A bloodless 'Moonlight'
Chicago Sun-Times, Sep 28, 2007 by Doug Elfman
'MOONLIGHT' Rating 2 out of 4
- - -
So there's this TV show about a vampire with a soul. He's a private eye who saves innocents in Los Angeles. He hasn't answered a booty call in years because he doesn't want to get sexy with a woman and go all grrr on her.
If you think this show sounds like the WB's classic "Angel" -- bingo, you are correct-o. Except this time, it's called "Moonlight" and it's on creepy old CBS. Therefore, it's 78 percent less sexy and 78 percent more laggy in the vicious-fun drama department.
It's less suspenseful than watching blood dry.
At a press conference for his show "Bones" this summer, I asked former "Angel" star David Boreanaz if he planned to do a cameo on "Moonlight."
"Yeah," he joked. "I'll show up as maybe the guy who kills the vampire. ... I really have no thoughts on it."
Cold-blooded!
The mythology is a bite different. "Moonlight's" Mick the vampire sleeps in a freezer (dunno why yet), doesn't die in sunlight and can see scenes from the past and future.
But, holy Nosferatu, this seems familiar, right down to the ex- wife (Shannyn Sossamon) who turned Mick into a vamp, long ago.
The best part of the "Angel"-y experience therein is the witty banter. You can hear echoes of "Angel" in lines like, "So if you're not the killer, let's go with that, because that's comforting."
Unfortunately, there's very little wordplay. And it's mostly parceled out to the best actor here, Jason Dohring (Logan from "Veronica Mars"). Dohring gets to the heart of playing Josef the vampire. ("Joe" the vampire would be stupider, don't you think? And "Joey" the vampire would be a disaster, obviously!)
Anyway, it's pretty great when Josef hears mortals talking about vamps, and he grumbles, "Now we've got the food mouthing off about the farmer."
Yeah, that's fun. But what's not fun? At least half of the rest of the show.
"Moonlighting" -- sorry, I mean, "Moonlight" -- had a potential savior in producer-writer David Greenwalt. He could have turned the show around to give it tighter storylines and wittier dialogue, since he was a writer and producer for -- would you look at that? -- "Angel." (And "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The X-Files.")
But Greenwalt pulled out of "Moonlight" this summer, citing health and personal issues.
Before he exited, Greenwalt talked about how it was not him -- but creators Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson --- who robbed "Angel's" plot.
"My agent said in May, 'You've got to read this "Moonlight" [script],' " Greenwalt said in July. "It's fantastic.' And I read a couple of pages and discovered it was a vampire detective. And I said, 'Not only am I not going to read this, I'm going to sue them. This is my show!'"
I was a big "Angel" fan, so I can easily declare this the best idea for a new fall series that's not presently working. It's got a whole "Ghost Whisperer" limp about it. As they putter around, you never think real danger will come to the heroes -- Mick (Alex O'Loughlin), plus an online video journalist named Beth. (Do I smell romance in the air? Hmm? Hmm?)
In tonight's installment, Mick and Beth (Sophia Myles) work together on a case where people are dying with blood oozing out of two neck holes. Meanwhile, Josef, 500, gripes to Mick, 90, that it would be terrible if the world found out there really are vamps.
"You're only 90. You've never been chased by a torch-carrying mob," Josef explains.
See what a pleasant little piece of dialogue that is? It's rare, though, like a bloody steak. (Mmm, blood.)
"Moonlight" would be way cooler if Mick, Josef and Beth sat around Josef's poolside lair and traded snarks all night. Alas, what a little "Moonlight" could do. Just not now. Because it's not great so far. If I wasn't clear about that before.
ON AIR:
FLIPPING THROUGH OTHER CHANNELS
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"The Shopping Detective" (10 a.m. Saturday, Fine Living): Chicago- based Lindsey Gladstone of dailycandy.com shares her retail wisdom with people who subscribe to a lot of channels.
SEASON PREMIERES
TONIGHT
"Ghost Whisperer" (7 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): The good news on Jennifer Love Hewitt's deteriorating show is Jay Mohr, who makes everything better, gets bumped up from recurring guest to cast member.
"Las Vegas" (8-10 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): Cops track who killed the father of Mary (Nikki Cox). And soon, Tom Selleck joins the show as casino owner.
"Numb3rs" (9 p.m., Channel 2)
"Stargate Atlantis" (9 p.m., Sci Fi)
SATURDAY
"48 Hours Mystery" (9 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2)
"Saturday Night Live" (10:29 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): The Year of Kanye West continues as he raps on the first new "SNL." LeBron James hosts. The cast is unchanged, despite some wavering by Maya Rudolph earlier this week.
