'American Gothic' retells eerie backwoods drama
Television Review

By TODD RITTER
Collegian Arts Writer

Someone's at the door.

Someone's at the door.

Someone's at the door.

"American Gothic's" trademark chant welcomes viewers to the twisted new CBS series from the equally twisted Sam Raimi, director of The Quick and the Dead and Army of Darkness, and the secretly twisted Shaun Cassidy.

Warped from beginning to end, the one-hour drama premiered 10 p.m. last Friday. It is a study of good and evil, with evil being the most entertaining.

In the town of Trinity, S.C., a battle of wills is beginning to take place. A kind doctor and the town sheriff are fighting for custody of Caleb, a newly orphaned boy. The new doctor in town represents good and is concerned about the boy's well-being.

The sheriff, however, is a different story.

It seems that the town is controlled by Sheriff Buck, played with malicious perfection by Gary Cole. He's not just mean, he's evil personified. (Just how evil is Sheriff Buck? Well, in the first scene of the first episode he's seen breaking a girl's neck. Get the picture?)

Sheriff Buck, in cahoots with the devilish schoolteacher, has set his sights on Caleb, who has special powers that the none-too-friendly sheriff might be interested in. It's up to the doctor, and Caleb's cousin, to see to the boy's safety.

"American Gothic" is CBS' bald attempt to revisit the eerie backwoods drama pioneered by David Lynch in "Twin Peaks." "Gothic" bears a striking similarity to that strangest of TV towns with a little Stephen King malice thrown in.

But it is not entirely successful in its attempt. Some of the freaky goings-on just seem a little too weird and a little too cheesy. Others, including the first scene, are some of the most dismayingly frightening things shown in recent prime time.

What makes "Gothic" so interesting is Cole's performance as Sheriff Buck. As an actor, Cole, last seen as Mike Brady in The Brady Bunch movie, has willingly perched out on a limb and the results are fantastic. It seems there is nothing he's afraid to do.

It's only natural that next to the malevolent sheriff, the doctor, played by Jake Weber, seems like a stiff. Weber tries, but Cole's role is twice as attention-grabbing.

But a series, especially a one-hour drama, cannot survive on the antics of one character, no matter how fascinatingly evil he may be. "Gothic" has failed to provide any interesting subplots that don't focus on Sheriff Buck or Caleb. Hopefully, things will pick up in future episodes, but for now it doesn't look like the show has much more to offer.

Still, "American Gothic" is an entertainingly spooky piece of television that's worth a look, especially for Cole's amazing performance. He gives the show its weight and its terror.

Someone's at the door.

And he's pretty damn scary.