A good number of shows have come and gone, that shouldn’t have gone. Back in 1995, a creepy little series called “American Gothic” aired and caught my attention with the eerily whispered line, “Someone’s at the door…” The series revolved around the town of Trinity South Carolina, which was run by a rather evil sheriff by the name of Lucas Buck (Gary Cole). Everyone toed the line when it came to Buck’s requests for fear not only of their lives, but of horrors unimaginable. One of the few people who dare to stand up to him is a young boy by the name of Caleb (Lucas Black), who blames the sheriff for the death of his sister Merlyn (Sarah Paulson). I think I already mentioned that “American Gothic” was extremely creepy, and it came as a huge surprise to me back when it originally aired that it was produced by Shaun Cassidy. That’s right, the squeaky clean 1970’s teen idol responsible for the remake of the song “Da Doo Ron Ron” and played one of the Hardy Boys in the series of the same name.

Currently he is responsible for the series “Invasion”, which I have yet to watch. “American Gothic” was somewhat of a ghost story, with Caleb’s sister visiting him, with semi-religious overtones as you sometime had the impression that the sheriff was really the devil in disguise.

Casting Gary Cole in the role of the sheriff was a work of genius, Cole being the underrated actor that he is. As a character actor, he has a chameleon-like ability to portray any type of role thrown at him. He is as easily at home delivering a drop dead perfect imitation of Robert Reed in “The Brady Bunch Movie” as he is a Latin spy in the (otherwise horrible) remake of “I Spy.” In the role of Sheriff Buck, he offers a smooth and friendly outer core when he needs to be politically correct, but exudes a malevolent evil that seems be bubbling just underneath the surface. Then when he cuts loose with his anger, he becomes a truly terrifying character.

Lucas Black, as Caleb does a fine job as Buck’s foil, and when the two have scenes together they are powerful. Black was just off the shoot of “Sling Blade” when he got this role, and while the two are similar it worked perfectly for this series. The other of the more interesting characters was played by Brenda Bakke. As Selena Coombs, she was Buck’s… lover… and she portrays her role with a wicked (and often unsettling) relish.

I was completely drawn into “American Gothic” but was frustrated by the CBS’ inability to air the series in any kind of order. Episodes bounced around or were pre-empted, making the overall plot incomprehensible unless you were paying attention enough to extrapolate and figure out for yourself what was going on. I had most of the episodes recorded, so I was able to work them out on my own, but wasn’t ever able to get all of them.

The news that Universal was releasing the entire series on DVD was awesome, and when the set arrived I couldn’t wait to start watching it over again after so many years. Unfortunately, for some reason they followed CBS’ example by putting them on the discs out of order (more than likely they followed air date orders) and if you don’t know which ones to watch they can get a bit confusing. I opted to list the episodes below not in the order they are on the discs, but in the order you should watch them. Keep this list handy if you decide to but the set.

Aside form this little nitpick, most of the episodes looked and sounded better than I expected, and I found myself getting into the series just as much as I did ten years ago. I had even forgotten that the great Bruce Campbell showed up in one of the episodes. There was a small problem with the discs freezing up on a couple of the episodes, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m not sure if this is just on mine, or if this is a problem encountered because of using double-sided discs for all the episodes. I may have to trade mine in for a new set, though.

Along with the 22 episodes present, there are deleted scenes for nine of the episodes. And I was surprised to find a great commentary track on the Pilot by Shaun Cassidy and producer David Eick. It wasn’t listed on the set so I found it rather by accident.

“American Gothic” was an awesome series that I really wish had lasted longer. Too many of the plots were left unresolved, which is always a frustration when a show is cancelled before its time.

Episodes:
Pilot
A Tree Grows in Trinity
Eye of the Beholder
Damned If You Don't
Potato Boy
Dead to the World
Meet the Beetles
Strong Arm of the Law
To Hell and Back
The Beast Within
Rebirth
Ring of Fire
Resurrector
Inhumanitas
The Plague Sower
Doctor Death Takes a Holiday
Learning to Crawl
Echo of Your Last Goodbye
Strangler
Triangle
The Buck Stops Here
Requiem

Starring: Gary Cole, Lucas Black, Paige Turco, Jake Weber
Extras: Deleted and Extended Scenes
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Studio: Universal
Release Date: 10/25/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give American Gothic: The Complete Series a B-.