CBS to copy Angel?
CBS has four new hourlongs and a new sitcom coming to its schedule this autumn. One of these shows are “Moonlight” about a vampire who makes his living as a private detective.
Hercules writes "“Moonlight,” from writer-producer Ron Koslow (CBS’ “Beauty and the Beast”), is about a vampire who makes his living as a private detective. No word on whether his firm is called “Angel Investigations” or not. Alex O'Loughlin (“The Invisible”) stars."
Is it just be but does this not sound a little bit too much like Angel? CBS further explains in their press release "immortal vampire/private eye and his struggle to exist with the curse of being undead. It also follows his internal torment as he falls in love with one he should not, one who is mortal and therefore out of his reach, as well as his dealings with the woman who made him a vampire, his sire Corinne."
Any thoughts?? Should one be mad, irritated or happy??
May 17 2007
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TychoCelchuuu | May 17, 10:40 CET
spikesdeb | May 17, 10:40 CET
Quit | May 17, 10:47 CET
LmR | May 17, 10:49 CET
gossi | May 17, 10:51 CET
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/fall_preview_2007/
how disgusting... there's even a shot of him on the top of a building in a black trenchcoat... no shame! the whole episode just looks like a rehash of angel/tina, even his office looks like it has the downstairs part where he lives... it was so angel like.
aapac | May 17, 10:58 CET
angeliclestat | May 17, 10:58 CET
And Mick StJohn....Mick St fricking John? What kinda name is that. At least Angel is a cool name. it has connotations. Mick StJohn sounds like a soccor lout. Oh God. I have to lie down......
Shame CBS!!!!!! Knowing this stupid world it'll probably be a mega hit. Bitter?....moi?
[ edited by angeliclestat on 2007-05-17 17:06 ]
angeliclestat | May 17, 11:06 CET
polytician | May 17, 11:16 CET
The other big difference, judging by that trailer, is that this appears to be very cheesy. As I recall, Angel was actually a good show.
Too bad it's not on opposite Bones. Then we could see an Ex-Angel vs. Angel Wannabe showdown!
spidermansays | May 17, 11:31 CET
KernelM | May 17, 11:34 CET
Calledon | May 17, 11:40 CET
The_Joker | May 17, 11:40 CET
then again, i wasn't too keen on Firefly at first (ducks)....i thought it was a rip of Farscape. fugitives in a spaceship running from the government? of course after seeing Firefly i realize they aren't alike at all. except that one part i just mentioned. SO...here's hoping CBS delivers something original.
it could happen
death is my gift | May 17, 11:43 CET
In the end, the similarities between FK and Angel were only superficial (vampire detective seeking redemption, and hoping to regain his mortality), as the shows were very different. I'm going to watch Moonlight, and I hope that again, the similarities will only be superficial.
Zeppo | May 17, 11:47 CET
Ok, it is cool that some people (CBS) obviously sees the potentioal...but ripping off Angel like that is just crazy.
The scenes of "Mick StJohn" (wasn't there a mark StJohn in Kiss in the mid 80's???) on the roof was a bit too much.
Maybe they can doa spinn-off about this high-school girl that hunts Vampires? Maybe Mick can get a crew together constsiting of this English guy who knows alot about vampires and demons and maybe a black guy that kicks vampire butt...
I'll probably check it out though...
Jonas | May 17, 11:50 CET
ruthless1 | May 17, 11:59 CET
Snugels | May 17, 12:15 CET
It may not be bad. Just have to wait and see.
Passion | May 17, 12:45 CET
cabri | May 17, 12:53 CET
Odysseus | May 17, 13:18 CET
Granted, from the series description and the preview, it does seem like he's been watching his FK and ANGEL tapes on permanent loop--but maybe Koslow's vamp detective series will skew towards lushly romantic rather than broodily superheroic....
[ edited by cjl on 2007-05-17 19:56 ]
cjl | May 17, 13:54 CET
Tall, dark and broody? Check.
