Dracula (TV series)

[TianSoFine]

I'm a little disappointed by the pilot, in all honesty.

 

[tigerrouge]

Too much talk about geomagnetic energy, not enough eroticism.

 

[maxlinden]

There was a couple of turn offs. For one it airs on a Friday night (horrible time slot), two I couldn't stand his fake american accent he would put on, and lastly that fight scene at the end (the slow motion and the dialogue). There was more that turned be off but I'm really hoping the second episode is better.

The best thing about this show is the wardrobe, its divine!!

 

[wickedcrazyness]

^I agree with everything you just said. I feel the exact same way about it.

 

[iluvjeisa]

It doesn't work so far, unfortunately....not that it's Jonathan's fault.

 

[nita-karoliina]

I think its okay show, will watch it.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I missed the 2nd episode; was it better? What did people think?

 

[nita-karoliina]

I actually after watching the 3rd episode started to love this show! Hope they wont cancel it..

 

[tigerrouge]

At least that episode had plenty of scenes with JRM wearing tight trousers and not much else.

 

[maxlinden]

After that third episode, I'm hooked!

 

[LittleMsSunshine]

loved it from the beginining, i dont delve to deep, i simply enjoy, and i see their going to have lucy be Gay or Bi maybe?

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Arrrgh 2 Fridays now I've missed it! I have to see next week's episode so I can see if I like it.

 

[valeryblack]

I loved this from the beginning! great series. I don't understand what everyone means by the "hook" in the 3rd episode? I saw it and liked it, but don't see why it's been a turning point for some. Hmm. . . *goes to watch episode again*

 

[LittleMsSunshine]

its on HULU for free, not sure if it works in Canada though..

 

[Not Plain Jane]

^ Nope. No HULU for Canadians.

Just came across this on Flavorwire today:

Come On, People: Start Watching ‘Dracula’
By Michelle Dean on Nov 15, 2013 11:00am

NBC’s Dracula is hanging in there, although perhaps not for long. To be fair, it has a terrible time slot assignment, because no one is sitting at home on Friday nights, all ready to tune in. In the age of the DVR we may all no longer be beholden to an airing schedule, but you still give a hint of, well, self-doubt to a show when you shove it in at that time. I admit that’s the reason why I, myself, did not watch Dracula at first.


This was a mistake, I’m now ready to admit. Because Dracula is great fun, assuming you’re into its quasi-Victorian steampunk aesthetic. And who, might I ask, wouldn’t be into a show that makes its first gimmick about vintage Edison light bulbs? The dresses are good, the bedchambers even better. It’s sad that we no longer have much tapestry going on in our mainstream television shows, you know? We’re always waiting for that Downton time of year to come ’round again. There’s a dearth of pageantry on network drama these days that I seem to be missing, which perhaps explains why I am still watching Reign even as it’s not making nearly enough use of Megan Follows.

Anyway: In Dracula, there’s a great deal of Jonathan Rhys Meyers to be admired, even if he looks like he really needs Visine to sponsor basically the rest of his career. (His addictions are allegedly bad enough that NBC held onto most of his salary until they’d finished filming this ten-episode season.) The Qarthian prince who tried to steal one of Daenerys’ dragons on Game of Thrones gets some good work. There is some homoeroticism, which is nice to see because it’s always so bizarre when vampire stuff sidesteps that side of humanity’s sexual predilections. And bonus: all the actors are competent, if not asked to stretch very much. It actually kind of gives a melodrama like Revenge a run for its money in that regard.

But it’s a tricky hook, in the atmosphere of today’s television drama. We live in the age of Ryan Murphy’s ascendancy in the mainstream-horror-show genre, and the way Dracula plays it straight, or at least that the promotional material does, is an odd fit. Sleepy Hollow and (the horrific) Grimm might be sleeper hits, but both stray pretty far from the original stories they seek to cover. Until I watched the show I just assumed it would be a Rhys Meyers scenery-chewing exercise, and it is that, but it has some other interesting elements.

You can overstate the tweaks, of course. It sticks generally to the well-known Stoker frame. There’s a Van Helsing, for example, and a Jonathan Harker. The promo hasn’t focused on the show’s one big innovation: an order of vampire hunters headed by one Lady Jayne Weatherby (Victoria Smurfit), whose manner is that of a sort of cougar-ish, and more regal, Buffy. Pro tip to any network publicists that might be listening: kick-*** women are in, and you need to make it more clear that this show is a struggle between Rhys Meyers and the other kick-*** women.

After all, let’s face it: the problem with the “old” Dracula, meaning the Bram Stoker version, is that it looks sexist to modern tastes. All the women fainting, and all that, suggest an era where women were just waiting to be swept off their feet by the right, if kinda soul-sucking guy. For a good pop television hit — which is what Dracula is aspiring to — that old model needs rejuvenation. Even in the (yes totally awful) Twilight, it was Bella who got to save the day, not Edward. And viewers need to know that Dracula actually has some mojo. It’s hard out there for a network television show, these days.

 

[Lamia]

As much as I love everything associated with vampires, this tv show is so bad and uninteresting, and I'm not quite sure how it's gonna get better as everybody say. I'm quite disappointed since I was very excited from the beginning.

 

[tigerrouge]

I think the mistake was to fill the first few episodes with too much storytelling about lightbulbs, when they should have used the physicality of the characters to ensure every shadow of those lush surroundings was filled with passion, then allowing the storylines to unwind, once people were addicted to the thrills of Dracula being on the loose, in a world where everyone's hunting something, wanting someone.

 

[wickedcrazyness]

I have only watched 2 episodes, the pilot and the most recent one (episode 4). Episode 4 was much better than the pilot. Things are getting more interesting now. Interesting enough for me to want to see the next episode. Still the show started off incredibly weak and I don't know how long it's going to last.