Fear Itself (TV series)

*Fear Itself*
Fear Itself
	Fear Itself intertitle
Genre	Horror; Suspense;
Created by	Mick Garris
Theme music composer	Serj Tankian
Opening theme	"Lie Lie Lie" by Serj Tankian
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer	Andrew Deane
Producers	Adam Goldworm; Grant Rosenberg; Ben Browning;
Production locations	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Running time	42 mins
Production companies	Fear Itself Productions; Industry Entertainment; Lionsgate Television;
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	June 5 –; July 31, 2008

Fear Itself is an American horror-suspense anthology television series. It debuted on NBC on June 5, 2008,^[1] but was pulled from the air after late July 2008 with five episodes remaining unaired. On March 13, 2009, it was confirmed that the series had been canceled and would not return to NBC.^[2]

Production and development

Its title is derived from the famous Franklin D. Roosevelt quote, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."^[3] The anthology was born out of Masters of Horror and shares several of the same creative elements. It features self-contained horror/thriller stories directed by the biggest horror directors working in features, both shows were created by Mick Garris, and both shows are produced by Industry Entertainment's Andrew Deane, Adam Goldworm, and Ben Browning. Stuart Gordon, Brad Anderson, John Landis, Ernest Dickerson, and Rob Schmidt all directed at least one episode of each series.

The series was filmed in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with some additional filming taking place in the city of St. Albert and the town of Devon, Alberta.^[4]^[5] Guest stars included Eric Roberts, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Josie Davis, Briana Evigan, Jesse Plemons, Elisabeth Moss, and Cory Monteith. The song in the opening credits is titled "Lie Lie Lie" by System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian from his first solo album Elect the Dead.

Broadcast

The show aired on Thursday nights at 10/9c. It was put on hiatus for the duration of the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the promise of a return once the event was over, but no further episodes were aired.^{[citation needed]} While NBC failed to comment on the fate of the series once the Olympics ended, its time-slot was thereafter filled with re-runs of other NBC shows, and Fear Itself did not appear on the NBC Fall 2008 schedule.^{[citation needed]}

In the UK, the show started airing on 5* from Friday 4 May 2012. In Australia, the show commenced screening in August 2012 on the FX channel, available on the Foxtel platform.

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD on September 15, 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Episodes

The episodes are run in a different order on the DVD and within online streaming sites.

