Afterthoughts
This page has a mini-review of every episode of FREDDY'S NIGHTMARES, with episode 1 all the way at the bottom (where it belongs- it's awful!) and #44 at the top.
I know what you're thinking: Why did you devote so much time and thought to such a disposable, low-quality show (easily the worst of the late 80's TV horror boom, which included MONSTERS, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, FRIDAY THE 13TH, and TWILIGHT ZONE) that got unceremoniously canceled after two seasons and will probably never be officially released, thereby making this of interest to a fringe audience only?
Good question, good question.
Anyway, there are a lot of reasons this show failed. I really believe the main one was money. This show is just starving for some production values. Every episode looks cheap because it was filmed on tape and shot with a ridiculously short schedule that clearly didn't allow the creative folks to execute things correctly.
The second one is the two-act structure. If they wanted to do a half-hour show, they should have just spent the money they used on a half-assed hour-long episode and used it to make a full-assed half hour episode that would probably be much higher in quality. The constrained structure also keeps the viewer from getting too involved in the story and tends to make events feel garbled and rushing towards a contrived finale.
The third one is the endless dream sequences. It's like every episode has a quota of nightmares and the script is just a device for them. Story is secondary. The dreams are almost always repetitive and maybe one in ten actually adds anything substantial to the episode.
The fourth is the awful acting. This probably goes under the money category, but still, more than half the episodes in this series have actors that are completely and utterly incompetent and seem to have no clue what they're saying or doing. If it happened once or twice, it would be forgivable, but this is a constant.
You can't say it was the limitations of network TV because it wasn't on network TV. It only played late night on UHF stations. Although there were never any nipples shown, this show had endless amounts of female flesh on display and the gore was graphic and intense. TV limitations have nothing to do with this series' artistic and financial failure.
So that's my two cents. I watched every episode out of an idiosyncratic fascination with a childhood interest. Enjoy my analyses, I hope you get a laugh out of them.
I know what you're thinking: Why did you devote so much time and thought to such a disposable, low-quality show (easily the worst of the late 80's TV horror boom, which included MONSTERS, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, FRIDAY THE 13TH, and TWILIGHT ZONE) that got unceremoniously canceled after two seasons and will probably never be officially released, thereby making this of interest to a fringe audience only?
Good question, good question.
Anyway, there are a lot of reasons this show failed. I really believe the main one was money. This show is just starving for some production values. Every episode looks cheap because it was filmed on tape and shot with a ridiculously short schedule that clearly didn't allow the creative folks to execute things correctly.
The second one is the two-act structure. If they wanted to do a half-hour show, they should have just spent the money they used on a half-assed hour-long episode and used it to make a full-assed half hour episode that would probably be much higher in quality. The constrained structure also keeps the viewer from getting too involved in the story and tends to make events feel garbled and rushing towards a contrived finale.
The third one is the endless dream sequences. It's like every episode has a quota of nightmares and the script is just a device for them. Story is secondary. The dreams are almost always repetitive and maybe one in ten actually adds anything substantial to the episode.
The fourth is the awful acting. This probably goes under the money category, but still, more than half the episodes in this series have actors that are completely and utterly incompetent and seem to have no clue what they're saying or doing. If it happened once or twice, it would be forgivable, but this is a constant.
You can't say it was the limitations of network TV because it wasn't on network TV. It only played late night on UHF stations. Although there were never any nipples shown, this show had endless amounts of female flesh on display and the gore was graphic and intense. TV limitations have nothing to do with this series' artistic and financial failure.
So that's my two cents. I watched every episode out of an idiosyncratic fascination with a childhood interest. Enjoy my analyses, I hope you get a laugh out of them.
posted by Bryan at 12:47 PM
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