No nookie for many decades? Check.
Blond love interest? Check.
Hatred of doors? Great big Check.
I don't know much about intellectual property law, but if I was a Fox attorney I'd be all over this.
Just from the trailer, I already don't like the Mick character. He needs an accent and better hair and a different coat. I already like the morgue attendant based on his 20 seconds of screen time. I give it five episodes until cancelation.
Selannia | May 17, 14:01 CET
Tonya J | May 17, 14:20 CET
Be fair. It isn't airing on Fox.
:¬p
williamthebloody1880 | May 17, 14:23 CET
This CBS knock-off looks like an Angel wannabe designed by a clueless committee. The guy comes across as your average squeaky-clean Joe. The way the sets are lit and the way everyone is smiling reminds me of some daytime soap opera.
Sorry, it's not Angel.
quantumac | May 17, 14:33 CET
Xoynx | May 17, 14:41 CET
Jonas | May 17, 15:02 CET
However... I have to consider my undying devotion to Angel when giving this show a pass. And then there's the preview footage...
*sigh* Really? High-speed setting sun over city skylines? Billowing black trenchcoat while standing on the precipice of a tall building? P.I. practice? C'mon guys, seriously?
Haunt | May 17, 15:07 CET
Love's Bitch | May 17, 15:18 CET
Personally I don't think O'Loughlin has enough charisma for that role. At least not according to the preview clips. DB already did this thing so well... However I don't like to bash things beforehand either so I hope the show has something original in it - even though it's hard to see it yet.
Oh, I had totally forgotten Forever Knight... By the way, it was also on CBS.
Valerie | May 17, 15:40 CET
t r a c y | May 17, 15:41 CET
Forever Knight was a great show. I wonder if its out on DVD.
leiasky | May 17, 16:32 CET
Tonya J | May 17, 16:38 CET
Calledon | May 17, 17:32 CET
Are they the Canadian episodes that were about 7 minutes longer than the 40 minute Anerican episodes?
Ruadh | May 17, 18:34 CET
I give it five episodes until cancelation.
To which williamthebloody1880 responded:
Be fair. It isn't airing on Fox.
If it was on Fox, I'd give it three episodes.
Selannia | May 17, 19:13 CET
This dialogue: "Sixty years is a long time to deny yourself the touch of another, but you do it because you just can't bear the thought of seeing yourself as a monster in someone else's eyes." The blond woman seems to have the same compassion for him as Catherine did for Vincent. In fact, the hug in her apartment is practically a carbon copy of V & C on her balcony. The two people looking at the same view of nighttime New York City from different vantage points, lost in thoughts about each other, that famous view of the Brooklyn Bridge lit up at night. I get no Angel vibe from this at all.
Angel is and always will be the gold standard for what it accomplished.
[ edited by Tonya J on 2007-05-18 03:28 ]
Tonya J | May 17, 21:07 CET
And as far as this show goes? Who cares if it rips off AtS? At the very least, it may spark up viewer interest again for something JOSS may want to do (please gawd). Those of us hoping against hope that he might someday soon wrangle some cool deal with HBO (those bastards), always like to see crap like this. It makes the Whedon star shine that much brighter.
And hey, if some folks are peeved about it? Don't watch.
Willowy | May 17, 21:27 CET
But what the hell, I'm still likely to check it out.
Haunt | May 17, 21:33 CET
Tonya J | May 17, 21:42 CET
krad | May 17, 22:20 CET
malformed | May 17, 22:42 CET
My own impression of Moonlight upon first hearing the premise was exactly that... I recognized that it's not possible to boil a complex story down to its barest essence and expect that to convey the entirety of it. Saying that this new show is about a vampire PI didn't immediately condemn it as a "copycat" for me, just as it didn't condemn Angel for me that it came after Forever Knight.
What has done it in for me (or almost so) was watching the trailer and seeing certain cues that I feel are a touch too similar. Certainly the nature of a vampire PI show carries with it certain elements, and those elements are likely to repeat in one form or another in each different telling. But there seem to be some visual cues present in that trailer that at the very least cause me to raise an eyebrow.
