In 1987, Friday the 13th franchise producer Frank Mancuso Jr. debuted Friday the 13th: The Series, which baffled many fans by not connecting to Jason. With the exception of A Nightmare on Elm Street and its burnt boogeyman Freddy Krueger, no horror franchise dominated the 1980s like Friday the 13th. Beginning life as an admitted attempt to duplicate the success of John Carpenter's Halloween, Friday the 13th became iconic in its own right, and served to introduce the world to Pamela Voorhees' violent baby boy Jason.
Jason Voorhees stalked and slashed his way through seven Friday the 13th sequels in the 1980s, and several more films since. As big as Friday the 13th was, it's not too surprising that the franchise might want to branch out to the world of TV. After all, A Nightmare on Elm Street did it with the Freddy's Nightmares anthology series in 1988. What didn't make sense is how the Friday the 13th brand name ended up being used.
In 1987, Friday the 13th: The Series debuted, and the name readily suggests that it's a small screen spinoff of the movies starring Jason. Yet the two properties weren't connected in any practical way. Here's what occurred to make that odd reality happen.
Airing in first-run syndication for three seasons, Friday the 13th: The Series starred John D. LeMay as Ryan, and Louise Robey as his cousin Micki Foster. They inherited an antique store from their uncle called Curious Goods, and many of the items turned out to be cursed as a result of a deal their uncle made with Satan. With the help of knowledgeable occultist Jack Marshak (Chris Wiggins), the cousins set out to reclaim all the cursed antiques sold at the store before they claimed more lives. So, that obviously doesn't sound anything like the movies, and there's a reason for that: Friday the 13th: The Series wasn't supposed to be called Friday the 13th: The Series.
Friday the 13th: The Series was developed under the name The 13th Hour, and was originally planned to be titled that. However, show producer Frank Mancuso Jr., who also produced the Friday the 13th films, saw an opportunity to draw fan and network interest by inferring a connection between the two properties. Interestingly enough, Jason's trademark hockey mask was considered as a potential cursed antique, which could've justified the shared title. Unfortunately, that idea was later discarded, effectively rendering Friday the 13th: The Series' moniker as nothing more than a blatant cash grab. Still, the series proved fairly successful when viewed on its own merits, producing 72 episodes before its abrupt 1990 cancellation. Amusingly, John D. LeMay would go on to finally meet Jason in person when he starred in 1993's Jason Goes to Hell.
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