Friday the 13th Television Series: A Look Back at the Curious Goods
The late 1980s saw the announcement of Friday the 13th: The Series, a television show that initially generated immense excitement amongst fans of the slasher film franchise. Expectations were high for a weekly dose of Jason Voorhees terrorizing Camp Crystal Lake. However, the series ultimately took a different path, diverging significantly from the established lore. This departure proved divisive, leaving many to question the show’s connection to the Friday the 13th universe. Despite this initial controversy, the series cultivated a dedicated following over its three-season run, intriguing genre enthusiasts with its unique premise centered around cursed antiques.
The series followed Micki Foster and Ryan Dallion, cousins who inherit an antique shop called “Curious Goods” only to discover a dark secret: the shop’s previous owner, their Uncle Lewis, made a deal with the devil to sell cursed objects. Each episode saw Micki and Ryan, along with Jack Marshak, a seasoned occult expert, tracking down these cursed antiques and attempting to reverse their evil powers. While lacking the iconic Jason Voorhees and the familiar setting of Crystal Lake, Friday the 13th: The Series offered a chilling exploration of the supernatural, delving into the consequences of greed and the corrupting influence of dark forces.
The series did boast some notable connections to the film franchise. Frank Mancuso Jr., a prominent producer of the Friday the 13th films throughout the 1980s, spearheaded the television series. Furthermore, composer Fred Mollin, known for his work on Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, lent his musical talents to the show, further blurring the lines between the two entities. Actor John D. LeMay, who starred in the series, later appeared in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, solidifying a tangible link between the television series and the film franchise.
Despite these connections, the debate continues: does Friday the 13th: The Series deserve to be considered part of the official franchise canon? While the series undeniably leveraged the Friday the 13th name for its marketing and benefited from the involvement of key figures from the films, its distinct narrative and lack of core elements like Jason Voorhees and Crystal Lake set it apart. With the development of new Friday the 13th projects that promise a return to the franchise’s roots, the question of the Curious Goods’ place in the Friday the 13th legacy remains open for discussion. Will the cursed antiques and the stories they spawned ever be fully embraced by the Friday the 13th community, or will they forever remain a curious anomaly in the franchise’s history?
