Country Estates

Country Estates was an example of the frustration one might experience after reeling in "A big one" only to lose it just before pulling it out of the water. You are left with the only the memory of what you might have had. I was fortunate enough to have recorded this brief moment of quality TV and I had been intrigued by the David Lynch-ian twists expressed in the plot-line. Such twists created an atmosphere of surface normality while disguising the underlying 'reality' that hinted of evil. All the points laid out in the episode appeared to be setting the stage for future development (as they should), but we will never know. The opening scenes introduce us to a family that has suffered the loss of one of its members. This son appears as a spirit revisiting the family, his observations are then shared with the viewer. A novel, The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold offers a similar vehicle for expression.

This was only a Pilot episode that aired only once on ABC in the summer of 1993, on a Saturday night. It was not listed in TV GUIDE except as "To Be Announced".

"Country Estates" also starred Jon Polito. In this one quirky hour, a teenage boy and his family moved to the suburb of Country Estates. He met the girl, "Heather", as well as another kid who rode a motorcycle.

One night the boy witnessed a murder next door to him, but afterwards it was as if nothing happened. This show felt like a more mature "Eerie Indiana".

Though I saw it just once, *25* years ago, I enjoyed the above-average script writing, and thought to myself "this is too highbrow to survive"... it was after all, the pilot for a SERIES, not a made-for-TV movie. As such there were several deliberate "stay tuned" type cliff-hangers at the end.

IIRC, one of the plot threads was a corrupt cop/sheriff's deputy who'd done many dodgy deeds to be able to afford buying a house in the desirable neighorhood/development known by the name 'Country Estates', which is a rather banal name by So-Cal standards. (IIRC the fictional 'burb was East of L.A... "in the valley"...)

Anyway, my premonition was, sadly, spot-on, and no further episodes were forthcoming. My thirst for intrigue was forced elsewhere... pity. ;')