How About A Real ‘Friday the 13th’ TV Series
Once upon a time, Paramount and Executive Producer Frank Mancuso Jr. took and original concept television series and pimped out the ‘Friday the 13th’ title to promote and sell said series. Although the concept of the series was good and I enjoyed some of the episodes, it just never really sat well in my stomach that Paramount used the film franchise name for the television series. My thought at the time was that there should be an actual ‘Friday the 13th’ series based on Crystal Lake and the legend of Jason Voorhees.
Sean Cunningham had toyed around with that type of scenario for a television show for years, but alas the show never came to fruition. Within the last ten years, however, we have seen some great examples of film franchises turned into television shows, such as Superman. There is a good chance for a horror franchise like Friday the 13th to be made, especially since there are shows like Dexter and True Blood hitting ratings gold.
Now, I am not saying that a ‘Friday the 13th’ television show would make great ratings, but the audiences are out there if Mr. Voorhees was made into a saga that could be followed every week and not interfere with the film franchise. What type of ideas would be plausible for a show?
So how about each week would focus on one of the \survivor girls\ and where they are at.. eventually each would find each other and would as a group travel to crystal lake to track down Jason..
I remember in an interview that said that Jason’s mask was supposed to be the final artifact in the series that the crew would have to track down.
As for a legit Friday series sure, I’d love it. I’d love to see certain aspects fleshed out. I’d love to see episodes involving Pam’s early sabotaging of the prior openings of Crystal Lake. What happened to Tommy right after Final Chapter. Hell man I’d LOVE to see an Episode devoted to Creighton Duke. Make it a mini-series and put the best ideas out there before it runs stale and the show falls to cliche’s. I can see it actually adding quite a bit to the mythology instead of just being fluff.
You could have Tommy Jarvis tracking Jason. Each episode brings them closer to a confrontation. We follow Tommy as he makes his return to Crystal Lake, talking with the locals who know about Tommy and his dealings with Jason. At the same time you can show a group of would-be councilers trying to re-open the camp as Jason stalks them in the background. You’d have to bring back some of the build-up suspense from the 80s flicks to keep Jason in the shadows, lurking. Toss in some throw-away characters here and there to get butchered…also, explore Jason’s mind without digging too deep. We saw an example of his rage in the remake. Show some memories of his past with mother and so on. I always imagined a young Jason almost drowning, but making it to shore. His mom comes running, thinking Jason has drowned, she screams in hysterics. This would lead young Jason to think his mom was mad at him, causing him to run into the woods. Maybe she’s so hysterical she is carried away in an ambulance, freaking him out even more. So, he runs into the woods to hide and remains there. Law Enforcement would be dragging the lake, not searching the woods for him, so there’s the logic. We go back and forth between Tommy’s obsession with Jason, and Jason’s own madness…
Oh, and you could have Jason haunted by visions of his mother. Maybe he blames himself for her death in a way…
They did plan to link to the franchise with the hockey mask. And I’m not apposed to it being related to the films.
I think it would be fun. But, aside from what they did, I think it would be difficult to generate enough new material without deeply re-writing Friday the 13Th. Short of making Crystal Lake the central spot for a dark cult or military testing; how are you going to make interesting episodes?
The franchise itself has faced this, at the very least, ever sense part 4. That’s why the franchise became formulaic and predictable. (Not necessarily a bad thing.) Unlike Elm Street where we have a multifaceted and deep modern dark villain. Or, to be more accurate had… With Friday the 13Th Jason has always been mostly one dimensional. Attempts to expand his character, such as Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason Goes to Hell, were usually met with rejection by many fans.
So, Parts 6 – 11 of the Franchise really relied more on making Jason’s costume look kick-ass, making the kills look well done, and making all the other characters around Jason interesting. Jason’s character arc is like this. Part 1 we learn a little about him, part 2 we learn his character, parts 3-8 his character is basically not developed at all, part 9 tried to expand it and got slapped in the face for it, Jason X didn’t bother to try, Part 11 re-hashed elements of parts 1 and 2, and Part 12 did the same.
So, really, the only true original character development on Jason took place in the first two movies. Otherwise, his character consisted of (the guy in the hockey mask that stabbed people because of some reason, oh yeah his Mom or something, that’s right.)
