The South Carolina town of Trinity is dominated my Lucas Buck, the town's sheriff. In the opening episode he goes out to the Temple household where the father appears to have snapped and attacked his children Merlyn and Caleb. Caleb gets away but Merlyn isn't so lucky. She isn't dead though… at least not until Sheriff Buck breaks her neck! As the series progresses he tries to take Caleb under his wing; something others who care for him, notably his cousin Gail who comes to town soon afterwards and Dr Matt Crower try to stop. It soon becomes apparent that things in Trinity aren't quite normal; Merlyn regularly appears to her brother, and sometimes others, like a guardian angel and it appears that Lucas has powers that aren't quite natural. These powers are subtle; those he helps think he is a good man and those who cross him are likely to suffer 'accidents'. Later it emerges that Lucas has a reason for taking an interest in Caleb; something that becomes more disturbing as we learn more.This was a really fine series; I enjoyed it when I first watched it on television and even more when I watched it on DVD. Talking of the DVD if you are preparing to watch the series one should be aware that the episodes are in the order they were broadcast which is not the correct order… I'd strongly advise watching them either in the order listed here or that on Wikipedia… they are almost identical just one episode switched; I think the latter is correct but wouldn't swear to it. Either way you'll finish on the final episode rather than ending up confused.The series contains elements of horror but it is fairly subtle; chilling rather than terrifying. That isn't to say there aren't any disturbing moments though. The story is well told with the main story being spread over the whole series. Individual episodes also contain standalone stories which usually illustrate just how dangerous Lucas is. The cast are great; Gary Cole dominates the series as Lucas Buck; he makes it believable that many of those who deal with him won't see just how evil he is. Young Lucas Black also impresses as Caleb Temple; a character who develops impressively over the course of the series. There are plenty of other interesting characters; Sarah Paulson brings an otherworldliness to the role of Merlyn's ghost; Brenda Bakke is delightfully seductive as Selena, school teacher and lover of Lucas Buck; Paige Turco as the relatively normal Gail and Nick Searcy as Deputy Ben Healy, a man who wants to do the right thing but can't stand up to his boss. It is a shame that the series ended after just one season but the ending is ambiguous in a good way so perhaps it is good that it ended while it was still good. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to anybody after a rather different TV series.

This show was great. Really great. This was Gary Cole's best performance in his career. No disrespect to Gary, but nothing ahead is likely to match the subtlety and grace and sheer raw menace of his character here. It was also Lucas Black's best role, but for different reasons. In this show, Black literally delivers dialogue with facial expression. Not a figure of speech. He actually does it. Problem is, he was a "child star" here and when the series was deep-sixed he had to try to reboot his career first as a teenager (and now an adult) and so far the results are not especially promising. He deserved better. Ditto for Brenda Blake. Playing the major vamp in the show, she was able to walk across a gymnasium floor in heels, and get more pizazz from that simple move than most current actresses can get from an entire scene. But the real crime is the way evil in this show was suggested not demonstrated. To this reviewer the real horror is that a show like this could manage only one year whereas a show like American Horror Story, which leaves so little to the imagination, just keeps on going. I am not sure what this says about the world we live in. But that scares me more than any show could possibly manage.

I first saw this amazing series midway through the season in 1995. It is now 2010. It was hard to keep up with the storyline then, now I know it was CBS who really screwed this one up, and I have never been able to catch it again in re-runs anywhere since. It has always been in the back of my mind "what ever happened to such a tremendous and dynamic show"? especially seeing as how there is more than enough crap on TV as it is. I thought maybe it was Gary who got greedy and wanted more money until I realized that that isn't the Gary Cole I know of. A man with such great talent and range who can go right from playing uncannily familiar Mike Brady to the best character you love to hate Sheriff Lucas Buck, he would know when he has another hit on his hands. I finally learned here by reading the comments that it was another CBS idiot who lost out on what is now a cult classic. It has taken me up to today to find the show in a watchable format again with my Netflix account. Sadly I could only watch 15 out of the 22 episodes online. I promise you this though. I am not much of a collector of DVD's but this series I am going to buy the set. In my humble TV and Movie viewing opinion American Gothic is the best written, finely produced, intimately intriguing story and of course excellently acted Television Program I have ever watched. And I watch a lot, mostly crap. To the entire cast and crew, Well Done and Thank You.

I watched this show on the basis of it being told it was reminiscent of David Lynch's Twin Peaks - a show which I adore. The show quickly starts introducing us to the main characters and rather unusually the pilot episode is to me the best of the lot, its extremely dramatic and really gets out the whole evil side of the show ready to progress throughout the rest of the season. My one biggest criticism is I felt a little let down by the show - probably not through its own fault, as it got cancelled after a mere 1 season, it seemed to display show much potential and it deserved a lot better treatment than it got. The acting is excellent, and this show has some of the best characters (good and evil) in it I have ever seen that are well developed in a short space of time. There is the odd cheesy effect for the first 5 or ten shows which are a bit overly dramatic, but this is rectified as the season progressed. Well worth a watch, definitely something out of the ordinary!