TVSquad

My sister and I watched it together and we were convulsed with laughter through almost the entire thing. The doctorate in "mythical anthropology" might have been what got us most giddy (is that anthropology that may or may not exist?), but mostly it was the flat, affectless line readings of the boring, lifeless dialogue.

The only time the screen came alive was when Jason Dohring was on it, infusing every line with wit and humor and making it actually sound well-written. Though even he looked cheesy when he vamped out.

If I were in the running, I'd choose this for the first to be cancelled. It is DREADFUL.

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KAREN


BITE ME

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What a write up, talk it all the way down the street gutter and in the last paragraph, cover your ass.

This show sucked. It isn't going to last, the show before and after it should be insulted by it's presence.

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I just checked imdb on this show, what's up with hiring all of these foreign actors? The two leads are from UK and Aussie, I say leave them there until they know how to act. More and more show are bringing in actors from overseas just to save a buck, it isn't working people.

There's a reason you hardly NEVER see their shows on American TV, subpar acting. As pretty as the NEW Bionic Woman is, it's hard to get into her because she needs to be a better actor.

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I was so incredibly disappointed with this premiere. I knew it was going to be bad, but I thought it was just...horrendous. Awful. I had a mixed combination of annoyance and anger while watching. The pacing made my head hurt, the dialogue was completely unoriginal and embarrassing, and Sophia Myles really let me down. The acting was horrible. I really like her in every other thing I've seen her in and I was excited that she joined the cast, but she seemed like she didn't care and wasn't even trying. I don't know what she was thinking with this one. Blood Ties is a better vampire/crime show...and it's on freaking Lifetime.

I don't see it improving at all. It's going to get very cancelled very soon.

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Could be the worst pilot I've ever seen. Well, at least on a major network. What an embarrassment for CBS.

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This is now my first Tivo season pass cancellation of the new TV season. It was just awful. Comically bad. Worse than an original SciFi channel movie.

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Seriously, what's up with the backpedaling in your last paragraph? Otherwise, I think you absolutely nailed it. It was a very "plain" show that left me feeling "empty." At the end when they said, "Stay tuned for scenes from the next Moonlight," I actually yelled at my television, "Who cares!!!" This show won't even make it an entire season.

Too bad. I want Jason Dohring to find steady work.

For what it's worth, if you're into the fantasy/sci-fi (i.e., geeky) genre, a list of "The Best Geek TV Shows of this Generation":

http://www.greatwhitesnark.com/2007/09/20/the-best-geek-tv-shows-of-this-generation/

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While I think the writers tried to pack too much into the premier, I liked the show and think it has potential, and look forward to seeing more.

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What's with the xenophobic comments there, JD? Are you saying non-Americans can't act? That the reason UK and Australian shows aren't on American television is because of bad acting? Do you know ANYTHING about the television industry?

First of all, networks want their own content. So that's a big reason why you don't see a lot of imported shows shown on network TV (actually, has that happened anytime recently outside of cable?).

Secondly, many of the best actors and actresses in the world are from outside America. And that includes many great performers on U.S. television.

"Moonlight" didn't suck because of the nationality of its leads. My goodness!

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Ok, if I have to be the only one, so be it.
I liked it, and as a rule I never judge a series by the pilot. Angel's pilot alone wouldn't have amounted to much without 3 years of Buffy behind it. The lead's acting was sub-par and continued to be so for quite a long time. With the benefit of hindsight of 5 seasons we're able to say today what a good series it was, but the reviews after the pilot weren't hopeful and even among ardent Angel fans there are still bitter disagreements as to the quality of individual episodes and seasons.

I can see the cult potential of "Moonlight". It's certainly not worse than the British "Hex". I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt. I might have to eat humble pie, but I hope I won't have to.

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Ugh. Just awful. "Mama needs more"? Really? The lead actresses acting was just awful.

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ok im guna say thank you for #11 and i agree with #12, people if we wanna compare every show to smthn tht was like it or simmilar we will never be satisfied buffy wasnt tht great in the first 2 seasons afterwards look what happened , the same goes for angel.
the pilot never shows the potential or lack of it for that matter of a show it just tells us whats it about.
jason dohring was awsome, and ologhlin did a good job the gurl was pretty crappy but hey they had kevin weisman(alias) so they can always kill her and put someone else.
give it a bloody chance. O_o

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Do I actually have to wait until January to get Blood Ties back?

