The ‘Waverly Place’ Vampires, Part I

WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE: “Wizards vs. Vampires on Waverly Place, Part I”

Much like the rest of the entertainment industry, Disney Channel has fallen to the prey of the vampire obsession. But what show could they put vampires in? If only they had some sort of supernatural show where they’ve featured wizards and werewolves…

Hmm…

Oh, hey, what about Wizards of Waverly Place?

That they did. Vampires have moved in and started their own all-night sandwich shop, which is driving customers away from the Russo’s business. Of course, I wonder, if they sleep during the day (and I’m assuming they do), wouldn’t they be closed then? Wouldn’t the wizards be ok during the day?

Not that that’s really the issue at hand. Though perhaps I can see the compromise that they’ll come to reach later about the sandwich shops–that is if the vampires stick around.

Anyway, the real issue was Justin wanting to date the vampires’ daughter Juliet. (By the way, I don’t now if Shakespeare would have written Romeo and Juliet if he was aware how everyone would butcher the general premise so many centuries later.) Sadly, it didn’t really grab my attention.

I’m a big fan of Alex. Honestly, her delivery of lines and great use of sarcasm really carry the show. And she was really under-used in this first part of the four-hour (what?!)-long episode. It was really about Justin. Not that that’s bad, but usually with Justin’s plots, Alex helps him do something that they have to fix. There was very little that she did.

And there really wasn’t anything original about the premise. Parents don’t like who you’re dating. Then they turn around. The end.

But let’s divert. Let’s talk about the issue of the year: the representation of vampires. What’s most interesting about the various uses of vampires in TV and movies is the different way that the creatures are depicted based on legend. Unfortunately, this show seemed to ignore it. Sure, they sleep in coffins. They drink blood. Apparently, they take a while to grow fangs, since Juliet doesn’t have them yet. And they’re awake at night. And for the most part, they wear black. Oh, and some apparently live in their graves. Oh, and they can put people to sleep with a simple phrase.

That part was new, but nothing else was really discussed. Are they “vegetarian” vampires, only drinking non-human blood? Juliet must be since she drinks out of a glass. Her parents mentioned that they drank a human, but what now? I know this will actually be discussed in the second half (I’ve seen the previews), but I wouldn’t mind knowing more now. There is the idea that their faces look like rot until they drink some blood–that’s new, but again, how do her parents do it? Did they drink someone first thing in the morning? Or a glass of blood?

Personally, I’m actually a little sad that the Twilights and True Bloods have made me curious about how Disney vampires adapt to society. Oh well.

Anyway, I feel like the premise could have been a little more interesting. And I’m not sure why this was four hours long. I think that the next episode could very well be much more interesting–Harper and Alex in danger, Juliet growing her fangs. I almost wish they had just stuck with that half.

But hey, at least we have Anne Ramsay back in TV. Yeah, she played Jamie’s sister in Mad About You. Remember that show, any tweenagers out there? No? Sad.

*Sorry there’s no episode number. That was hard to track down.

Dark Blue: Learn to keep a secret

DARK BLUE: 1.02 “Guns, Strippers and Wives”

I talked about this show with guest writer JC. I’m still not impressed, but he said he enjoyed this episode more than last week’s. He said that this could be a guilty-pleasure show–you know, when they have a good episode.

I’m not as sure, but then again, it might not be my type of show. For some reason, as much as I like Ty (out of the four main characters, he’s my favorite), this episode didn’t hold my attention. There was something…

Ok, let’s look. Based on last week’s episode, we see that these people go deep undercover with pretty hardcore criminals. I mean, Dean almost didn’t make it out alive. So why, in this episode, did the bad guys spend so much time trying to figure out if Ty was hiding something? I mean, not that I think they’d shoot him straight off, but seriously, the majority of the episode was finding out if he was the guy they thought he was. Interrogation. Die detector tests. I mean, it was hardcore.

See, if I were them, I would have lost my patience. Money or not, Ty would be dead.

But there was some neat development between him and his wife. I mean, we really saw how he came back as a different person–constantly calling her “woman,” for example. And I could see that developing in interesting ways. I’m surprised they put this on air so early, actually. I would have thought they’d wait on the Ty family development.

Meanwhile, there was Dean and Jaimie. I realize that there should be some discomfort when adding a new girl, but it just got tiresome. Dean bugs me. It’s been two episodes and he officially bugs me. I thought that Jaimie had some interesting features, but they seemed to have disappeared in this episode.

And then there’s our leader, Carter. Ok, for someone who watches Leverage and Burn Notice, I was not impressed with undercover Carter. I mean, he stuck on some glasses, and played the part of someone playing a part. The characters on Leverage become these personalities. Same with Burn Notice. Actually, same with the characters in this show.

But when I saw Dylan McDermott as undercover Carter, all I saw was Dylan McDermott acting badly as a character. If he’s in charge this undercover group, shouldn’t he be one of the most effective undercover people?

Bleck. This show still doesn’t have me convinced. Maybe for a different audience, it would be a better fit. I’m not sure.

It’s unfortunate when I feel this way for new shows. I can never tell whether it’s an unfortunate sequence of episode that aren’t letting the episode shine, or whether the show is just not good. I’m not sure if I should give the time to find out more. What do you think?