In Short:	An intriguing attempt at a supernatural small town creepy horror-esque TV show.
Recommended:	Yes, absolutely, for fans of Gary Cole. If not, you could go either way.

MATT:	Go to Hell.
SHERIFF BUCK:	Been there. And you know what? It ain't half bad.

Gary Cole rules. Quite the versatile actor he is, playing roles as diverse as Mike Brady (in the Brady Bunch movies), one of highly amusing sportscasters for ESPN8, the Ocho, in Dodgeball, the Vice-President of the US in The West Wing, and, of course, the boss in Office Space. And here he is (before many of the aforementioned roles), kicking ass (not necessarily literally) as the devil in the short-lived TV series American Gothic.

Cole plays Lucas Buck, sheriff of the small Southern town of Trinity. He has his hand in everything that goes on in town and seems to have everyone under his thumb to one extent or another (as one might expect from a devilish person such as him). The central story/conflict for the show centers around Caleb (Lucas Black), a young boy who Sheriff Buck has quite the interest in. We find out early on that Caleb is Buck's son after the sheriff raped Caleb's mother, though the majority of the townsfolk are unaware of this. Trying to prevent the sheriff from exerting much influence over Caleb are the newly arrived doctor in town, Dr. Crower (Jake Weber) and Caleb's cousin Gail (Paige Turco), returned to Trinity after fleeing many years before. On the supernatural side, also attempting to guide Caleb is the spirit of his sister, Merlyn (Sarah Paulson), who Sheriff Buck murders in the pilot episode.

The show attempts to have a creepy, subtle supernatural vibe, and for the most part succeeds. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was "scary", but definitely creepy. As previously stated, Gary Cole rules. He plays the sheriff as well as such a role can be played, appearing friendly on the surface yet with layers of evil residing just beneath -- all of which conveyed with just a look, or the way a line is delivered.

But the show is rather inconsistent. Not too surprising, I suppose, for a show in its first (and only) season, but it is disappointing. For instance, in some episodes, it is not clear how much that is supernatural is actually going on. Is the sheriff really the Devil, or just an evil person? Does he really have supernatural abilities and knowledge, or does it appear that way? These episodes were particularly effective. But others leave no question at all that the sheriff does, in fact, have supernatural abilities. There are also inconsistencies in other characters -- in some episodes Caleb is quite convinced that Sheriff Buck is a bad man and doesn't want anything to do with him, and in others, is rather friendly and open toward him.

This inconsistent nature makes it hard to really tell what the show-runners were going for, or where the show would have been going in the long run, had it had the chance to continue past one season. It is a little hard to recommend the show because of this. But there some good things about it for certain. Besides the aforementioned awesomeness of Gary Cole, some of the episodes feature some good writing, with complex levels of subtlety. The show can be kind of slow, which is either annoying or creepy (in a good way) depending on the quality of the episode overall (Hmmm...which could also describe a certain writer for a certain webzine, too, if one thinks that much about it...).

So the question at hand is, if you missed American Gothic when it was first on in the mid-90's, is it worth watching now? If you are a fan of Gary Cole (which you should be), then yes. If not, then not really. It's certainly not a bad show, so if you had any interest in a story about the devil in a small town, then by all means find it online or pick up the DVDs. But I can't tell you that you are completely missing out and that your life is totally unfulfilled without you knowing it if you don't happen to watch the show. So the choice is yours. And isn't that what the Devil is all about, making choices?