The conversation moves on to Friday the 13th: The Series, whose future at presstime had been nixed via cancellation. Nevertheless, Mancuso asserts that he's been very happy with the past. "The quality is still there, and it has become an even better show as the seasons have progressed," Mancuso maintains. "As an evolution, the idea was certainly there in the first year. In fact, I felt we had real moments of brilliance during the first season where I said, 'God, this could really be great.' We did shows during the first season that were cutting edge television.

"The second season was a process of further refining the show's theme and improving our execution. In the third season, we've brought the concept out as far as we can. We've done a show without any of our regular characters; we've done shows that did not feature an object from the store. The series has become a lot looser in terms of the worlds we can take on. The psychology of the show has changed. It's not as rigid."

To speculate on where a fourth season of Friday the 13th: The Series might have gone, however, strikes Mancuso as pointless. "There's no way to know," he shrugs. "Ideas come up when they do. I wouldn't think of sitting down and saying, 'OK, this is what we're going to do next year.' What you do is look back on what worked and what didn't. By doing that, you get smarter about what it is that works."