8A - Monday, October 28, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com

8A - Monday, October 28, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

r .
P F
E' 141F + } j
f i S ' * c
3,4
-AL
ilo
r ,
y a z9

0

Cemetaries are a great place to brood.
'RawPoo0d plot
drowns potential

Which one of them is Dracuia?
No bite in new'Dracula'
By ALEC STERN Van Helsing, a vampire slayer been done so many times before
Daily Arts Writer and recurrent character in the that one wonders if a modernized
Dracula folklore. series, a la CBS's "Elementary,"
In a bid to save Friday from Most notably, "Dracula" feels would have been more exciting.
its perennial "death-slot" sta- tired. Even when NBC ordered There is also far too much Gray-
tus, the broadcast networks the series in January 2012, vam- son in the pilot - in other words,
have continued pires were on the downswing. there's more entrepreneurial
to make signif- Now, almost two years later, business talk than bloodsucking
icant invest- the vampire craze has seemed and kills. And for a show called
ments in the Dracula to run its course. "True Blood" "Dracula," this might be the big-
modestly rated is beginning production on its gest turnoff.
night. NBC Pilot final season, and it feels ages In terms of NBC's recent push
in particular Fridaysat ago that "Twilight" fandom for more limited, cable-style fare, '*
has carved a 10 p.m. was in full swing. Supernatural "Dracula" comes in way behind
genre niche, culture is cyclical, and NBC has last spring's "Hannibal." With
anchored by NBC definitely caught the tail end of Bryan Fuller (of ABC's tragically
surprise suc- the latest vampire trend. On a short-lived "Pushing Daisies")
cess "Grimm." To cash in on side note, it seems witches are at the helm, the 13-episode ori-
that supernatural procedural's back in style (see FX's "Ameri- gin story was a vibrant, visually
loyal audience, NBC premiered can Horror Story: Coven" and enticing thriller that stood on its
"Dracula," a take on the classic Lifetime's "Witches of East own. Despite iconic source mate-
story of the world's most famous End"). rial, "Hannibal" immediately
vampire. In an effort to avoid made a case for itself, wonderful-
any bad puns (such as "Drac- ly blending procedural and serial
ula" lacks bite or, even worse, A elements and delivering standout
"Dracula"" sucks), "Dracula" performances from leads Mads
just proves to be an unneces- Mikkelsen ("A Royal Affair") and
sary iteration, giving its titular Hugh Dancy ("The Big C"). Fur-
character nothing particularly without the theringthis new NBC sub-brand,
impressive, interesting or new the Peacock has a second season
to do. (Fine ... perhaps "Dracu- iraglnation. of "Hannibal" planned, as well as
la" should have never seen the "Crossbones," a to-episode pirate
light of day.) drama starring John Malkovich.
NBC's version 'of "Dracula" Whereas "Hannibal" suc-
catches up with the villain in "Dracula" is also glaringly ceeded, "Dracula" fails. Famil-
19th-century London. Pos- not fun. Say what you will about iar visuals and a trite narrative
ing as American entrepreneur HBO's acclaimed-then-maligned plague the NBC drama. There's
Alexander Grayson, Dracula's "True Blood," but the series has nothing blatantly wrong in this
(Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "The never failed in that regard. Of adaptation, but there's also
Tudors") true motive is to exact course, narratively, "Blood" has nothing different about it. If
revenge on those who betrayed become a crowded mess, but it's you're going to re-imagine a
him hundreds of years earlier. continued to be thrilling, sexy, story as oft-told as Dracula's,
In the process, he meets Mina crazy andfun. then you're actually going to
Murray (Jessica De Gouw, Conversely, "Dracula" is just have to re-imagine something.
"Arrow"), a prospective sur- boring, tied down by multiple Because, ultimately, the pilot
geon with a mysterious backsto- confusing storylines and ham- episode of "Dracula" brings
ry. Thomas Kretschmann ("The pered by its 1800s timeline. nothing new to the monster's
River") also stars as Abraham Dracula as a period piece has inspired history.
aredevls misses the mark

