Premise
"Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store... and with it, the curse. Now they must get everything back and the real terror begins." -- prologue that opened each episode
An antiques dealer named Lewis Vendredi (played by R.G. Armstrong) made a deal with the Devil to sell cursed antiques out of his shop, "Vendredi's Antiques", in exchange for wealth, magic powers, and immortality. He eventually rebelled against the Devil and broke the deal. The Devil came and claimed the soul of Vendredi ("Friday" in French) for breaking the deal.
After Lewis' death, his shop was inherited by his niece, Micki Foster (played by Louise Robey) and her cousin by marriage, Ryan Dallion (played by John D. LeMay). They sold off many of the cursed antiques before being stopped by Jack Marshak (played by Chris Wiggins). Jack was Lewis' friend, a retired world-traveller and occultist who originally collected many of the antiques for Vendredi before they became cursed.
The series follows the protagonists as they hunt down the cursed antiques, which are usually in the possession of people who have discovered their evil powers and are unwilling to give them up. Since the cursed antiques are completely indestructible, they must be locked away in a vault beneath "Curious Goods" (the rechristened antique store) that is designed to magically render the objects inert. A manifest, written by Lewis, holds the records of all the cursed objects sold.
Most of the stories in the series deal with people using the cursed objects' magic for personal gain or for revenge. Each object must be activated by a human sacrifice, and the victim must be killed with the object itself, or in some particular manner reflecting the object's history. Typically, the person using the cursed object ends up becoming a victim of the object's curse after failing to meet its demand for more and more human sacrifices. Some objects are sentient and intelligent, such as the doll ("The Inheritance") and the radio ("And Now the News"). Other cursed objects do not actually speak but demonstrate intelligence and awareness in other ways ("Spirit of Television", "The Playhouse") or confer intelligence on other inanimate things ("Read My Lips", "Double Exposure", "Wax Magic"). Still others function without intelligence, mechanically dispensing a certain benefit in response to human sacrifice ("Root of All Evil", "The Mephisto Ring", "The Prisoner"). Occasionally, there would be an object-free episode in which the trio would confront their uncle's spirit or some other Satanic evildoer ("The Prophecy", "Hello'ween", "Wedding in Black".)
Like other sci-fi/horror shows in syndication in the late 1980s (such as War of the Worlds and Freddy's Nightmares), Friday the 13th: The Series constantly pushed the limits of "acceptable content", regularly featuring violence on par with that of the R-rated horror movies of the time. Certain episodes such as "Night Prey", depicted a level of sexuality that was taboo for network television.
Read more about this topic: Friday The 13th: The Series
Famous quotes containing the word premise:
“We have to give ourselves—men in particular—permission to really be with and get to know our children. The premise is that taking care of kids can be a pain in the ass, and it is frustrating and agonizing, but also gratifying and enjoyable. When a little kid says, “I love you, Daddy,” or cries and you comfort her or him, life becomes a richer experience.”
—Anonymous Father. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, ch. 3 (1978)