TV Review: Moonlight - Page 2

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.

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Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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  • 1 - Josh Lasser

    Sep 27, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    Congratulations! This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States.

  • 2 - Karen

    Oct 19, 2007 at 10:46 pm

    Hope that you watched tonights episode. I thought it was really good and that the show is really tightening up. I get very tired of the eternal search for some perfect new watershed event on entertainment tv. Hello, it's a lot better than most of the news shows and many of the returning shows (that are beginning to take a real dive in my eyes.)

  • 3 - JayLeigh

    Aug 11, 2011 at 2:44 am

    this show is great! who cares that the vampire detective thing has been done before?!So has almost everything else, like buffy the vampire slayer who falls for the vampire, do u know how many books that were made way be4 the show came out and still made 2 this day that have used that?!?! Its hard to write anything about vampires that you can say is original and GOOD?!the vampires genre has a huge fanbase and new stuff keeps coming out all the time and now there isnt many good ideas that havent been used up yet! Iv read almost all the most famous vampire books so i know that most of them r the same and the plot never really differs. So at least in this show there are different crimes that keep the watchers interested! And i believe that Micks different personality then other vampires was a good idea because it does make the show a little different then most shows where they have vampires going around killing people or useing people as just a food source like most of the vampires in Luarell Kaye Hamiltons Anita Blake series. After reading so many books about vampires falling in love with vampire hunters and vampires killing a whole lot of people just because the feel like it, i think the idea of having a nice guy who didnt really get to choose to become a vampire trying to help people is nice and interesting and a little better to watch. The show ended up being cancled because of the strikes not because it was bad. there are a lot of people who like this show. Most of the people i know who have watched it who love most of the vampire shows out there and didnt like the show normaly dont like crime shows either. So yeah maybe its not the every day vampire love crap like vampire diaries but it still a good show worthy of its genre and will be missed by its fanbase!

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