The Moonlight Blog

Written by Trevor Munson and Ron Koslow
Directed by Gerard Bocaccio and Rod Holcomb

It’s almost impossible to discuss this series without mentioning some of its genre forebears. Fans of “Forever Knight” and “Angel” have already blanketed the internet with accusations, refusing to watch the show on principle alone. I think that would be unfortunate, because this series has less to do with replicating a semi-successful cult legacy and more to do with the current fascination with the “paranormal romance” subgenre.

One might blame “Laurel K. Hamilton” and her Anita Blake series. In the past few years, the shelves of countless bookstores have been overflowing with a banquet of similar fare. Usually the protagonist is a hot woman experienced with hunting down hard-bodied male vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, but among the romance novelists, the situation is often reversed. Scanning the local Borders is an education in and of itself.

Taking that into account, it’s easy to see how “Moonlight” was developed. This is a paranormal romance novel adapted to the small screen. Mick St. John is the typical vampire protagonist, the repentant creature living on the fringes of human society, unwilling to hunt mortal prey in the expected manner. He’ll drink from criminals, perhaps, but he tries to avoid the casual bloodletting of vampire patriarch Josef.

Beth Turner is the female love interest. Her job as an internet tabloid journalist, of course, brings her into direct contact with the hidden supernatural world. To Mick, she’s deeply attractive and someone to protect, even from himself. To Josef, she’s a potential threat to his empire. This puts Mick in a difficult position, and therein lies the drama. Mick is pulled in several directions, between his humanity and his true nature. It’s about as simple a translation of the subgenre as it gets.

As the lead, Alex O’Loughlin is more than capable. Along with Jason Dohring, the deeply amusing and self-interested Josef, O’Loughlin delivers a strong performance that might help keep the series around long enough for the other issues to be addressed. Sophia Myles is quite attractive, but she struggles in this pilot. Her attempt at an American accent is spotty at best, and she still seems to be finding her footing as Beth. This could improve with a little time, since Myles is an experienced actress on her home turf.

The writing, as mentioned, is a bit too conventional. The challenge will be to retain the popular aspects of the paranormal romance genre while finding ways to branch out and generate enough originality for a weekly series. The director tried to make up for some of the shortcomings, but some of the techniques were transparent. It’s one thing to appear slick and edgy, and another to look like you’re trying to be slick and edgy. I can give the writing a pass because it was a pilot and those are hard to write effectively; the direction, on the other hand, needs to be less self-aware.

Of the three new series I’ve reviewed thus far, this is the one that needs the most work to evolve into a viable series. The potential is there, but this is also a derivative premise with, thus far, very little originality thrown into the familiar mix. I like this series premiere enough to give it a chance to grow.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10