Monsters_(TV_series)

Monsters (TV series)

Monsters is a syndicated TV series which originally ran from 1988 to 1991 and was probably most popular for its post-production run on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s. Monsters currently airs on NBC Universal's horror-themed channel Chiller Saturdays at 5PM and 5:30PM, Sundays at 11AM and 11:30AM, and intermittently weekday mornings at 5AM and/or 5:30AM Eastern.

A horror anthology show in a similar vein to Tales from the Darkside, it shared the same producer (Richard P. Rubenstein), and in some ways succeeded the show (which had ended the same year in which Monsters began). It differed in some respects nonetheless. While Tales sometimes dabbled in stories of science fiction and fantasy, this series was more strictly horror. As the name implies, each episode of Monsters (with very few exceptions) featured a different monster which the story concerned, from the animatronic puppet of a fictional children's television program to mutated, weapon-wielding lab rats.

Similar to Tales, however, the stories in Monsters were rarely very straightforward action plots and often contained some ironic twist in which a character's conceit or greed would do him in, often with gruesome results. Adding to this was a sense of comedy often lost on horror productions which might in some instances lighten the audience's mood (often deceptively) but in many cases added to the overall eeriness of the production.

The introduction of the show is a perverse take on a sitcom intro which begins with an aerial view of a neighborhood drawing closer to what seems to be merely a typical suburban home. The camera enters this seemingly innocuous setting as the family inside is discussing what to watch on television. They are revealed to be hideous humanoid creatures with an abnormal number of eyes and elongated, deformed faces who snack on candied insects, yet they are all dressed in very human clothing and live with typical affluent suburban surroundings. The mother eyes what is on the television, "It's Monsters, our favorite show!" to which the daughter remarks, "Shh, it's starting...." The camera zooms in on the face of the father, whose sinister, dark laugh ends the segment. The show was also known to have had celebrity guest stars before they became famous, including Lili Taylor and Steve Buscemi.