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There are a lot of shows I never got into when they were originally on the air. Friday The 13th - The Series is one of them. I tried watching it once or twice when I was younger while staying up late at night with my friend, but it never really appealed to me. That was odd, too - since I loved shows like The Outer Limits, Tales From The Darkside, and The Twilight Zone, too.
I suppose one of my problems with the show was the name: I wasn’t a big fan of the Friday The 13th movie franchise (which was going on strong at the time), so the title was a bit of a put-off for me (even though I was perfectly aware that the show had nothing to do with any of the movies). But perhaps my biggest problem with Friday The 13th - The Series was the fact that it was really super über Canadian-looking. There’s nothing a spoiled-by-American-television kid growing up in Northern California hates more than hearing vaguely Francophonic accents from people that are surrounded by low-budget special effects.
(I should like to take this opportunity to announce that I have since accepted Canada as part of the world--you’re good people)
Taking a look at Friday The 13th - The Series now, I see that it is a rather fun anthology series that (despite a generous serving of cheese) can easily find a place alongside the previously mentioned The Outer Limits, Tales From The Darkside, and The Twilight Zone.
 Season Two follows the further supernatural adventures of cousins Ryan (John D. LeMay) and Micki (Louise Robey) and their seemingly-never ending quest to track down the accursed trinkets sold by their Uncle Lewis (R.G. Armstrong) in his antique shop. Lewis had cursed the items as part of a pact with Satan so that he could live forever. This was all fine and dandy until he somehow broke his pact and those pesky kids and their dog came along to…no, wait, that’s Scooby-Doo I’m thinking of. In fact, Lewis has passed on over into an evil mirror, with his friend Jack (Chris Wiggins) staying on to help the cousins out.
Now, a few questions about cousins fighting the forces of darkness together…would you run around the globe (well, Canada) with your semi-attractive (Canadian) cousin to relinquish evil and not so much as even ever once think, “Hmmm…what if…? We’re only cousins after all”? Or, if the whole cousins-sleeping-together-thing isn’t something that appeals to you (and it’s best to say that it doesn’t appeal to you, FYI), would you still even bother running around with a cousin when you could instead find a sidekick (or an actual friend) to do it with (you know, like Batman and Robin)?
Yeah, I thought so. Must be a Canadian thing with these people.
Really, I like Canadians. I really do.
 Friday The 13th - The Series: The Second Season was perhaps the highest point of the show and features some of the better episodes. It’s also a “turning point” casting-wise for the show, as this season introduces us to new character Johnny Ventura (Steve Monarque -- I guess Johnny Bravo or Jesse Ventura was out of the question as a character name, so Johnny Ventura works…all he needed was a pompadour and a pair of shades) and bids adieu to series regular John D. LeMay.
Cheesy? Silly? Why sure it is, but it’s still an entertaining show…
…it’s just so Canadian-looking, though!
 Presentation
Here’s where I was disappointed: Friday The 13th - The Series: The Second Season looks just as bad on DVD now as it did via rabbit ears back in ‘88. The picture quality ranges from “somewhat decent” to “rather shitty.” Granted, this series was filmed in the late-80s (not to mention it’s Canadian), but there surely must’ve been some amount of restoration that could have been done in order to give this 6-Disc DVD set a boost quality-wise.
The DVD set features a modest English Stereo soundtrack that I had no problems with. As is often the case these days, no Subtitles are included (just Closed Captioning).
Extras
Nada.
Nyet.
Nein.
Nugatory.
The Bottom Line
It’s not Jason Vorhees, people. It’s Canadian. Think “hockey mask,” but without the machete killings.
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