So, aside from having Jason stab someone different each week, you’d have to start bringing in elements similar to Jason Goes to Hell or Jason X to make it interesting and many fans begin to stand up and walk out at that point.
anyone see the new Cascade commercial with Tracie savage “Debbie” from friday the 13th part 3? here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CccBaSI2fJY
Well, if they actually made a TV show with followed Jason, then it would likely take away some $$ from any future movies.
I really don’t know if a series just about Jason would work. “Friday the 13th” could be a series… that occasional has tales of Jason, or people who have met him, and then other stories which could be like campfire tales, or weird things that have happened to people on Friday the 13th. If it went that route, it could really mix the Jason mythos with something Twilight Zone-ish.
It could be cool if every episodes starts off like the famous scene in Friday2 where the people are sitting around a campfire, telling stories about whoever/whatever.
Throw some good writers, and of course this could be something great. Ah. I’m gonna dream now…
The episodes would have to be episodic, or they could do story arks or Sagas where Jason pursues a certain individual for what ever reason, and at the end of the Ark, Jason is defeated.
Or it could be like this; At the beginning of each episode, Jason kills a person and there is an investigation brought on by Tommy (who is now a cop) and each murder brings him closer to destroying Jason. Each episode can dive deeper into the Jason mythos like explain why Jason is essentially a walking Zombie, and it could have cameos from past Jason alumni like Alice, Jenny, ect.
How about a tv series that follows Jason as a kid growing up in the woods, like how he survied, how he learned the camp, and how he learned to kill and eat and live
I really hate to be the guy who says it, but it just wouldn’t work. You have a situation where true fans of the series want certain questions answered but the audience would be that of Dexter and True Blood…this is a wishful thought if it was picked up by HBO or Showtime. Listen,the series was “Rebooted” and hopefully the characters we loved like Tommy Jarvis make their return. Maybe this time we won’t have AS MANY questions. I just think that having a series based around Jason just wouldn’t work out.
This is all one theoretical blogpost. There is enough material to make a nice short miniseries that wouldn’t alter anything but fill in certain aspect of the mythology.
Still I’ll take further cinematic rebooted adventures of Here Voorhees over a TV series.
I would love to see a series off Jason!!!!
I think you could have Jason trying too stop people from entering his land and the kills get really nasty cause he is so fed up with kids turning up and wishing for a death sentence. And faces from the past turn up and challenge him again.
It could easily be done in my opinion. Although I’d go the True Blood route and only do 12 episodes per season.
The first season could be about teenagers that come to visit Crystal Lake and you could see them in the town with the townspeople etc (these could be your consitent characters). It could work so well have some believers in the Jason mythology and some that are not. I could see it working for sure but maybe only for a few seasons.
I think it would be an interesting idea. They should of done this instead of that dumb series they had already. What if it was a animated TV show? Kinda like Spawn. People might be more interested. Maybe have some characters from the old movies do some voice work.
How hard is it to further devlop Jason without screwing it up? You explore a little bit of what’s going on in his mind, disregarding the whole JGTH or Jason X schtick. Take a cue from Rob Zombie’s travesty H2 if you have to-Zombie “borrowed” the whole mama thing from Friday, didn’t he? For the love of God leave the white horse out of it…
Show us how Jason may blames himself for what ultimatley happened to his mama, without making him a big crybaby. Maybe a quick flash of her decapitation here and there just to set him off. You could have her show up as a hallucination, head intact, coaxing Jason to kill, while soothing him at the same time. Like I said before, we saw a little bit of that rage in the remake. I wouldn’t want him kidnapping people or trying to get laid for God’s sake, but we can take a peak inside that lumpy noggin of his and explore his psyche.
It wouldn’t ruin it for me to explore the depths of Jason’s twisted mind. So far he’s been like the shark in Jaws. He hasn’t had much character depth. I’d like to see a little bit. Just a glimpse. I don’t want to deconstruct him too much. Just enough to make him a real character without taking away from what makes Jason who he is. I never liked the idea he was a body-hopping demon fond of a particular bloodline. I like the idea of Jason being Jason. I like the idea of Jason being some lumpy headed ugly only his mother could love. I like the idea of his mother being so protective and nuts, she picks up a vengeful machete on a whim…
When the film-makers tried to expand the character in JGTH and X they (in my opinion) did it wrong, literally taking Jason out of Character. Have Jason’s mother show up and represent his rage and the reason he kills. Have her talk to him-egg him on. You could explore Tommy Jarvis’s psyche, too. He’s just as screwed up.
