It's very easy to get pigeonholed or typecast in Hollywood. Let's face it, if someone is really good at one thing, they should run with and the show business community loves to see people doing their thing time and time again. But, there are people who are good at more than one thing and getting a second or third talent noticed can be a challenge. At times, it seems very organic, such as when an actor who appears in a lot of dramas decides to direct a drama. It can be much more difficult to jump into a new genre or medium. However, Adam Green did just that when he made the leap from directing horror movies to creating and starring in a sitcom called Holliston.

Holliston's title comes from the fact that it's set in Holliston, Massachusetts. Adam (Adam Green) and Joe (Joe Lynch) hosted a horror movie show on local cable TV. They also work at the cable station, creating commercials for neighborhood businesses. Their boss is Lance Rocket (Dee Snider), who spends most of his time performing with his Van Halen tribute band. Adam and Joe are also roommates, although they are always late on bills. Their goal is to make a movie called "Shinpads", which is about a zombie soccer team. Joe has been dating Laura (Laura Ortiz) for years. Although she is petite and seemingly innocent, she paints very disturbing pictures. Adam's life is thrown into turmoil when his ex-girlfriend, Corri (Corri English), returns to Holliston. She still wants to be friends, but Adam still has strong feelings for her. When he needs advice, Adam turns to his imaginary friend, Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie), a demon-like creature. Together, Adam and Joe find that everyday life can be scarier than a horror movie.

Well, as it turns out, I was half right. Holliston is full of horror movie references, in-jokes, and cameo appearances by horror stars. As Adam and Joe are aspiring horror filmmakers, they got involved in gory gags and the show isn’t show about showing blood or vomit. However, outside of that, Holliston wants to be a conventional sitcom. It looks like a sitcom and it even has an annoying laugh track (Why? I don’t know.) Yes, the show contains horror movie stuff, but the episodes’ story lines fall much more into traditional sitcom territory with things like money problems, relationship issues, getting in trouble with the boss, and guests who won’t leave. The most surprising thing about the show is that it’s actually funny at times. Holliston isn’t my favorite new sitcom and there weren’t any true belly-laughs, but Green does have an ear for humor (there were some funny moments in Hatchet). There is a nice variety of funny dialogue and sight gags, and the show really hits its stride when the fourth wall is broken and it gets meta. As the leads, Green and Lynch has a good chemistry. Of the two, Green is the better actor, as Lynch looks uncomfortable at times when he’s waiting for it to be his turn to speak.

The easiest way to describe Holliston would be to imagine Dante and Randall form Clerks if they were more obsessed with horror movies than Star Wars. I’m not implying that Holliston is an good as Clerks, but it has that same kind of vibe as it follows two slackers who let movie trivia invade their everyday conversations. (And Lynch sort of bares a passing resemblance to Dante.) As it’s on Fear Net, many may not have heard of Holliston (I know that I hadn’t), so if you’re looking for a sitcom which just happens to have references to A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and Scanners while still containing plenty of jokes about girlfriend, then it’s worth checking out.

Holliston: The Complete First Season made me remember that I had actually been to a Gwar concert (I think I’d blocked that out) on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Image Entertainment. The single Disc contains all six episodes of the show’s first season. The show has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 19 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing no grain or defects from the source material. There is some mild pixellating and shimmering of the image at times. The colors look good and the image is never overly dark or bright. The picture shows a nice level of detail as well. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 1.8 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Being a sitcom, we don’t get a ton of exciting effects here. There are some notable stereo effects when something is happening off-screen. Likewise for some surround sound effects. The show’s hard rock opening theme sounds good and offers nice bass effects.

The Holliston: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Disc contains a lot of extras for a six episode series. We get AUDIO COMMENTARIES on all six episodes from Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Laura Ortiz, and Corri English. "The Road to Holliston Promos" is a series of six short segments. "The Pitch" (2 minutes) shows Green and Lynch attempting to sell the show to the suits. "Corri English Audition" (9 minutes) shows a fake (and long) audition in which Green hits on the actress. "Network Notes" (3 minutes) has an executive's young daughter critiquing the show. "Oderus Urungus Screen Test" (2 minutes) has the Gwar frontman doing lines from other movies. "Dee Snider Make-up Test" (1 minute) has the Twisted Sister sporting different looks. "On Set with Laura Ortiz" (1 minute) shows Green walking in on the actress in her dressing room. The Disc contains three DELETED SCENES, one each from "Camera Rental", "Candyman" and "Laura's Little Twitter". "Behind the Scenes" contains seven segments. "Holliston History" (3 minutes) has Green and Lynch describing the creation of the show. "Meet the Cast" (5 minutes) has a lot of on-set footage and interviews with the four main cast members. "Art Direction" (4 minutes) takes us on a tour of the sets and discusses the look of the show. This kind of examination continues in "Make-up and Wardrobe" (3 minutes). "Guest Stars" (6 minutes) has Green and Lynch discussing how they were able to use their connections to get some familiar faces on the show. "Horror Convention" (4 minutes) takes us behind-the-scenes on the last episode and offers comments on how real-life has influenced it. "Bathtub Scene" (4 minutes) looks at a specific scene from the episode "Skunked". "Sneak Peek TV Special" (20 minutes) is a feature which aired on Fearnet. It is an extended making-of which offers interviews and on-set footage. The final extra is a 6-minute reel of BLOOPERS.