Vampires, Werewolves, and Demons...oh my!

So, has the Twilight movie franchise brought about a resurgence in the Vampire/Supernatural glut of TV shows about the subject? I originally started thinking about this when I watched the new arrival, ABC's "The Gates". This show so far has vampires and a group of teenage werewolves. Sound familiar? "The Gates" just started so I have to reserve my judgment on this show. Other than the fact that the vampires appear to be adults and the werewolves are teenage boys, who knows what more is in store for viewers. However, given the premise, this place called The Gates seems to be a self-contained town, as well as a gated community, reminiscent of Syfy channels Eureka, only with gates. What I mean to say is that this seems to be more of a mysterious place kind of show, with a new police chief and his family, who seem to be normal. Kind of like Eureka. Where weird things happen and the powers that be would rather the chief kind of look the other way. So as I said it remains to be seen if this show will last a season. I'll give it a try, I always do. 

 The cast seems to have the right variety of attractive mature adults and teenagers, something for everyone. I'll keep you posted on this one.

When I contemplated this whole Vampire craze, I thought...wow, everyone now loves what I've always loved. The classic tortured soul of the vampire. I mean, I grew up with Dark Shadows the granddaddy of them all. Dark Shadows ran from 1966-1971 and had some successful films afterward. The attempt to revive the franchise back in 1991 failed I am sorry to say. I feel as though my daughter and I were the only ones who watched it. How sad.

Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid in the original show was the original TV tortured vampire character. He was what he was, but he tried to protect his family. That seems to be the sign of humanity with vampires, the
ennui of being alive so long and the longing to be a part of humanity somehow.

When thinking about some of the shows in this genre that have been on in the past, I noticed something striking. None of these shows has lasted more than 6 years. Most last either 1 year or 5-6, with very few 2 year exceptions. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer made it to 6 years where she now rules. Currently there are quite a few Vampire/Supernatural shows on. Some have really struck a chord with viewers and seem as though they may go the distance. Now how far that distance is remains to be seen. For instance we have the CW's "The Vampire Diaries", one of my absolute favorites. It combines hot vampires, of course, with gothic dimensions of an historic eastern town rife with witch and vampire lore, founding families, and a city council that is more of a "find and destroy the vampires" club. Of course we have the tortured vampire, Stefan who is in love with Elena (a human, whose mother was turned into a vampire before Elena even knew who she was) and then we have his very hot brother Damon who enjoys the hell out of being a vampire! But lo and behold if Elena, a dead ringer for his true love Katherine, isn't touching this bad boy vampire's heart. So you've got the supernatural elements plus a classic love triangle. Can't go wrong with this combo, we are going into a second season of this show so there is hope that this show will last. 

 Another show from the CW that has had a lot of success is "Supernatural", two brothers fighting demons. Now I have not watched this show myself, although my son does. I just got too confused, the actor who plays Sam is the same actor who played "Dean" in "The Gilmore Girls" and the other actor plays a character names "Dean". TOO confusing for me! It's just not right, you'd think someone would have figured this out and threw the name Dean out and replaced it with something else, maybe Joe, that's a good name....brothers Sam and Joe. Works for me. Anyway, the show has been on for a few years now and seems to be hanging in there. The CW seems to have pretty good luck with these kinds of shows. ABC does not, they cancelled "Moonlight" one of my most favorite Vampire shows ever! So perhaps the actors on "the Gates" should think before making any large purchases.

I cannot write anything about this genre without including one of my top 5 vampire/werewolf/ghost shows, "Being Human". It is a BBC show that you can watch on BBC America. I believe the 2nd season is getting ready to start airing in America. This show is about 3 roommates living in a flat in London, the gorgeous and brooding Vampire (what did I tell you, always brooding these vampires!) Mitchell, George the reluctant Werewolf, and poor ghost Annie....Annie being the only one that no one can see besides Mitchell and George and the only one who really can't leave the house. Although she was able to leave to sort out some things with another ghost. There is some great acting and angst about losing their human side, not to mention the comedy that the Brits are known for. I love this show and can't wait to watch the second season. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend getting the DVD of the first season or finding a way to watch it online, I believe it is on tvshack.net. It's really a phenomenon in Britain and although they are talking about an American version, I hope they don't. I love this show the way that it is.

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Of course there's no way that I could write about Vampires on TV and not mention the TOP DOG in this genre, HBO's True Blood. Being a show on HBO means they can get away with a lot more than "regular" TV can....they can and they do in a major way. A show that is loaded up on sex, violence, necrophilia, and bestiality....of course I'm kinda joking about the last 2 unless you want to count sleeping with a vampire necrophilia and sleeping with a shapeshifter bestiality. And of course you could also call blood drinking a form of cannibalism, which we won't go into. Ew! This show is based on a series of tamer books by Charlaine Harris. I am sure that Ms. Harris doesn't mind the treatment of her characters as I know her books are selling better than ever, thanks to the show. They deserve to, the books are really good in my opinion. Of course that's off the subject, I wrote a lot about this show 2 blogs ago so you might want to check it out. 

Before I end this blog I must give a shout out to a couple of dead shows that I knew and loved....I still miss you both! I hardly knew you....Blood Ties you actually broke the mold when you aired for 2 seasons!!!! Congrats! Wish I could have found out what happened.....I mean I read the books so I know Vicki you become a vampire and Henry has to stay away from you....but damn! And Moonlight, sooooo many unanswered questions! I have your one season on DVD and it pains me to see the last show and know that I will NEVER have the answers to so many questions. Arrggh! Damn the networks!!!! Buh bye my beautiful vamps. Mick (aka actor Alex O'Loughlin), I will watch you on Hawaii 5-0! Count on it. Now, I need to get a drink.....Type O positive sounds lovely!