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It isn’t uncommon for hit movies to get their own television spin-offs, but they are usually connected to the property in some way. The same can’t be said about “Friday the 13th: The Series,” as it has nothing to do with Jason Voorhees and his slasher exploits.
Created by Frank Mancuso Jr. and Larry B. Williams, “Friday the 13th: The Series” is a horror show about cursed antiques. In the lore, a store owner sold his soul to the Devil and flogged cursed artifacts to customers as part of the pact. However, the antiques dealer later reneged on the deal and suffered accordingly. His store is later inherited by his niece, Micki (Louise Robey), who teams up with her cousin, Ryan (John D. LeMay), and her uncle’s friend, Jack (Chris Wiggins), to retrieve the objects before they ruin more people’s lives.
Paramount released “Friday the 13th: The Series” to syndication in 1987. It initially aired in late-night slots before broadcasters gave it some prime-time real estate. The series became a hit, proving that fans didn’t need to see Jason to appreciate the horror. Still, why leave the franchise’s biggest star out of the mayhem?
Why name a series Friday the 13th without Jason Voorhees?
The “Friday the 13th” film franchise was a big deal in the ’80s, and Frank Mancuso Jr. wanted to milk its success on the small screen. Despite their popularity, though, slasher movies were often dismissed as disreputable trash in some circles back then, so he had hesitations about naming the series after the Jason Voorhees films. However, he ultimately decided that it made sense to go this route.
“I felt that it would’ve been a lot easier to sell a ‘Friday the 13th’ show than something called ‘The 13th Hour’ [an alternative title],” Mancuso Jr. said in “Making Friday the 13th: The Legend of Camp Blood” by David Grove. “Still, it wasn’t as cut-and-dried as people might think because when I first started pitching a ‘Friday the 13th’ show, people would cringe because the films had such a negative connotation to them. But yeah, from a commercial standpoint, it was a no-brainer to call the show ‘Friday the 13th.'”
“Friday the 13th: The Series” is one of those hit shows from the 1980s nobody talks about anymore. That said, it found an audience during its heyday, even if some viewers might have been disappointed not to see Jason haunt Camp Crystal Lake, take Manhattan, or go to Hell.
