Sam Raimi’s ‘American Gothic’ Remains an Underrated Horror Series Lost To Time

When you hear the name Sam Raimi, it’s only natural for your mind to race to things like the Evil Dead and Spider-Man franchises, as well as his newest hit, Send Help. After all, they’re some of the filmmakers’ most beloved projects. However, in 1995, he helped bring to life one of the darkest horror TV shows of the decade that many people forgot even existed. Now, 30 years later, it’s time that American Gothic is given its proper due.

Created by 70s heartthrob Shaun Cassidy, Raimi served as an executive producer on American Gothic alongside Robert Tappert. Airing for just one season on CBS, the show is set in the fictional town of Trinity, South Carolina, and focuses on the struggle for the soul of a young boy named Caleb Temple (Lucas Black). At the center of the battle for good and evil is Sheriff Buck (NCIS star Gary Cole), a man who uses demonic forces to control and manipulate the town’s residents.

‘American Gothic’ Was Way Ahead of Its Time

Though The X-Files had premiered two years earlier and was slowly becoming the gold standard for weirdness on TV, viewers weren’t quite ready for American Gothic just yet. As such, it’s one of those shows that can be considered ahead of its time because most of its elements wouldn’t become the norm on the small screen for at least another decade.

Take the character of Sheriff Lucas Buck, for example. He was one of TV’s first antiheroes long before the likes of Tony Soprano and Dexter Morgan came along. Sure, he was an evil, despicable, and conniving person, but his charisma was the beating heart of American Gothic. Viewers despised the fact that he seemed to get away with so much but never faced any punishment. Yet at the same time, they couldn’t help but love him.

CBS Didn’t Know What to Do with ‘American Gothic’

Also starring the likes of Paige Turco, Brenda Bakke, Sarah Paulson, Jake Weber, and Nick Searcy (with a cameo from Bruce Campbell, of course), American Gothic premiered on CBS on Sept. 22, 1995. In a perfect world, it would have lasted much longer than 22 episodes, but unfortunately the network didn’t understand the show. They only picked it up because The X-Files was doing well for Fox, and they wanted something weird of their own to display.

As such, they unintentionally sabotage American Gothic (or intentionally, depending on who you talk to), by airing episodes out of order, giving it a crappy time slot, and they didn’t even bother showing the end of the series before they pulled it completely. It was just too complex for them, especially when it came to its serialized nature. A TV show that continues from week-to-week and doesn’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow after 45 minutes? Perish the thought. Instead of presenting it as-is, the network brass aired the episodes they thought were the most exciting, and discarded the rest. Talk about a travesty of justice.

Thankfully, American Gothic can now be seen in its original form on digital streaming. The entire 22-episode run can be purchased for a reasonable price on sites like Amazon, YouTube, and Fandango at Home. Trust us, it’s definitely worth seeking out if you want to see one of the most original shows of the 90s, and then pontificate about what could have been had it came along just a few years later.