I use to watch this show when it was on back in the day. When I saw Netflix had it, I immedately put it in my queue. Unfortuantely, it's only three episodes, seemingly picked at random. But it was a great trip down TV memory lane.
"Forever Ware" is the first/pilot episode, where we're introduced to Marshall, a kid who's family moved from New York City to Eerie, Indiana. Marshall notices all this weird ass shit going on around him, but no one believes him and thinks Eerie is just another boring ass town in Indiana. And trust me, there are a lot of them. The only person he has convinced is Simon, a 9-year-old next door. So every week, Marshall and Simon deal with another strange thing going on in town. Here, they meet this lady from the 1950's who tries to sell Marshall's mom a form of tupperware called "Forever Ware", where the product inside stays fresh FOREVER! Marshall finds out that 1950's lady has giant versions that she and her twin sons use as beds to never age! The twins want out cause being in the 7th grade for 30 years sucks, so he helps them get out of their Forever Ware beds, then they take their mom out and overnight, they age to their rightful ages.
"The Retainer" is probably the most fucked up one on the disc. A fat kid in town gets a giant ass retainer put on him by Vincent Schiavelli, the town's dentist. I made it sound like Mr. Schiavelli plays himself as the town's dentist, which isn't the case. But it's kind of a funny image if you think about it. Anyway, Marshall finds out the fat kid's retainer is used as an antenna of sorts to pick up on what dogs are thinking and they stumble upon a plot where every canine wants to take over the city! I say it's fucked up cause the dogs eat a dog catcher, and eventually, the fat kid. Course, we don't see it, but it's all implied. Honestly, after the fat kid "dissappears" not much is mentioned about the dog's plot. Maybe it's one of those things where we saw stage 1 and it'll happen in due time. In due time...
"The ATM With a Heart of Gold" is probably the least scary/weird one. Marshall's dad invents a computerized human named Mr. Wilson to be friendly during ATM withdrawls. It's kinda like having Max Headroom asking you for your PIN number. Marshall acts like an asshole in this episode and ditches Simon for some other kids in town, so Simon decides to befriend Mr. Wilson, who just hands him a whole bunch of money. Soon, it's discovered by Marshall that the money Simon's getting is coming from the bank accounts of all the town's residents! So Marshall makes Simon give it back and Mr. Wilson, who was actually alive and interacting with Simon, slowly returns to being a regular robot, then eventually gets unplugged.
This last episode has a bunch of weird plotholes in it. While the entire town is poor, Simon is riding around in limos and handing out cash like nothing, but no one thinks this is weird (except for Marshall of course). And the Bank President (played by President Logan from "24", honestly!) is arrested when the money comes up missing, even though there's no evidence that he took it. Then later, he's released but still has to serve community service.
But it is a show kinda geared towards kids, so I guess it's not that surprising. And on a slightly related note to "Masters of Horror", these three episodes were directed by Joe Dante.
I honestly hope that they release a full set cause there were some other great episodes I remember. I seem to recall one where someone was zapped into a TV, and then eventually a monster from the TV came out and chased Marshall and Simon. I wouldn't mind seeing that one again. But if you're on Netflix, and you remember this show, I recommend getting it for nostalgic sakes.
-Jason
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