BRIMSTONE
1998-1999
13 Episodes
Created by: Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris
In 2007 The CW launched a new show called Reaper in which a young man has to track down and capture a bunch of bad guys escaped from Hell, with his instructions coming straight from the Devil. It’s silly, it’s daft, it’s ridiculous, and it’s an almost complete rip-off of a show named Brimstone which aired just over a decade earlier. Except that where Reaper ramps up the laughs, Brimstone was about as cheerful as listening to a Radiohead album when your girlfriend/boyfriend [delete as applicable] has just dumped you for your best friend. But if you’re thinking that sounds dire – don’t! Brimstone was GOOD.
It starred former thirtysomething star Peter Horton (a man who will forever be known as “former thirtysomething star”) as a cop who kills the man who raped his wife, is sent to Hell and then finds himself back on Earth again. The Devil – played with delicious, Satanic devilishness by John Glover; just picture Lionel Luthor smelling a little sulphurous – gives him a mission to track down escaped souls and so Ezekial Stone (gotta love the name!) is set to work.
Brimstone was sometimes traumatic to watch, sometimes amusing; Horton made for a magnetic lead and Glover was solid gold. But a show about murderers, rapists and Lucifer was probably a little strong for Fox and they hit their big, well-worn “CAN IT” button sharpish.
Go to the next one-season wonder: FIREFLY
