The real problem with the series is that it is an entirely sanitized version of old material. Vampire as detective and do-gooder has been done numerous times, even on television; see Forever Knight among other things as examples. And our pal Mick is such a goody two shoes that he cannot even bring himself to drink directly from humans (see Louis in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles), so he buys blood from a friend at the morgue.

Though we do not see much of her in the premiere episode, Mick’s ex-wife, Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon), does have a regular role on the show, and one can imagine that their backstory does inject a little bit of evil into Mick’s past.

How exactly the producers managed to drain all the life and remove all the fangs from a vampire tale one cannot say. What the audience is left with in the case of Mick St. John, outside of a ridiculous name, is a terribly bland character, who may have lived a long life, but not one the audience is particularly excited to find out about.

Will Moonlight signal the death-knell of science fiction-fantasy’s resurgence on primetime network TV? Is the cold, cruel light of day about to shine down upon the genre, cruelly dusting everything that stands in its way? Oh, wait, in Moonlight, vampires do not like sun, they do not do well in it, but they do not burst into flame either. Is the cold, cruel light of day about to shine down upon the genre, making everything in its way feel kind of icky? Only time will tell.

Moonlight premieres September 28, at 9pm ET/PT on CBS.