This Forgotten '90s Sci-Fi Show With A Spooky Premise Has Major Stranger Things Vibes

When Matt and Ross Duffer's "Stranger Things" hit Netflix in 2016, it hooked Millennials and a healthy chunk of Gen Xers with its slathered-on nostalgia for 1980s pop culture. The sci-fi/horror series harkened back to the Amblin era, where movies and television shows about misfit kids getting into all kinds of misadventures were immensely popular. Some of these efforts were fun, one was a masterpiece ("E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"), but most were disposable.

"Stranger Things" remained a streaming smash for Netflix until its final episode went live on December 31, 2025, but it lost me early on due to too many '80s anachronisms and its try-hard attempts to keep Gen X viewers engaged. I grew up watching the genuine articles (good and bad) when they were new, and the Duffers, who were born in 1984, couldn't come close to capturing the vibe of the time.

To its credit, "Stranger Things" did make people nostalgic for 1980s media ... specifically, the kind that successfully hits that misfit adolescent mark. I paid a revisit to the Canadian sci-fi/fantasy show "Read All About It!" (a charmingly low-budget product of its time that doubled as an educational tool) and even flipped through some old "The Three Investigators" books (fun, but probably too dated for The Kids Today). And while I'm not a fan of "Stranger Things" in the least, I can't thank the Duffers enough for finally spurring me to rewatch the entirety of "Eerie, Indiana." 

A short-lived NBC series created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer, "Eerie, Indiana" is a clever, kid-friendly sci-fi/horror hybrid that earns its nerd bona-fides straight out of the gate with a pilot directed by Joe Dante. It deftly balances comedy with genuine scares, and it would've been a hit had the network not meddled with its appealing formula.

"Eerie, Indiana," a half-hour series by design, premiered on September 15, 1991, as a 7 PM Sunday show. NBC was hoping to land a broad viewership of kids and young adults, maybe even the whole family, but getting the parents to skip "60 Minutes" was always going to be a tall ask. The show also faced direct demographic competition from the third season of the family-centric "Life Goes On," although the ABC drama was struggling in the ratings by this point.

"Eerie, Indiana," which kicks off with young Marshall Teller (Omri Katz) moving with his folks to the off-kilter title town, instantly flaunts a Joe Dante-esque sensibility with storylines that often feel like affectionate parodies of nuclear-era sci-fi or vintage Disney movies. There are run-ins with Bigfoot, hyper-intelligent dogs, mummies, murderous garbagemen, and Elvis Presley. You could never predict where the show would go next, but if you were a youngster watching it back in the day, you were always eager for the next episode (and hopefully, if your dad had a fanboy-like obsession with Mike Wallace, you had a second television).

Dante wasn't the only director of note to enter the city limits of "Eerie, Indiana" (population 16,661). Tim Hunter ("Twin Peaks"), Bob Balaban ("My Boyfriend's Back"), and even Tom Holland ("Fright Night," "Child's Play") also helmed episodes. It's a visually inventive show that rewards close attention (keep a close eye out for Dante's recently sold "Rosebud" sled during one of his episodes) and almost certainly would've found its audience in the streaming age.

The first and only season of "Eerie, Indiana" is currently available to stream on Prime Video. If you dug or detested "Stranger Things," consider it a must watch.