Poltergeist: The Legacy

PTL is one of the most exiting shows ever! With an all star cast like Helen Shaver(who has starred in many movies as well as tv shows) Alexandra Purvis, (who is is the upcoming theatrical release Marine life) and many others, plus special effects and story lines that draw you into their world, it's no wonder there are over 1000 sites devoted enitrely to it! It airs monday-friday on SciFi channel @11eastern, and saturdays on some syndications. Though the show aired it's last episode, there are campains to get it back into production (And we all know what happened when StarTrek fans did that!) :)Watch it and you will understand.

Now, I watch Poltergeist: The Legacy all the time. I like it. But sometimes the writing/characters are a bit off. For example, almost every other villain of the week is after one of the female characters. And, almost every time, the girl falls for him. This show has so many good female leads: a delightful Helen Shaver as a mother/skeptic/psychiatrist; Robbi Chong as a archeologist/black/woman/psychic; and, currently, Kristin Lehman as a brilliant woman trying to be a member of the Legacy without letting it take over her life. All these WONDERFUL female leads and they have to resort to evil dudes of the week to bring out the passion in these characters. Would it be too much to ask that they got a healthy relationship once in awhile with a decent guy, or are they going to mimic Dana Scully in the "My Work is My Life" department? (I certainly hope not!)

This series, which ended in 1996 is still one of the greatest untapped potential for mass sales and marketing out there. Numerous fan sites still abound across the net, as do writers of fan fiction. You can still even catch reruns of the series on SciFi channel from time to time in the wee hours of the morning, nine years past the death of the show itself, and yet it has never been released on DVD. "Why?", you may be asking yourself. Simply put, nobody knows! For years now the die hard fans of the show have stayed up, weak and blurry eyed to catch a glimpse of the once great show as it slithers into the latest hours of the programming schedule, along side the other once great show "Friday the 13th, the series", yet it has never seemed to dawn on any of the shows producers to actually take advantage of it's marketing potential. So, while nobody runs out to buy such lame fare as "The American Hero", or one of the other equally ill conceived television series from the 70's and 80's, legions of fans still sit back and wait, hoping to glimpse the awesome spectacle known as "Poltergiest: The Legacy, The Boxed Set".

I am not that much into horror shows, but I believe "Poltergeist: The Legacy" is a show that will get you hooked. When I saw "Brother's Keeper" on a USA marathon, I got hooked watching as The Undertaker (Soul Chaser) was on Jimmy's tail. (Nick's brother) All in all it was a good show, despite the fact that 'Taker died. The bottom line is... it's a good show, with twisting storylines that even I can't come up with!

I'd say it was unique, but Friday the 13th had an equally good series like this based around an antique shop. And, of course, it is like the X-Files and Warehouse 13 and Mellinum...but there are reasons that shows like this are made and develop a cult following. They are almost always really good.

I think the draw back to the show is that it has the title "Poltergeist" and like "Friday the 13th" that kind of set people up for a let down when they realized that it had little to do with the movie franchise.

But, if you accept that it's not based around the film franchise, you can sit down and experience a very entertaining horror show that should have been far more popular.