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"The Sacrifice"	Breck Eisner	Mick Garris & Del Howison	June 5, 2008 (2008-06-05)	5.29
Four criminals take refuge inside an isolated, snow-covered fort, and encounter three sisters with a hidden secret who are harbouring a monster. Starring Jeffrey Pierce, Jesse Plemons, and Rachel Miner
2	"Spooked"	Brad Anderson	Mick Garris & Matt Venne	June 12, 2008 (2008-06-12)	4.89
During a stakeout, a private investigator (Eric Roberts) comes face-to-face with the demons of his past.
3	"Family Man"	Ronny Yu	Daniel Knauf	June 19, 2008 (2008-06-19)	4.66
After a car accident, a loving father (Colin Ferguson) and an infamous serial killer (Clifton Collins Jr.) swap bodies.
4	"In Sickness and in Health"	John Landis	Victor Salva	June 26, 2008 (2008-06-26)	4.47
A bride (Maggie Lawson) receives an ominous note that claims her groom (James Roday) is actually a serial killer. Marshall Bell and William B. Davis also star.
5	"Eater"	Stuart Gordon	Richard Chizmar & Johnathon Schaech	July 3, 2008 (2008-07-03)	4.74
A rookie cop (Elisabeth Moss) is assigned to guard a cannibalistic serial killer nicknamed "Eater" (Stephen R. Hart) along with two other officers, but it becomes clear "Eater" is more than a mere serial killer. Also starring Russell Hornsby, Stephen Lee, and Pablo Schreiber.
6	"New Year's Day"	Darren Lynn Bousman	Steve Niles & Ben Sokolowski	July 17, 2008 (2008-07-17)	2.93
A young woman (Briana Evigan) awakens in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies.
7	"Community"	Mary Harron	Kelly Kennemer	July 24, 2008 (2008-07-24)	3.21
A young couple move into a gated community, and discover that the community hides a dark secret. Starring Brandon Routh, Shiri Appleby, and John Billingsley.
8	"Skin & Bones"	Larry Fessenden	Drew McWeeny & Rebecca Swan	July 31, 2008 (2008-07-31)	3.87
A missing rancher (Doug Jones) returns to his family, but they realize that he is no longer the man they knew. Also starring John Pyper-Ferguson, Molly Hagan, and Gordon Tootosin.
9	"Something with Bite"	Ernest Dickerson	Max Landis	Unaired	N/A
After being bitten by a werewolf brought into his clinic, a veterinarian (Wendell Pierce) begins to transform into a werewolf himself. To make matters worse, another werewolf is on a killing spree, and the veterinarian is the top suspect.
10	"Chance"	John Dahl^[6]	Story by : Lem Dobbs Teleplay by : Lem Dobbs & Rick Dahl	Unaired	N/A
Chance Miller (Ethan Embry) is a down-on-his-luck guy whose luck goes even worse when he finds himself dealing with his evil doppelganger
11	"The Spirit Box"	Rob Schmidt	Joe Gangemi	Unaired	N/A
Emily D'Angelo is a dead schoolgirl who speaks to her classmates from beyond the grave. She reveals that she was murdered and she wants her friends help to seek revenge.
12	"Echoes"	Rupert Wainwright	Sean Hood	Unaired	N/A
A friendly man (Aaron Stanford) discovers that he was a sadistic murderer in a previous life.
13	"The Circle"	Eduardo Rodríguez	Richard Chizmar & Johnathon Schaech	Unaired	N/A
A writer (Johnathon Schaech) stays at a small town to break his writer’s block, but his story begins to happen to him and his wife in reality.

References

^ NBC Lights Up Summer With A Burst Of Original Program Premieres As Part Of 'NBC'S All-American Summer'
^ 2008 - 2009 Cancelled Shows: NBC Cancels 10 Television Series Archived March 17, 2009, at archive.today
^ Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. "First Inaugural Address". Wikisource. Retrieved 2003-03-02.
^ "NBC to film series in St. Albert". CTV News. March 7, 2008. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
^ "Made in Canada: Alberta". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. September 3, 2009. Retrieved 2021-09-19. With its vast oil sands and natural gas reserves, the province last year offered hard cash to Lionsgate to shoot the NBC anthology series "Fear Itself" in Edmonton when oil was at $140 a barrel.
^ 'Psych,' 'FNL' Actors Join 'Fear Itself'

External links

Fear Itself at IMDb
Fear Itself Directors, Writers and Stars Announced Archived 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine

[PR1-1] NBC Lights Up Summer With A Burst Of Original Program Premieres As Part Of 'NBC'S All-American Summer'

[2] 2008 - 2009 Cancelled Shows: NBC Cancels 10 Television Series Archived March 17, 2009, at archive.today

[rq-3] Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. "First Inaugural Address". Wikisource. Retrieved 2003-03-02.

[4] "NBC to film series in St. Albert". CTV News. March 7, 2008. Retrieved 2021-09-19.

[5] "Made in Canada: Alberta". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. September 3, 2009. Retrieved 2021-09-19. With its vast oil sands and natural gas reserves, the province last year offered hard cash to Lionsgate to shoot the NBC anthology series "Fear Itself" in Edmonton when oil was at $140 a barrel.

[zap1-6] 'Psych,' 'FNL' Actors Join 'Fear Itself'

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v t e Mick Garris
Films directed	Fuzzbucket (1986) Critters 2: The Main Course (1988) Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) Sleepwalkers (1992) The Stand (1994) The Shining (1997) Quicksilver Highway (1997) Virtual Obsession (1998) Lost in Oz (2002) Riding the Bullet (2004) Stephen King's Desperation (2006) Stephen King's Bag of Bones (2011) Nightmare Cinema (2018)
TV series created	Masters of Horror (2005–07) Fear Itself (2008)