TheBlueHairedLawyer Are You Afraid of the Dark lasted about ten years with seven seasons. The plot follows a group of misfit outsider kids who tell ghost stories at night around a fire. They call their club the Midnight Society. Some of the stories are comedic (the tale of the Gruesome Gourmets, the Tale of the Unexpected Visitor), while others are creepy and thrilling (the Tale of the Hungry Hounds, the Tale of the Dark Music). Some have happy endings where a ghost is reunited with his\her living relation, such as the Tale of C7 and the tale of the Lonely Ghost. The stories often provide lessons in them, such as not stealing or lying, not bothering elderly people and listening to your parents (basically, don't be a bratty little jerk). Halfway through the series' time the members of the club changed to younger kids. They weren't as great but their stories remained entertaining.There are one or two episodes here and there where characters talk in flat, emotionless voices when talking about dire situations. In the pilot "Phantom Cab", the younger boy screams, "no, no, we've got to be close to town" in a blank monotone. In "Old Man Corcoran", there were two boys who said they were from the East Side, toughest place ever. Since this is a Canadian show I guess they're referring to the non-existent gangs, pimps and drug dealers in the non-existent ghettos of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Confusing.Anyway, that stuff aside, every story is original or based loosely on an urban myth from the area where the episode's story takes place. Guest stars like Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clarissa Explains it All), are often actors/actresses in various episodes. For the most part the acting is decent, the soundtrack to each episode is different from the others and remains eerie and creepy throughout the series. It does have its nineties fashion trends and speech trends, and characters with bizarre names like 'Stig' and 'Bange'. This show also deals with teen issues like bullying, being the new kid in town, schoolwork and irresponsible parents.Overall the series is excellent. If you're going to let your kid watch My Little Pony Friendship is Magic again, don't do it, put on one of these. I certainly wouldn't recommend that kids under 7 watch this though, there are episodes with rather disturbing things in them like the Lonely Ghost, the little girl chased by bullies while her mom is away and getting locked in her room to starve to death. Over 7 years old and it's great to watch, I see adults watching it sometimes too even just for the nostalgia.

linck19852004 Hello everyone who grew up in the 90s by far one of the greatest decades ever. During the 90s there were a lot of great shows on TV. Well one of the best shows that were on during the 90s was Are You Afraid of the Dark, which ran from 1991-1995. It was a show about a group of kids that called themselves the Midnight Sociaty, they would sit around the camp fire telling scary stories. The show was part of my childhood & I will always remember it, I wish it was still on in reruns. I was just at this Horror Convention in Orlando, FL where I found this show on DVD. It is a pretty hard show to find on DVD I think you can also get it online but I am not sure. When I started watching it, I remembered it right off the bat. I was bring memories from my childhood it was the first time I have seen its since it got canceled in 1995. The show was brought back again in 1999 & ran for two more seasons, but it wasn't as good as the first run. Well for all you guys who grew up in the 1990s hope you never forget about this really great show.

Brian Straker Mind you that not all of the episodes were winners, the first season and other such episodes made for some of the most cherished nights of my childhood! Episodes like the Tale of the Twisted Claw/Phantom Cab/Laughing in the Dark/Super Specs made for some genuinely scary fun! I remember jumping behind my dad and yelling when the shocks came in the Super Specs episode! The 90's were a joy to be a part of as a kid, and it's really just unfortunate that the creativeness that once flourished during that time has since trailed way off since 2000/perhaps the End of Days did in fact come, even if it only affected youth television! It's great that users of YouTube have uploaded so many AYAOTD episodes there for people like myself to view and embrace, but upon viewing some the latter runs, it's apparent that after 50 or so episodes the Midnight Society really started to lose their goose! Such episodes as the one staring Tia & Tamara in (I believe it was entitled) The Tale of the Chameleon, you can plainly see that once the original Society members took the hike, so did the show.

bondfan27 During the 90's, the cable television station Nickelodeon hosted a 2-hour Saturday evening program block of half-hour shows known as "Snick" (Saturday Night Nickelodeon). Airing from 8 PM to 10 PM, Snick featured shows geared to a (slightly) older audience in the preteen demographic by airing programs featuring more mature themes then the daytime programs. From season to season most shows risked being moved/canceled in their 8 to 9:30 slots, but the 9:30 slot stayed the same for a record of 5 seasons (from 1991 to 1996). That show was known as "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?" AYAOTD was a program featuring a cast of preteens who called themselves "The Midnight Society", a group of friends who gathered weekly in a forest campfire setting to tell spooky tales of ghosts, goblins, and anything within the supernatural and paranormal realms. A simple introduction into each weekly story began as "submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story..." following a title for the episode ("The Tale of the Dead Man's Float", "The Tale of Apartment 214", etc). Seasons to season, members of the society were changed, replaced, but the stories never got stale.What made AYAOTD revolutionary for its generation was within its story structure: the show avoided criticism that normal sitcoms and shows face because it avoided cliché formatting. The show never lost its spirit because each week featured new characters and scenarios, keeping the show fresh and appealing. It was an "X-Files" or, even closer, "Tales from the Crypt", for a younger audience.But the show can still be appreciated at an older age: AYAOTD did truly deliver for its genre. To assume the show couldn't deliver scares because it targeted such a young age group is false because the show certainly did. Its demographic allowed more focus on creating natural suspense and fear rather than artificially supplying it in the forms of over-excessive gore, violence, and language. Because the show avoided those clichés, it used strong mood lighting, clever camera-work and omniscient music in order to heighten the tension and fear. AYAOTD's writers were sharp enough to create scary tales that tapped into primal fears and childhood nightmares. The stories covered every type of unnatural force possible but somehow spun them into its own creative style. In its first season alone, AYAOTD covered topics such as clowns, ghosts, possession, vampires, creatures lurking in basements, and things hiding in the dark. It also knew its strengths and weaknesses: it was good at making the things that needed to scary scary, but strong dialogue was an apparent flaw. The acting was at best B-material, but in itself it shows the appeal of AYAOTD: the show was a light horror pop confection that took itself just serious enough to make your pulse race and your breath to shorten.10 out of 10 is a grade that shouldn't be given out like candy, and I abide by that opinion. In essence, AYAOTD deserves a 10/10 because it accomplishes the primary requirement: to entertain. AYAOTD accomplishes this effortlessly, even in its later seasons, because it applied a format that allowed for fresh new ideas every week, never tiring the storyline or the viewer. AYAOTD told its last tale in 1996 when it was sadly canceled. But its popularity and fan-base was so strong that the show was remade with an all-new cast in the 99-00 season. Sadly, while it sounded like a good idea to bring back such a favored show, it just wasn't the same without the original Midnight Society and was quickly canceled after its first season. AYAOTD is not a television show to scares your pants off if you're above the age of 10, but even if you are older, you can't help but feel your spine tingle at the thought of what may be lurking within each episode. And if that isn't entertainment, I don't know what is.