Blood Ties

[norwich36]

Can't sleep--demons will eat me. In this case, demons of the common cold virus. So I watched "Blood Ties" hoping that after staying up really late to watch the whole thing I'd finally fall asleep.


I'm impressed to have found a show that outdoes even Smallville in the cheesiness factor! The series is of course based on the Blood Price/Blood Ties/etc. novels by Tanya Huff. I loved those books to death, though not so much for the horror plotlines (see P.I. Victory Nelson solve a series of supernatural murders assisted by vampire Henry Fitzroy and her ex-partner on the police force, Michael Celluci) as for the sexay that was Henry Fitzroy and the various love triangles in the series.



It's been a while since I read the book on which the premiere was based, so I can't say for sure, but it seemed like they built up the cheestastic horror even more than the book did, what with Vicki and Henry now sharing an implacable demon enemy. But I won't be watching for the plots, so I don't particularly care.

I was pleased with most of the casting decisions on the show. Christina Cox is a bit younger than the Victory in my head (and why did she become Victoria rather than Victory? Or was that just Mike's nickname for her? I can't remember), but otherwise perfect. Kyle Schmid doesn't look at *all* like the Henry in my head, but he's a hotass, so I don't really care. cinderella81 has a picture of him in her journal--it's too late for me to hunt down pictures of him, but I like the fact that he looks like a cross between Geraint Wyn Davies (the original vampire detective in Toronto, aka Nick Knight) and Ewan MacGregor. And again, Celluci didn't look anything like my mental image, but I still like the actor. I'm bummed that Tony has been replaced with Coreen Fennel, but I understand that was contractural, because they bought the rights to the "Blood" books but not the "Smoke" books. It sucks, since Tony's relationship with Henry was definitely one of my favorite parts of the series.

So, cheesy cheesy plot, but as long as they heat up the love triangle thing I won't care. It will be weird, though, if Coreen takes Tony's place not just as Vicki's assistant but as Henry's lover. I don't know if I'll like that or not.

Comments

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

A person I've known from IRC and now LJ is actually friends with Tanya Huff. Told me about the series a while ago, and I totally forgot the premiere was last night. Thanks for the reminder.

I don't know if you ever read the Summoning books, which certainly had their moments although they weren't as good as the Blood series. In the third Summoning, there are a bunch of elves in the alternative-reality mall, three of whom were based on my LJ friend and his little group—even down to the names (Stewie, Kith, and Andro).

... because I have so much time to add yet another show. *sigh*

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in it airing on Lifetime and hope it doesn't get canceled too soon. I'm reminded of Blade: The Series airing on Spike TV and it getting canceled quickly because they didn't quite hit their target audience. (Please don't look at me that way, my mother made me watch it; I managed to get out of seeing the last couple because it got canceled.)

Also? I don't know about this spell-check during LJ comments... I could've sworn "canceled" had two l's.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've read pretty much everything Tanya Huff has ever written. She has a very slashy sensibility, which I love, though I think the Blood books are my favorite.

Yeah, the fact that it's on Lifetime in the U.S. doesn't seem like a great thing to me--but I think the Canadian station it is airing on is more mainstream? So Lifetime may cancel it, but it will still get aired in Canada?

I watched large chunks of Blade: The Series because I liked the woman undercover vampire, so you don't have to apologize to me. I've watched a lot of really cheesy shows because of my vampire fetish.

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'll admit I totally found Chase incredibly hot. She reminded me of Callisto from Xena.

[bluemeridian]

Heee! That's pretty funny. I love her writing style as it makes even cheesy plots fun, mostly because they are cheesy and the characters are going 'is this for real?'.

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

I was pretty floored when he told me. He's all, "Remember those characters? Those were us!!!"

There's a plethora of cheesy (kind of crappy) fantasy out there, but she manages to tell it all with a voice that keeps me reading—as jaded as I am.