THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
MIKE AND HELEN Sailor, a thirtysomething couple living in Virginia Beach, called to ask what's the deal with ``American Gothic,'' a spooky CBS drama that appears to have been swallowed up by a black hole.
The Sailors ask if ``American Gothic'' has been canceled.
No, it hasn't been canceled.
When will it be back on CBS?
Don't know, exactly. Some time in January.
On what night?
CBS won't say.
But the network did announce that ``American Gothic'' will not be returning to its old Friday night at 10 time slot. ``Picket Fences'' will move from 9 to 10 p.m. come January.
The Sailors in Virginia Beach prefer ``American Gothic'' where it has been since Sept. 22 - Friday night at 10. The Sailors have been watching ``The X-Files'' on Fox at 9, then sliding over to CBS for ``American Gothic.''
Both are quirky, offbeat dramas that draw on the supernatural. I've noticed that the characters on both series hang around morgues a lot.
If you like ``The X-Files,'' you'll like ``American Gothic.'' They're shows for people who wish Halloween came every month.
Kay Reynolds in Virginia Beach, who refers to ``American Gothic'' as her ``macabre little show''; the Sailors; and Chris Astle in Newport News are among 22 callers who checked in with me on Infoline (640-5555, Category 3333) to complain about how badly CBS has treated the series.
The Sailors in Virginia Beach are not alone in wishing that CBS had kept ``American Gothic'' on the Friday night schedule. Shaun Cassidy, who created the series and continues as a producer and writer, loved the Friday night at 10 time slot.
``You could say that `The X-Files' was our lead-in,'' Cassidy said when he met recently with TV writers in Los Angeles.
Shaun Cassidy created ``American Gothic''? That nice Shaun Cassidy who played in ``The Hardy Boys,'' sang songs in the 1970s that sent 13-year-old girls into ecstasy? The son of the woman (Shirley Jones) who starred in the good and decent ``Partridge Family''?
Yes, that goody-goody Shaun Cassidy thought up a show in which a sheriff practically enslaves a whole town while committing a little murder here and there. Cassidy at age 36 is creating TV nightmares.
Shaun, we hardly knew ye.
``I'm obviously more complex than people realize,'' said Cassidy.
``American Gothic'' was last seen on CBS on Nov. 3. Since then, viewers have been cut off from all that is happening in the tormented town of Trinity, S.C. (In fact, the series is shot in part in Wilmington, N.C.)
``We're going through withdrawal symptoms,'' said Helen Sailor. Since early this month, CBS has filled the time with specials, including the Waltons' Thanksgiving reunion, a Reba McEntire songfest, ``Ice Wars: USA vs. the World'' and, this week, ``Television's Christmas Classics.''
When ``American Gothic'' returns, it will likely be scheduled in the middle of the week, a CBS spokesman in New York said last week.
What the Sailors and others here who like the show fret about is that when ``American Gothic'' moves to Wednesday or Thursday, perhaps to replace ``New York News,'' it will get buried under all that wildly popular ``Seinfeld''-``Grace Under Fire''-``NYPD Blue'' stuff.
``American Gothic'' had a chance to survive and prosper on CBS Friday night at 10, when it's OK to stay up late and be scared by TV because you have the whole weekend to recover. Friday night goosebumps are the best kind.
Put the show on opposite ``Grace Under Fire'' or ``Dateline'' in midweek and it's doomed. ``American Gothic'' is too good to die a slow death. But didn't some of us say the same about ``My So-Called Life''? by CNB