What kind of entertainment does Dracula like? Something in a jugular vein!
Oy! There’s that joke again. Anyway, Dracula premieres Friday night at 10 p.m. on NBC and Global.
The drama stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the infamous vampire count. The series is set in London in 1896, with this centuries-old Dracula posing as an American inventor. Seems he’s after an elixir that will allow him to walk about in sunshine. Didn’t George Hamilton already play that Dracula?
I’ve been too busy catching planes lately to watch the episodes sent to critics, but check out veteran critic Ed Bark’s review of the new Dracula series here. Ed says it is over the top at times but doesn’t suck. He gives it a B-.
The weeks leading up to Halloween always bring ghosts, goblins and witches into living rooms and this year the place to catch them has been TCM, where a festival of Vincent Price films are in play. TCM always does a great job with their “Star of the Month” teasers and the current one, with John Waters saluting Price, is one of the best.
Beyond Halloween, there is an inordinate amount of haunting going on in prime time this season. Sparked by the enormous success of The Walking Dead, a dozen or so shows featuring vampires, werewolves or witches are either on now or in development. This includes Canadian specialty networks, where Lost Girl is set to return for a fourth season on Showcase (Nov. 10). Also shooting in Toronto is the werewolf drama Bitten starring Laura Vandervoort (premiering in the New Year on Space).
For more on the current scare TV craze, follow this link to the story I wrote this week for The Canadian Press.