Plus, it's that time of year... the time of year when networks prove once again how idiotic and subhuman they are by announcing what good shows they're gonna cut this year so they can make room for the next great reality show... or the next version of one or more of the shows they've just cancelled. So I'm sorry, but this time of year never inspires me to be optimistic and earns networks no love from me, generally speaking.
Haunt | May 17, 23:57 CET
Which in turn, was similar in premise to "Blake's 7" a UK sci-fi show from the late 70s/early 80s featuring, yep, a bunch of criminals and rebels in a spaceship on the run from an authoritarian regime. New ideas are very, very hard. New takes on old ideas ? Not quite so hard. And, apparently, really crappy 'reality' dreck is a piece of piss ;).
It's also worth remembering that we only hear about the stuff that makes it to development (i.e. pilot or later). I'm not sure we'd ever hear about the totally original stuff since that is, for the most part, not given a chance. Most TV execs, just like most movie execs, prefer to bank on known commodities which may also explain why so many genre shows have pretty clear 'inspirations'. Even 'Angel' (particularly season 1) had the semi-offical mission statement "Touched by an Equalizer".
I believe that there are a finite number of stories in the universe ...
Sort of agree. I'd say there are a finite number of stories in the humanverse since the sorts of things we can imagine may well be limited by our biology (e.g. the fact we have two genders or how we see colours or hear sounds or even think) and cultural development (e.g. language etc.) but totally alien cultures and biologies could, presumably, come up with totally alien ideas (e.g. Katraxian Bag-shunter meets Katraxian Bag-shuntrix, Katraxian Bag-shunter loses Katraxian Bag-shuntrix, Katraxian Bag-shunter wins the love of Katraxian Bag-shuntrix in the end. See ? Completely unfathomable ;).
Saje | May 18, 06:09 CET
But what I was railing against was the obvious rip-offs. The quick shots of the sun, the billowy coats, the whole 'look' of it. I couldn't watch it with the sound on - but to me it looked like a cheap fan copy of Angel.
And nobody replaces Angel!
angeliclestat | May 18, 06:26 CET
The great thing about living in Australia is that our free to air networks only pick up guaranteed hits. So I'll only get to watch this if it doesn't blow.
Mind you, that's also the bad thing.
Most of me is in slight disbelief that CBS are taking the risk on this poor cousin of a new show when they could have picked up 'Angel' on the cheap, along with it's established cast and couple of million viewers.
WHHHHYYYYYYY?
(Oh yes, all these years later, it's still a bitter pill to swallow.)
missb | May 18, 06:40 CET
(out of curiosity, anybody know if anyone from The WB ended up at CBS ?)
Saje | May 18, 06:58 CET
TV is stupid, they could have Joss if they knew how to treat him right :)
Shey | May 18, 09:03 CET
Horovits | May 18, 11:50 CET
[ edited by Tonya J on 2007-05-18 17:56 ]
Tonya J | May 18, 11:55 CET
Be sure to look out for Angel: Cleveland, Angel: Des Moines and Angel: Nova Scotia, coming soon to an unabashedly rip-offing network near you!
So does anyone else vow to lock up the execs in a room with Darla and Drusilla if this somehow becomes a freak blockbuster hit?
UnpluggedCrazy | May 18, 12:15 CET
And when I saw the trailer clips for Angel, my first reaction was "ah, they're riffing on Forever Knight, with a bit of Highlander thrown in."
krad | May 18, 12:21 CET
Alls I know after thinking about this some more, is if it has poetry recitations and a psychic bond, I won't be able to resist.
Tonya J | May 18, 14:51 CET
Craig Oxbrow | May 18, 17:30 CET
Sort of like Mario Acevedo's Felix Gomez?
[ edited by AmazonGirl on 2007-05-19 04:43 ]
AmazonGirl | May 18, 22:41 CET