Or, if you don’t want Jason as a zombie (which I kind of don’t), you could have some other character that survived an encounter with Jason. Maybe a chick whose friends were butchered by Jason. She narrowly escapes. Haunted by the nightmares, she feels she must confront Jason head on in order to put the nightamres to rest…
In the series finale this “final girl” confronts Jason. Maybe thers is an elaborate old-school chase? Maybe in the end she “kills” Jason, only to show he actually survived to continue the series in movies. Or, if you want to be so bold, he kills the final girl in the end…
Whatever, this is just for fun anyway. It’s not like they’re going to make a series. It’s fun to pretend…right?
I actually liked the idea that in desperation to resurrect her son, Pamela obtained a Necronomicon and summoned a demon. It’s very interesting. We could have shown her as she prepared blood rituals. I think that’s part of why Pamela and Jason display their kills in such ritualistic ways. They are often hung in places that create an emotional release when they are found. They’re intentionally bloody and hid where they’ll be found.
Or, perhaps take a Jason-X style twist and have Crystal Lake have been some sort of research facility where different interesting things were being tested.
I don’t think the entire series should fallow Jason. Jason gets way too much camera time already. Much like Freddy, he was most frightening when he was new and kept mostly in the dark. Now he’s paraded like a thanksgiving float or a pop star. Of course he’s not scary anymore, how could he be?
And, unlike Freddy where fear could be replaced with drama and un-ease while delving deeper into more intricate storyline (like uncovering a mystery) Jason doesn’t have a lot to uncover.
Did Jason get married? No. Did Jason have a kid that was taken from him? No. Did Jason do anything darker to his victims besides kill them with blunt objects? Almost never. Did Jason get infused with Spiritual and religions strata? They tried in Parts 5, 8 and 9, and the fans didn’t want it.
There were so many things they could have done, and tried to do, with Jason that didn’t go very far because the fans kept pulling him back. Many of the fans want Jason to just be this not very complex character. Some want a “mindless” killing machine. Others want someone sad over his mother. The ones who want a “mindless” killing machine call the times Jason is shown as sad for his Mother as the film makers having Jason “look like a cry baby.”
So, we have a villain that is desperately trying to be more than just a hockey mask and a machete and a large chunk of the fan base that will hate him if he’s ever turned into anything more.
I don’t really need to see Tommy again. We had three movies with him and they were interesting. But, haven’t we seen Tommy enough? I also don’t really want to just see Jason sad about his Mother. We’ve seen this in the last two movies and I want something deeper and darker.
I want to see Jason re-written and taken in a new way. Why not? We haven’t seen any real character development sense 1981.
Sorry dude, but the whole Momma’s boy thing stems all the way back to Norman Bates, not Jason.
As for what I’d like to see in a TV show, I agree with the guy who said he would like to see teen Jason growing up in the woods. It could be like that show ‘Dawson’s creek’ but instead it would be ‘Jason’s Lake’. The Promos could be a shot of some kid looking out on the lake wide eyed, then Jason pops the fuck out and pulls them under. http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm224/dansartain/Fridaythe13th-JasonandAlice.gif
Thanks robstarr1814. That was awesome!
For a Friday the 13th TV show I think a good idea would be, to have different stories for each episode (kind of like Freddy’s Nightmaes) that would center in Camp Crystal Lake and the legend of Jason. Maybe bring back old characters from the series: Mrs. Voorhees, Tommy Jarvis, Alice Hardy, Crazy Ralph ect. I would definately like to see an F13 tv series if done right, only question is what tv channel would broadcast an F13 series? The only horror related tv channel I know of is Scifi.
That whole necronomicon idea did give some reason why Jason was unstoppable. It isn’t a bad idea, but I’d rather think of Jason as “Jason” not a demon worm. It should be more like a demon spirit in him that keeps him alive, not a living breathing creature in his heart. In JGTH, they made Jason look like a lump of meat with a hockey mask. I’m done with that.
found a early burger King commercial with adrienne king, She is the nerdy girl with the glasses that says “That’s two things, Bob” Wow she looks young, was in 1978 i think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWbK_gE-uM&feature=related
Someone commented above making a really interesting idea for a series. Like Freddy’s Nightmares, make each episode about a different person/situation. Make some about the survivor girls/guys and how they’re dealing with life after, with flashbacks. Make some about the “legend” of Crystal Lake, taking place before part 1 and between parts 2, 3, and 4, showing what Jason was doing in those times between series. What about Roy? What was he doing when he wasn’t driving the ambulance after his son died? How’d he get his getup to go around dressed as Jason?
