Blood Ties vs Moonlight... FIGHT!!!!
So I've watched all the episodes of Blood Ties, which is, for those who don't know (and by that I mean everyone -- obscure show wut?) a vampire detective series that ran on Lifetime. It was also lickably awesome, thought not quite as lickably awesome of Tanya Huffs books. Because Tanya Huff is made of chocolate. But I digress.
I have a few quibbles about the show, and a few squees: Firstly the squees-- The obscure actor they picked to play Henry is amazing. He's attractive in an unconventional way, he can seduce with his expression, rather than just his natural good looks, and he can also vamp out to pretty scary, despite being a shorter than average (though not really short) small boned man. His writers let him run the gambit from being open and vulnerable, to amiable sarcasm, to being a complete dick. He also sleeps around without regret -- a LOT. Sadly they are all women, despite his being very clearly bisexual in the books (The sexual orientation of his food isn't an issue - everyone is Henry-sexual if that's what he wants).
But Henry isn't the detective. Vicki is. Vicki has all the best player character disadvantages: She's extremely stubborn, argumentative, snarky, overly curious, and has one of those convenient physical disadvantages which only slows her down when it's funny. She has all the best player character advantages as well: She completely kicks ass physically. She's wicked with a night-stick (Night stick being the wussy canadian equivalent of a gun). She can pick locks. And she can be pretty seductive herself.
Then (because otherwise the sexual tension would go, Henry: Sleep with me! Vicki: Okay!) there is Celluci -- Vicki's boyfriend. He's the straight man in all of this -- the foil for both Vicki and Henry's shenanigans. Vicki can't choose which she wants more. She's in love with Celluci in the normal way, but then Henry is teh sex.
Now, I obviously thought it would be awesome if Henry just seduced Celluci and made it a threesome, but since Lifetime made Henry straight, and both tv and book versions of Celluci were so adamantly not interested in Henry it might actually count as psychic resistance, only in my head would that have worked out. In the books both Celluci and Henry reluctantly allowed a time-share option and Vicki had a fair amount of sex with both. In the TV series, no one got any -- except of course Henry, which somehow didn't stop him from being sexually frustrated as well.
Celluci's main advantage to the plot is that he's a police detective, and can filter information from the human sector into Vicki's paranormal one and back. The mundane bad guys get put in jail, the not so mundane ones take a short trip through Henry and Vicki's wonder-twin court of whoop-ass.
And they all have adventures and kill supernatural bad guys, and it's good fun for all! With a side of romantic retardedness where the girl gets the harem.
It's a hard act to follow. But Since Lifetime hasn't reupped the series and it's probably gone forever, I started looking for something else to fill that niche.
So here comes Moonlight. From what I've garnered Moonlight was rather popular when it was on whatever broadcast TV it was on. It's, again, a vampire Detective show. And I'm finding that Blood Ties, for all it's being a fairly cheap ass production, is a hard act to follow. I've only seen one episode, so it's possible after a rocky start things hit their stride. That's what usually happens in shows.
So the basic set up is that the Vampire (Mick) is the detective. That works for me, though it does mean that the rest of his cast are a bit more superfluous. Whereas Vicki needed to herd the men in her life (like cats at times) into helping her out with all the things she couldn't do on her own, Mick's got all the bases covered: Brains, brawn, and supernatural skills and knowledge. Instead of working on the same team as his female love interest, he's working parallel to her, though not in outright competition.
The love interest is a reporter. Younger and more attractive than Vicki. Doe eyed and innocent rather than cynical. Her name is Beth and she has a background: She was kidnapped as a child by Mick's ex and had to be saved. So she vaguely remembers him, but hasn't quite placed him yet. She doesn't know about vampires or any supernatural yet. She has apparently some pull with the police department, but not a very strong one the way Vicki had. She, like Vicki, doesn't mind bending the law when it's convienient (which she damn well has to because otherwise she wouldn't be able to get very far in her investigations). This works, though not as neatly as Vicki's set up did. Like Vicki, she also has a boyfriend to help keep the UST. This being an American Network, I imagine everyone will be dreadfully straight.
