Getting through the day can be rough enough for the normal, everyday person. But imagine trying to get through the day as an undead bloodsucker trying not to take a drink of your co-workers at the water cooler or an average joe who has to always turn down girls who want to go on dates during the full moon because you’ll spontaneously shift into a werewolf.
Congratulations. You’re imagining the plot of “Being Human,” the latest new show on the SyFy Channel.
The show, which premiered Jan. 17, is based on a BBC series with the same premise: two friends, a vampire and werewolf named Aiden and Josh, decide to move into a house together and try to live normal lives. Once there, they discover the house is haunted by a ghost named Sally, who becomes the unwilling third member of their little supernatural family.
If the thought of a TV show about vampires and werewolves makes you cringe, don’t worry: This is no sappy teen drama.
Aiden may be trying to stop eating “live,” but that doesn’t stop him from shredding a nurse in the pilot, and the appearance of what seems to be a former love interest on the part of Josh turns out to be instead his sister, accidentally running into the runaway werewolf while visiting her girlfriend in the hospital.
Most of the cast is relatively unknown, but if you’re a “Lost” fan, there’s one face that’ll make you want to tune in; Mark Pellegrino, the mysterious Jacob from the final seasons, plays Bishop, Aiden’s former vampire mentor trying to lure him back to his vampire “family.” It’s a strange shift for me watching Pellegrino be the bad guy for once — although my “Supernatural”-watching friends tell me he plays Lucifer there, so a malicious vampire is probably a step down.
The thing I like most about it is how natural it feels.
Obviously, a show about a vampire, werewolf and ghost is going to be riddled with clichés, but there’s enough tweaks to the formula to make it new and interesting.
And while it ends with a semi-obvious cliffhanger — when one of the lines 10 minutes in is that the door of Josh’s shapeshifting chamber can’t be opened from the inside, you know someone’s going to get stuck with him — I still can’t predict what’s going to happen beyond the other person getting saved somehow.
The show is fresh, smart and a satisfying alternative to the rest of the science fiction trying to make an impact on television. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it’s on SyFy and I don’t have cable. Thank goodness for the Internet.
Here’s a promo for the series, if you’re still on the supernatural fence:
[youtube]Hre1iVIPPaU[/youtube]