Something like this would be a great idea to use storytelling to tell stories we won’t see on the big screen, and in a way could be telling stories that may only show up in the Crystal Lake Gazette here on this site(JasonsFury don’t forget I’m hard-pressed to submit articles for this when the paper is up and running).
What’s important though is that Jason should only show up in a few episodes. Too much exposure in a television show would make him too cartoonish and people would start to expect him to show up like the Incredible Hulk, or Freddy as he did through the episodes on his show.
If they were to make a friday the 13th tv series they could make it where it would appeal to all the ft13 fans.
If you do it right and not make it lole story telling where noone knows truth from fiction it’d work wonders. i think Jason would need to be a real person like in 1-4 and not a zombie because you only have so many aspects you can works with if he’s a zombie and have it set in between the first few films where you could put in subtle hints into his mind like why he hid in the woods all those years and never came out to stop his mom.
One way you could do it is have one of the kids that were there when Jason drowned (having lived with the guilt of not trying to help him) try and find and confront Jason after hearing of him commit the murders. Have this guy track down Diana Jumble and try and find informationon Jason and even try and find his dad and talk to him about why he left Pam and tie all the ends together with that.
Interesting Hardrocker, that could actually make for interesting story elements while using this to explore the different characters and aspects of the early Friday series. I can see alot of anger to be shown from Jason if he would ever confront this person face to face, as he would be one of those originally at fault for his drowning, and indirectly so for the death of his mother.
I couldnt agree with You more Jasons Fury. When I first heard that there was going to be a FT13th TV series, I literally jumped for joy. That is until I watched it, and as a Jason fan I felt really screwed over. After I accepted the fact that it had nothing to do with Jason, I did develop a love for the show. Its actually pretty cool, but they shouldnt have called it FT13th. “Curious Goods” wouldve been a better title because I believe that was the name of Jack Marshacks shop. And for those who dont know John Lemay (Steven Freeman, Jason Goes To Hell) was a regular character. Its kind of like Halloween 3: Season Of The Witch. It shouldnt have been called Halloween at all. Because its a good horror movie, but I dont consider it part of the Halloween series.
Now My idea for a true FT13th series, well actually I had 2 ideas. The first was kind of like a Twilight Zone kind of like they did in Freddy’s Nightmares with Freddy as the cryptkeeper, only thing is Jason doesnt talk. So instead in between scenes it would switch to Jason chasing after a victim, the victim gets the better of Jason through most of the show. Then in the final scene Jason kills the person be it male or female. Then maybe for a good scare, Jason looks at the camera.
My other idea is to make the series kind of like another FT13th movie thats split into 3 or 4 seasons. And the story is about of course Jason. People start disapperaing, and the town slowly starts to realize somethings up. And of course the Jason folklore would be there. Jason drowns, Mrs. Voorhees went on her killing spree etc. I just would kind of keep it seperate from the movie series. And who would play Jason? Kane Hodder would be my first pick or Ted White. But to be honest, I would just be happy that Jasons in the show. I wouldnt be opposed to a new actor playing Jason as long as He did it right. Maybe someday we’ll all get our wish. AND A DAMM VIDEO GAME THAT DOESNT SUCK LIKE THE NES GAME!!!!!!
The kids in the 1/2 way house before they arrived there (Part V). A back story on some of them like Robin, Tina/Eddy, and Violet could be interesting to see. Most notably why the anger-filled axe psycho Victor, and Joey (the candybar kid) went through in the days of their own troubled youth.
I think best case would be a series based in the Town of Crystal lake following Jason’s actual drowning as a child and the drama associated with Pamela and Elias. This would be the opportunity to bring Elias into the picture and follow the “death curse” of camp blood.
Would also allow us to see Jason as a child living in the woods without mom and dad knowing.
Potential genre: drama, murder mystery, sci fi