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| by Bridget Petrella with additional writing by John Mundazio |
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Bridget
Petrella is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of UPBEAT Entertainment
News Online. At this point in her life, she's seriously contemplating a
complete and unbridled abandonment of typical network television...
opting instead for Silver Surfer comic books, novels with wordy titles,
Retro TV Land, HBO and Showtime's Original Programming schedule and
of course... Nick at Night. |
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Well
fellow Vampire... or shall I just say "Vampyre" fans? Anyway, CBS is
pulling no punches this fall in it's no-holds-barred attempt to reach
those ultra-cool hipsters who perpetually watch the FX Network and of
course, it's stepsister... the Fox Network. The FX became my sole
network of choice right after The Sopranos and the always brilliant
David Chase bid us all a vague farewell with that murky, is he or isn't
he ending... but I digress {sniffle... sigh}. So here I am, waiting with
ever shred of my vampire passion... to see EXACTLY what the new CBS
Dramedy/Romance Thriller "Moonlight" has to offer. As some of my
associates with attest, it's been a bit of a last minute scamper fest as
Executive Producer David Greenwalt {yes my dear Angel/Buffy devotees
take some long deep breaths} had to exit Moonlight allegedly for "health
reasons". But dear readers, and don't hate me Buffy/Angelverse,
Greenwalt's exit may be a bit of a blessing in disguise as one would
have to assume that the Angel comparisons would continue to be spewed
out at every turn. And that, as we all know, can often be the dreaded
critic's nail in the dusty coffin for any self-respecting vampire show.
Greenwalt's exit has brought Veronica Mars' actor Jason Dohring on
board... a choice that I might not have made, but one never knows. Also
at the heart of much debate is the fact that the casting department
seems to be shifting its character focus almost as often as one might
sneeze... so far a number of actors/actresses have continued to be
replaced. Amber Valletta [she played Coraline], was replaced by Shannyn
Sossamon. That came after news that lead actress Shannon Lucio had left
[she was replaced by Sophia Myles], followed by Rade Serbedzija
[replaced by Jason Dohring, from Veronica Mars]. Lead actor Alex
O'Loughlin is now the only actor whose character hasn't been "taken in
another direction".
At
the CBS press conference one of the network publicists Nina Tassler,
slipped up and called the show "Moonlighting"... not a good sign but it
was funny to hear at my age. So... like it or not, there we have it...
your almost standard the-detective-is-a-non-brooding-cool-vampire story.
Okay. So before we immediately dismiss the whole concept, let's look at
the bigger picture. Moonlight is not Angel and I personally wouldn't
want it to be. For me, there can be only one Angel. It's not Forever
Knight {thank God considering the way the series ended... badly} and
even Greenwalt himself, before his exit, went on record to say, "This is
Vampire 2007. It's not Angel." And I will go on permanent record and
say, "At least it's not CSI: Vampire Unit." The only real issue for me
is the show's odd time slot... Fridays at 9:00 p.m. EST. If CBS is
seriously trying to snag up the FX Network demographic then why place
"Moonlight" in the Friday night slot? It doesn't make much sense from a
marketing perspective. I won't predict if Moonlight's going to be a huge
hit or not, because I was massively wrong about the network adoring
Jericho. Thanks to the phenomenal fan support {hey guys, we had your
back here at UPBEAT as we also participated in the write-in campaign}
Jericho was renewed for another season, so obviously this stuff is very
tough to predict. UB
