Article published September 28, 2007
This vampire may be short-lived on CBS
Alex O’Loughlin stars as Mick St. John, and Sophia Myles is Beth
Turner in Moonlight.
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CBS
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By MIKE KELLY
SPECIAL TO THE BLADE
Here's everything you ever wanted to know about vampires but were afraid to ask - who wants to get that close to a vampire? - courtesy of the new CBS series Moonlight. Some excerpts from the program's interview with the vampire:
Do vampires sleep in coffins?
"No, I sleep in a freezer."
What about garlic?
"It's tasty on pizza."
But doesn't it repel vampires?
| ON THE AIR |
| • ‘Moonlight’ premieres at 9 tonight on Channel 11 in Toledo. |
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"It repels my dates."
What happens if I toss holy water on you?
"I get wet."
And in case you wondered …
"I definitely can't turn into a bat. That'd be cool, though, wouldn't it?"
In the new series, which premieres at 9 tonight, Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin (The Shield) stars as Mick St. John, a captivating 90-year-old vampire in Los Angeles who makes a living as a private investigator.
Unlike his blood-sucking vampire brethren, Mick would rather help people than consider them walking buffet tables. Of course, as a vampire, Mick must still rely on human blood for sustenance, but he has a friend down at the morgue who keeps him supplied, so he doesn't have to go around nibbling on people's necks.
When a series of vampire-style murders begins occurring in L.A., Mick goes looking for the real culprits, certain that they're wannabe vamps and not the real thing. Along the way, he crosses paths with a beautiful reporter (Sophia Myles) who is trying to crack the same case. She doesn't realize that Mick's the one who saved her from a vampire attack when she was just a child.
He's still intent on keeping her safe, only now that she's all grown up, he finds that he has different feelings for her. (Don't go "Eeyew." Mick might be 90 in vampire years, but he'll always appear to be 30 in human years.)
If this all sounds suspiciously like another vampire-as-private-eye series that aired a few years back on the WB, that's no accident. Angel, a spinoff from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also featured a tortured vampire who resists his blood-sucking impulses and finds himself falling for a mortal woman. Angel was a dark and gritty show, with a little wry wit tossed on occasion to lighten the mood. It became something of a cult favorite.
If CBS could capture the same type of audience that kept Angel on the air for five seasons, it probably would be quite satisfied. But the writing in Moonlight isn't nearly as crisp, and with a couple of exceptions, the cast is unremarkable. The rugged yet sensitive O'Loughlin should keep female viewers quite interested, and Jason Dohring (from Veronica Mars) as Mick's eternally young fellow vampire, a wealthy, mischievous hedge fund manager who likes guzzling blood from highball glasses, is a hoot.
Even though Moonlight is produced by heavyweight Joel Silver (the Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and Matrix movies), the series just has too much going against it, not the least of which is its terrible Friday night slot in the schedule.
All things considered, Moonlight is more than likely headed for an early grave.
No Such Thing as Vampires" -- (R-L) Alex O'Loughlin stars as Mick St. John, an immortal private investigator from Los Angeles and Sophia Myles stars as Beth Turner a beautiful, ambitious Internet investigative reporter, on MOONLIGHT scheduled to premiere on Friday, Sept. 28 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and to be rebroadcast on Saturday, Sept. 29 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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