Let's make one thing perfectly clear - "American Gothic" is not for everyone.
The opening segment in Friday's pilot episode (9 p.m., Ch. 2) involves horrific violence against a teenage girl - first by her father, and then by the town sheriff. The segment has been toned down considerably from the original versions - the actual sights and sounds of the violence have been excised - but it's still difficult to watch.And "Gothic" deals with the supernatural and the occult. (Although we're not talking Satanism here - it's more nebulous.)
Taking all of that into consideration, "American Gothic" is still exceptional television. Great characters, great writing and enough mystery to grab you without giving too much away.
"There's certainly a lot of darkness in this show, and I think that if anybody finds the opening sequence unsettling, they should," said creator/producer/writer Shaun Cassidy.
(Yes, that Shaun Cassidy, of "Hardy Boys" and teenybopper music fame.)
"One of the problems with a lot of the gratuitous violence on television is that people don't seem to (react) - it doesn't seem to faze them," Cassidy continued. As for the violence committed in "Gothic's" pilot, "the consequences of that action are played out in a forthcoming episode."
Describing "American Gothic" isn't easy.
"It's a story of good and evil in the small town of Trinity, South Carolina," said Sam Raimi, the horror movie-meister who's the show's executive producer. "And this evil is embodied in this very attractive and sexy and appealing individual played by Gary Cole."
Cole plays Lucas Buck, the town sheriff who's also at the bottom of everything that's wrong in seemingly idyllic Trinity. But he's not some leering, menacing monster. He can be totally charming.
"I think evil arrives wearing a white glove and a smile in the South," Cassidy said.
The sheriff's violent action at the opening of the show "is an anomaly for this person," Cassidy added. "He is a man who operates in a much more manipulative fashion. Him actually getting his hands dirty is not the way he operates."
In other words, we shouldn't expect to see a lot of violence from Lucas Buck.
"His business is not about killing people. If he kills someone he's lost them," Cassidy said. "He'd much rather control them and own them and manipulate them. And our template for his character was actually more along the lines of `The Godfather.'
"This is not a man who wants to be viewed as a villain. He wants to be viewed as a benefactor and someone who they can trust, someone they can look up to, and someone who will be their protector. That's how he views himself."
While that does not redeem the character, it at least makes Lucas understandable. To his way of thinking, he's the good guy.
Facing off against Buck are three protaganists - the new town doctor (Jake Weber), a newspaper reporter (Paige Turco) whose own life was changed by Buck, and the reporter's young cousin, Caleb (Lucas Black), who is at the heart of Buck's plans.
(Black, a 12-year-old whose only previous acting experience was his very small role in the movie "The War," is a find. He may just be the best child actor on television.)
What makes "Gothic" so intriguing is that lots of things are not explained, including exactly what psychic powers several of the characters - most notably young Caleb and the sheriff - seem to possess.
"We're trying to keep the supernatural within the realm of possibility," Cassidy said. Whatever power it is that Buck and some of the other characters have is undefined, but Cassidy said he thinks of it as "second sight," which "is looked upon as sort of a common thing" in the South.
"I think that's just a very strong intuition about things," Cassidy said. "And he (Buck) has a very strong sensitivity to it."
"I think he's a very powerful individual," Raimi said. "But I think the thing for Lucas Buck is not to use any of his powers. And the real victory for Lucas Buck is to take an individual and destroy them, bring them down to their lowest level from the weaknesses within themselves. . . . I'd hate for the fellas to write an episode where he had to call upon a lightning bolt, because then he would have lost. And I don't think it would be interesting for the audience anymore."
And it's not as if Lucas Buck is all-powerful.
"First of all, he has to be defeated often and will be defeated often," Raimi said. "I mean, in the good and evil stakes sometimes good wins, sometimes evil wins. And, generally, in most episodes both will win something."
Although the first episode ends with a cliffhanger, everyone involved insists that "American Gothic" will not be a continuing drama.
"Within the first two, two-and-a-half episodes, virtually every open envelope will be sealed," Cassidy said. "What we don't want to make is a serial. We're not doing that. We're making closed-ended episodes."
As for all those mysteries left hanging at the end of the first episode, Cassidy said he will "tie it up very quickly in the second . . . and third episodes."
"Really, our goal is to create entertainment that is contained within the episodes so that the viewers who come to this show (late) don't feel like they can't join in."
How exactly that will work remains to be seen. But the pilot is intriguing enough to go back and find out.
TRIBUTE TO ANDY? In one scene in the "American Gothic" pilot, Cole's character of the evil Southern sheriff whistles the "Andy Griffith Show" theme song.
"I kind of look at it as kind of a tribute to him, albeit a rather twisted tribute," Cole said.
THE REAL SHAUN: Shaun Cassidy not only demonstrates there's a much darker side to him than anyone imagined with "American Gothic," but in promoting the show he also demonstrated a quick wit.
Asked where all that "Gothic" darkness came from, he replied, "It's all Shirley Jones' fault."
(Jones, of course, is his mother.)
"I think we're all a little more complex than people know," he continued. "And people aren't always what they seem. I think that our show is about that."