The third member of the non-crew (because no one is really working together here, at least not yet) is Mick's best friend, Josef a rich vampire who is at least in my mind the most interesting person so far presented. He's a bit of a dick, but an amiable one. He kicks Mick off his brooding and gets him going, and generally provides the voice of reason. He's got some charisma and he clearly is enjoying his life to the fullest. He's fun.
I honestly wish Mick would get off his goodie-two shoes pedestal and enjoy himself a bit more. But I suspect this won't happen because for some reason men (and it is men who wrote this) seem to think that in order for vampires to be sympathetic and attractive, they need to be republicans. And not just the fiscal anti-tax kind -- the full on religious conservative type who don't believe in kissing before marriage, and regard feeding as something evil and spend their time worrying that God has Forsaken Them™.
If I were writing the show there would be a conversation like this:
Mick: hunting is evil and against our Lord's Will, therefore I will shoot up like a heroin addict and avoid even enjoying the flavor of my food. Plus this way eating hurts.
Josef: Are you nuts. That's not good. That's just annoying martyrdom for no reason.
Mick: Feeding is bad, bad, bad! Human contact -- bad! We can't have it!
Josef: Look at this chick I'm about to snack on, does she look like she's unhappy to be snacked on? No, she's cool with it. I'm not killing her -- christ, we eat less than than these mortals willingly give at the blood bank. It's good fun for everyone. See she even gets o-face when I bite in.
Mick: I'll drink corpse blood, avoid human interaction, and feel lousy about my existence BECAUSE THIS MAKES ME SYMPATHETIC!
Josef: I'm pretty sure the fans are sympathising more with my mansion full of money and friends enjoying themselves. Human contact seems to be working out pretty damn well for me. And I'm supposed to be your mentor. I guess I haven't been doing that great a job. But seriously, the fans will forgive you if you cut loose and enjoy yourself a little.
Mick: Fans are evil.
And that's why I'll never be a script writer.
So, so far, Bloodties is whipping Moonlight's butt, but again I'm just one episode in. It might improve.
I have a few quibbles about the show, and a few squees: Firstly the squees-- The obscure actor they picked to play Henry is amazing. He's attractive in an unconventional way, he can seduce with his expression, rather than just his natural good looks, and he can also vamp out to pretty scary, despite being a shorter than average (though not really short) small boned man. His writers let him run the gambit from being open and vulnerable, to amiable sarcasm, to being a complete dick. He also sleeps around without regret -- a LOT. Sadly they are all women, despite his being very clearly bisexual in the books (The sexual orientation of his food isn't an issue - everyone is Henry-sexual if that's what he wants).
But Henry isn't the detective. Vicki is. Vicki has all the best player character disadvantages: She's extremely stubborn, argumentative, snarky, overly curious, and has one of those convenient physical disadvantages which only slows her down when it's funny. She has all the best player character advantages as well: She completely kicks ass physically. She's wicked with a night-stick (Night stick being the wussy canadian equivalent of a gun). She can pick locks. And she can be pretty seductive herself.
Then (because otherwise the sexual tension would go, Henry: Sleep with me! Vicki: Okay!) there is Celluci -- Vicki's boyfriend. He's the straight man in all of this -- the foil for both Vicki and Henry's shenanigans. Vicki can't choose which she wants more. She's in love with Celluci in the normal way, but then Henry is teh sex.
Now, I obviously thought it would be awesome if Henry just seduced Celluci and made it a threesome, but since Lifetime made Henry straight, and both tv and book versions of Celluci were so adamantly not interested in Henry it might actually count as psychic resistance, only in my head would that have worked out. In the books both Celluci and Henry reluctantly allowed a time-share option and Vicki had a fair amount of sex with both. In the TV series, no one got any -- except of course Henry, which somehow didn't stop him from being sexually frustrated as well.