This show will probably survive awhile solely based on the vampire show vacuum at the moment. This is for people who want the SciFi/fantasy genre without the complicated plots of Heroes, or the intense depression of Battlestar Galactica (and possibly the Bionic Women), or the unfettered dead horse beating of the Stargate series. This show has the possibility to be an episodic, slightly campy show that could top off a brainless Friday night.

Given that they switched out all the actors so fast and had to refilm the whole pilot, perhaps people haven't had time to settle into their roles. I'll give it a few more episodes to see if it can redeem itself, but without some improvement I can't see myself watching the whole season.

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I remember the lead actress from the 'Girl in the Fireplace' episode in Doctor Who, which I liked her in. She had loads more chemistry with David Tennant in that than with Alex O'Loughlin here, she just seems rather miscast. And let's be honest-- not everyone is Hugh Laurie. She was guilty of letting that accent bleed through a few times.

I was watching only out of a want to see Jason Dohring on my television once more, but that was frighteningly bad. Especially when it was all topped off with Evanescence playing at the end.

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I caught a few minutes of the premiere of this show, and the combination of mediocre acting and a sadly boring plot was just the right combination to put me to sleep early. People want Sci-Fi on the big networks, but this is not the way to go. I give this show another 4-5 episodes before it tanks at most.

Whomever said that the plot to Heroes was too complicated has the attention span of a gnat. Heroes is no less complicated than the average Marvel crossover comic, so if you're lost watching it, comic-reading kids have a leg up on you. Any show with an ensemble cast will suffer strings of episodes where the plot lines are splintered. Writers know this and it's a tool they use to keep their audience coming back every week. If people like a show, they'll watch it and not miss episodes for fear of getting lost when they return to the show. Buffy, Charmed, and even some soaps like 90210 and The O.C. all had enough characters and sub-plots at different points to cause people who missed episodes to be at least somewhat lost (depending on what part of the season you jump back into). If Heroes or any of these shows was too complex to follow, people would stop watching en masse.

There is no point in comparing Moonlight to Angel, because Angel had three years of Buffyverse history behind it and a built-in audience, combined with a writing team that had a great track record. Moonlight is bad enough on its own that it doesn't need to get beat down by people looking for another Angel.

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True, not out of the ordinary, of which Angel and ForeverKnight have already charted, but I am a sucker! for vampire stories.

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Paul (#10) had it totally right. JD is way out of line for turning it into a xenophobia thing. If they can't act, they just can't act and that's it - it has NOTHING to do with where they're from. What, you've never seen American actors who suck? To see a couple of guys who know how to bring it and are NOT from this country, just take a look at NBC's new lineup - Damian Lewis (a Brit) from Life and Kevin McKidd (a Scot) from Journeyman are charismatic, intense, and talented actors.
What do you have to say to that?

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In rebuttal to justelise's comment earlier (#16)...

"Whomever said that the plot to Heroes was too complicated has the attention span of a gnat. Heroes is no less complicated than the average Marvel crossover comic, so if you're lost watching it, comic-reading kids have a leg up on you."

I may have constructed my sentence poorly. I am a big fan of Heroes. I enjoy the nuances and subtleties and the complicated plot lines ON MONDAY.

On Monday, when I am well rested and have not spent the previous five days butt deep in equations, theorums, and lab work. On Fridays I have a deep and unmitigated appreciation of shows that are simple and cater to the "gnat attention span." Shows like Angel or Charmed. These shows, composed almost exclusively of campiness wrapped in a vague moral sugar-coating, were actually mostly episodic with one or two season long plot points. I found that if I missed an episode or two I could get back in the next week without missing a beat.

The point that I was trying to make is that there is already a complex ensemble cast sci-fi show on network TV, its called Heroes. However, there is not a campy, stupid sci-fi show on network TV. I was my hope that Moonlight would fill that void, which is why I'm giving it a chance.

I hope that clears things up.

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The whole "Let's expose the differences between our vampire and the countless others" interview thing was just so... uck. Not only was this exposition sequence badly executed, but had it been left out, it would probably have lent the rest of the episode some much needed excitement. As we would actually have something to speculate about, since the horrendous episode plot didn't even bother with just a single half-decent twist. Come on, at least provide our main character with a thrilling background (like, say, Angel's) and motivation. Perhaps the problem with this show is that the Buffyverse shows have done the whole "good vampire guy" to near perfection, and thereby exhausted all decent and/or good plots that can be thown into a vampire show?

Dohring and Kevin Weisman (Marshall from Alias - who doesn't seem to be credited on IMDB and probably won't return) were the only highlights. Not that either had much to do.

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