'MOONLIGHT' Rating 2 out of 4
- - -
So there's this TV show about a vampire with a soul. He's a private eye who saves innocents in Los Angeles. He hasn't answered a booty call in years because he doesn't want to get sexy with a woman and go all grrr on her.
If you think this show sounds like the WB's classic "Angel" -- bingo, you are correct-o. Except this time, it's called "Moonlight" and it's on creepy old CBS. Therefore, it's 78 percent less sexy and 78 percent more laggy in the vicious-fun drama department.
It's less suspenseful than watching blood dry.
At a press conference for his show "Bones" this summer, I asked former "Angel" star David Boreanaz if he planned to do a cameo on "Moonlight."
"Yeah," he joked. "I'll show up as maybe the guy who kills the vampire. ... I really have no thoughts on it."
Cold-blooded!
The mythology is a bite different. "Moonlight's" Mick the vampire sleeps in a freezer (dunno why yet), doesn't die in sunlight and can see scenes from the past and future.
But, holy Nosferatu, this seems familiar, right down to the ex- wife (Shannyn Sossamon) who turned Mick into a vamp, long ago.
The best part of the "Angel"-y experience therein is the witty banter. You can hear echoes of "Angel" in lines like, "So if you're not the killer, let's go with that, because that's comforting."
Unfortunately, there's very little wordplay. And it's mostly parceled out to the best actor here, Jason Dohring (Logan from "Veronica Mars"). Dohring gets to the heart of playing Josef the vampire. ("Joe" the vampire would be stupider, don't you think? And "Joey" the vampire would be a disaster, obviously!)
Anyway, it's pretty great when Josef hears mortals talking about vamps, and he grumbles, "Now we've got the food mouthing off about the farmer."
Yeah, that's fun. But what's not fun? At least half of the rest of the show.
"Moonlighting" -- sorry, I mean, "Moonlight" -- had a potential savior in producer-writer David Greenwalt. He could have turned the show around to give it tighter storylines and wittier dialogue, since he was a writer and producer for -- would you look at that? -- "Angel." (And "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The X-Files.")
But Greenwalt pulled out of "Moonlight" this summer, citing health and personal issues.
Before he exited, Greenwalt talked about how it was not him -- but creators Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson --- who robbed "Angel's" plot.
"My agent said in May, 'You've got to read this "Moonlight" [script],' " Greenwalt said in July. "It's fantastic.' And I read a couple of pages and discovered it was a vampire detective. And I said, 'Not only am I not going to read this, I'm going to sue them. This is my show!'"
I was a big "Angel" fan, so I can easily declare this the best idea for a new fall series that's not presently working. It's got a whole "Ghost Whisperer" limp about it. As they putter around, you never think real danger will come to the heroes -- Mick (Alex O'Loughlin), plus an online video journalist named Beth. (Do I smell romance in the air? Hmm? Hmm?)
In tonight's installment, Mick and Beth (Sophia Myles) work together on a case where people are dying with blood oozing out of two neck holes. Meanwhile, Josef, 500, gripes to Mick, 90, that it would be terrible if the world found out there really are vamps.
"You're only 90. You've never been chased by a torch-carrying mob," Josef explains.
See what a pleasant little piece of dialogue that is? It's rare, though, like a bloody steak. (Mmm, blood.)
"Moonlight" would be way cooler if Mick, Josef and Beth sat around Josef's poolside lair and traded snarks all night. Alas, what a little "Moonlight" could do. Just not now. Because it's not great so far. If I wasn't clear about that before.
ON AIR:
FLIPPING THROUGH OTHER CHANNELS
ALSO NEW
"The Shopping Detective" (10 a.m. Saturday, Fine Living): Chicago- based Lindsey Gladstone of dailycandy.com shares her retail wisdom with people who subscribe to a lot of channels.
SEASON PREMIERES
TONIGHT
"Ghost Whisperer" (7 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): The good news on Jennifer Love Hewitt's deteriorating show is Jay Mohr, who makes everything better, gets bumped up from recurring guest to cast member.
"Las Vegas" (8-10 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): Cops track who killed the father of Mary (Nikki Cox). And soon, Tom Selleck joins the show as casino owner.
"Numb3rs" (9 p.m., Channel 2)
"Stargate Atlantis" (9 p.m., Sci Fi)
SATURDAY
"48 Hours Mystery" (9 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2)
"Saturday Night Live" (10:29 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): The Year of Kanye West continues as he raps on the first new "SNL." LeBron James hosts. The cast is unchanged, despite some wavering by Maya Rudolph earlier this week.
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