Celluci's main advantage to the plot is that he's a police detective, and can filter information from the human sector into Vicki's paranormal one and back. The mundane bad guys get put in jail, the not so mundane ones take a short trip through Henry and Vicki's wonder-twin court of whoop-ass.
And they all have adventures and kill supernatural bad guys, and it's good fun for all! With a side of romantic retardedness where the girl gets the harem.
It's a hard act to follow. But Since Lifetime hasn't reupped the series and it's probably gone forever, I started looking for something else to fill that niche.
So here comes Moonlight. From what I've garnered Moonlight was rather popular when it was on whatever broadcast TV it was on. It's, again, a vampire Detective show. And I'm finding that Blood Ties, for all it's being a fairly cheap ass production, is a hard act to follow. I've only seen one episode, so it's possible after a rocky start things hit their stride. That's what usually happens in shows.
So the basic set up is that the Vampire (Mick) is the detective. That works for me, though it does mean that the rest of his cast are a bit more superfluous. Whereas Vicki needed to herd the men in her life (like cats at times) into helping her out with all the things she couldn't do on her own, Mick's got all the bases covered: Brains, brawn, and supernatural skills and knowledge. Instead of working on the same team as his female love interest, he's working parallel to her, though not in outright competition.
The love interest is a reporter. Younger and more attractive than Vicki. Doe eyed and innocent rather than cynical. Her name is Beth and she has a background: She was kidnapped as a child by Mick's ex and had to be saved. So she vaguely remembers him, but hasn't quite placed him yet. She doesn't know about vampires or any supernatural yet. She has apparently some pull with the police department, but not a very strong one the way Vicki had. She, like Vicki, doesn't mind bending the law when it's convienient (which she damn well has to because otherwise she wouldn't be able to get very far in her investigations). This works, though not as neatly as Vicki's set up did. Like Vicki, she also has a boyfriend to help keep the UST. This being an American Network, I imagine everyone will be dreadfully straight.
The third member of the non-crew (because no one is really working together here, at least not yet) is Mick's best friend, Josef a rich vampire who is at least in my mind the most interesting person so far presented. He's a bit of a dick, but an amiable one. He kicks Mick off his brooding and gets him going, and generally provides the voice of reason. He's got some charisma and he clearly is enjoying his life to the fullest. He's fun.
I honestly wish Mick would get off his goodie-two shoes pedestal and enjoy himself a bit more. But I suspect this won't happen because for some reason men (and it is men who wrote this) seem to think that in order for vampires to be sympathetic and attractive, they need to be republicans. And not just the fiscal anti-tax kind -- the full on religious conservative type who don't believe in kissing before marriage, and regard feeding as something evil and spend their time worrying that God has Forsaken Them™.
If I were writing the show there would be a conversation like this:
Mick: hunting is evil and against our Lord's Will, therefore I will shoot up like a heroin addict and avoid even enjoying the flavor of my food. Plus this way eating hurts.
Josef: Are you nuts. That's not good. That's just annoying martyrdom for no reason.
Mick: Feeding is bad, bad, bad! Human contact -- bad! We can't have it!
Josef: Look at this chick I'm about to snack on, does she look like she's unhappy to be snacked on? No, she's cool with it. I'm not killing her -- christ, we eat less than than these mortals willingly give at the blood bank. It's good fun for everyone. See she even gets o-face when I bite in.
Mick: I'll drink corpse blood, avoid human interaction, and feel lousy about my existence BECAUSE THIS MAKES ME SYMPATHETIC!
Josef: I'm pretty sure the fans are sympathising more with my mansion full of money and friends enjoying themselves. Human contact seems to be working out pretty damn well for me. And I'm supposed to be your mentor. I guess I haven't been doing that great a job. But seriously, the fans will forgive you if you cut loose and enjoy yourself a little.
Mick: Fans are evil.
And that's why I'll never be a script writer.
So, so far, Bloodties is whipping Moonlight's butt, but again I'm just one episode in. It might improve.