th: The Series

A three season anthology horror series filmed in Toronto during the late eighties which told the story of two cousins and their friend, a specialist in occult research; the threesome chased after cursed antiques which were distributed from their store previously owned by their late Uncle Lewis Vendredi, a strange man who made a pact with the Devil.

Following the departure of the lead actor John D. LeMay at the end of the second season, the void was filled by his replacement Steven Monarque, originally introduced as a recurring character in the second season, and was added to the main cast as the new antique sleuth. The third season was cut short with 20 rather than 26 episodes though the series has made it to syndication and has a small but loyal cult following. John D. LeMay made an outstanding contribution to the series and his character as Ryan Dallion is clearly a favorite of all time among viewers. Ryan was never forgotten and was mentioned in passing by Robey, as Micki Foster, at the beginning of the third season episode "Demon Hunter" and later in "The Long Road Home". As well, footage from the second season episode "Tails I Live Heads You Die" was used at the beginning of the "Bad Penny" episode. It gave the impression that perhaps the character of Ryan would be re-written into the storyline at some point, but to our disappointment, it never happened.

Third season episodes had some of the best story lines, but unevenly distributed script and dialogue. The new character Johnny Ventura was underutilized. He rarely had lines. Too many scenes with two-way conversation only between Jack and Micki with Johnny just sitting in the background. Blame the story editor for this one! This, and lack of proper series closure, renders the third season a weak one.

Very little behind the scenes trivia and info. about the cast and crew are available regarding the series. Audio and/or video interviews would be an invaluable addition that could be presented via DVD release. Unfortunately, there's nothing official or rumored about this for the near future.

When I first heard the name of this series back in 1987 I refused to see it. I assumed it was just about Jason killing different people every week--but with no gore (since this WAS TV). What was the point? But I tuned in one night out of curiosity and was surprised how different it was from the movies--and how much I liked it! It was about some antique owners who have to track down antiques each week that had been sold from their store. It seems their uncle (the previous owner) had made a pact with the Devil and the antiques were cursed. Sounds silly but it really worked. There were some doses of pretty funny humor but this show concentrated on the horror. Also it was pretty gory for a TV show at that time--my station didn't show it till 11:30 at night! The acting was good...but it all started to fall apart after season 2. The main actor left and was replaced by someone who just wasn't as good--the third season was a major disappointment. I think that's what killed the show. Still it was a fun, sometimes scary and a little gory TV show. Recommended.

Friday the 13th was one of Paramount's first entries into first-run syndication (it began the same year as Star Trek/Next Gen), and it quickly proceeded to find its late-night niche. In terms of horror and on-screen gore, it was remarkably graphic. At the same time, it maintained a strong sense of internal continuity, gave us several well-developed main characters, and after a rocky start, weekly presented an imaginative and interesting "cursed" antique. It can still be seen regularly on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Terrific sci-fi horror stories with a campy feel. Some of the episodes are too earnest, but overall a great series. It had the "X-files" feel to it before "X" appeared (some of the plot lines from "X" are directly ripped off from this show and even the theme music is eerily similar).

Especially, if you can, watch the final episodes in which John D. LeMay appears - after he left the show kind of went downhill.

The choice of "Friday the 13th" as the title for this show was probably a major downfall, as a huge number of people (myself included) tuned in to the first show of the series expecting it to be based on the low budget slasher films of the same name. Unfortunately, at that time I was so disappointed and confused to find that it had nothing at all to do with the movies, I turned it off and didn't watch it again for a couple years. (Hey, I was 12 years old)

That said, beyond the title, this was a very good TV show, and very much a predecessor to things like The X Files. It had a similar tone to a lot of the horror/oddball shows of the day (like Tales from the Crypt, Tales From the Darkside, Monsters, etc.), but was the darkest and creepiest of all of them. The main characters, cousins Ryan and Micki played by John D. LeMay and the gorgeous and buxom Louise Robey, don't have any special magic powers or any of that nonsense. In fact, they are quite often frightened themselves when they get in over their heads.

The idea of searching for cursed items and getting them back safely from unsuspecting people is a very original and clever one.

If you manage to see this at some point, look for the first three seasons before LeMay's character was killed off, as Steve Monarque isn't as good and the writing started to go a little downhill as well.