Friday the 13th TV Series: Three Seasons of Terror

The Friday the 13th TV series ran for just three seasons, starting with the fall 1987 lineup and ending in 1990. The original name for the series was The 13th Hour, but executives changed the name to draw in an audience with the more familiar name of the popular slasher movie series hoping to develop a fan base from those who were hoping to get their Jason Voorhies fix. Rumors persisted throughout the entire 72 episode run that there would be some link from television series to the movies of that name, but it never came to pass. One of the most persistent of these rumors was that Jason's hockey mask from the movies would be one of the cursed items. That rumor suggested that the mask would be the final item that had to be found, but that was never the case.

The basic premise of the Friday the 13th TV series was simple: a man named Lewis Vendredi was supposed to sell a number of cursed items for the Devil but broke the deal. After his death, the antique shop and its contents were passed on to his niece and her distant cousin. The pair and the dead man's strange friend try to get all of the cursed items back so that they are not harming people- each item must be found, returned and then taken back to a special vault.

Although this TV series had a relatively short run, it is still occasionally shown as part of sci-fi channel special events, and it was also released as a box set in 2008 with the release of the first season on a six disc set. The third and final season was released in 2009 as a five disc set containing all 20 episodes.

Some fans of the movies were angered by the use of the name by the Friday the 13th TV Series; however, others were more generous with the choice of the name and became solid fans. It never gained widespread popularity, however, and remained mostly a niche show with a small but loyal market share. It still does well when shown on various venues with several episodes being deemed fan favorites.

This TV series was ambitious to the point of pushing the envelope of acceptability in terms of both the level of violence and sexuality it showed on the screen. However, what the Friday the 13th TV series was effective in, was earning award nominations, including two Emmy nods for Visual and Graphic Effects as well as others.