'PLL' spinoff lacks Our Lives"), but how long is
Hanna (Ashley Benson, "Pretty
dynamic characters Little Liars") really going to
stay with him after he hopped
of sister show on a bus with a gorgeous-but-
troubled misfit to help her "fit
By KELLY ETZ in"? Please, Hanna has already
Daily Arts Writer moved on, so essentially, we're
starting out with a brand new
it's bold of a pilot to basically cast.
drown its entire cast in the last It seems we're supposed to
two minutes. You'd think it'd be following Miranda (Nicole
make ABC Gale Anderson, "Beauty and
Family's new the Beast") try and fail to com-
supernatu- municate coherently with her
ral-flavored Ravenswood only living relative, Uncle Ray-
spinoff of mond (Steven Cabral, "Saving
"Pretty Little Pilot Mr. Banks"). Uncle Ray is, of
Liars," aptly Tuesdays course, a funeral director (what
titled "Raven- at 8p.m. else?) and so deathly pale he's
swood," a bit nearly indistinguishable from
more thrill- ABC Family his embalmed friends. In fact,
ing. Sadly, everyone - even the tan peo-
by the end of those murkily lit ple - look strangely bloodless.
40 minutes, the fateful swerve The sun never shines in Raven-
into the evil, evil (did I mention swood; this is a town soaked in
evil?) water feels a suitably jus- death. Cue the angsty violins.
tified comeuppance. If the funeral director plot-
Don't get me wrong. I'm not line isn't hitting the nail on
saying I hated "Ravenswood." the creepy head hard enough,
In fact, it could wind up being there's also the case of the
a significant player for ABC swapped gravestones, a bevy of
Family, which is so obviously mysterious blue-tinged hands
picking at the carcass of the landing on started shoulders
paranormal teen drama. As a and a deceptively innocent
spinoff of the immensely popu- black widow out to murder her
lar "PLL," the premiere doesn't next husband. Gasp! And that's
waste any time establishing all before the first ad break.
itself as a different series. This Everything is going on in
isn't Rosewood redux. Sure, this town, yet nothing is con-
we've got, the link to Caleb vincing.; Everyone is looking
(Tyler Blackburn, "Days of for answers and yet, no one is
THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

really worried - besides a lot
of startled "Oh my gods!" It's
ABC Family, but does it have to
read so strongly as a sanitized
"American Horror Story"? At
least "Pretty Little Liars" is
adorably ernest. In "Raven-
swood," it's clear that even the
characters rarely believe this
cliched nonsense they're sling-
ing.
Only Remy (the fabulous
Britne Odford, "Skins"),
daughter of the the town's
newspaper magnet and a
freshly -returned Iraq vet-
eran, presents a fully fleshed
out character. She's sharp
- she's the one who finally
pulls together the nonsensical
ghost story the pilot appears
to be riding on - funny, and
surprisingly real in a world of
near-bathtub downings and
sloppily placed phantom warn-
ings. If ABC Family wants
anything more from "Raven-
swood" than not-that-spooky
happenings, it needs to hitch
this fledgling start to some-
thing. Why not the best actress
in the bunch?
Besides Remy, every char-
acter in town can't shake their
own personal poltergeists and
it's overwhelming to say the
least. There's no reason to hit
us over the head with the creep
factor. "Ravenswood" has such
potential. Scale back, ABC
Family. A little subtly never
killed anyone - or did it?
WANT
TO HANG
OUT
WITH
COOL
PEOPLE
ALL THE
TIME?
JOIN THE DAILY
ARTS SECTION.
E-mail arts@
michigandaily.com.

MITRE VISITING SCHOLAR

By JOE REINHARD
For theDaily
Like much of reality TV, The
History Channel's "American
Daredevils" doesn't try to make
itself into a work
of art. It's there j
to entertain,
and on paper, AITelCafn
the premise Daredevils
of a group of
daredevils per- Pilot
forming crazy Tuesdays
stunts seems fun
enough. With atl1 p.m.
that said, the History Channel
show doesn't
seem to capture
the premise's potential, and while
it doesn't try to be compelling, it
doesn't exactly succeed in being
entertaining, either.
The show follows four dare-
devils, all underdogs of some sort.
Spanky Spangler, the most famous
and successful of the bunch, finds
himself facingthe end of his career
but doesn't let his age slow him
down. His son, Bryan, wants to ful-
fill the family tradition and follow
in his father's footsteps. Mr. Dizzy
is characterized by his ambition,
eagertoleavealegacybehind,while
Dr. Danger finds himself unsatis-
fied with his stagnant career and
wants to make some changes.
Too niche for
its own good.
On the surface, all these people
have problems that are remotely
relatable. Unfortunately, the pre-
miere fails to give them any signifi-
cant depth.Their simplicity,instead
of adding toward any sense of like-
ability or personality, just makes

the show appear more fake than
it probably already is. At the very
least, the contrived confessionals
do little to dispel the stereotype
that reality TV isn't very reflec-
tive of reality. For other reality TV
programs, this could be forgivable
if the results were entertaining,
but for now, the apparent fakeness
is kind of a problem considering
the show's main themes center
on wholesome family values and
American patriotism.
The more informative elements
of the show share in this shallow-
ness. Each stunt has some math-
ematical factor to it, whether it
be trying to find the right speed
to land a car jump or figuring out
the physics behind surviving a
high fall. The premiere doesn't
ignore the math side to the stunts
completely, but when it does work
with math, it keeps things rather
simplified, appealing to the lowest
common denominator. That isn't
to say the calculations should be as
in-depth as possible, but it's clear
the show held back for the sake
of a greater mass appeal. Anyone
looking to learn more about the
technical side of beinga daredevil
will be disappointed, because the
show shies away from any detailed
insight.

The same can be said when
"Daredevils" touches on the pro-
fession's history. Stunt perform-
ing has faded in appeal over the
decades and become more of a
niche form of entertainment, but
- the show doesn't explore this
development to any great degree,
and when it does, it's mostly for the
purposes of romanticizingthe pro-
fession instead ofactually tryingto
be informative. Evel Knievel is the
most referenced daredevil icon in
the premiere, a sort of ideal stunt-
man every daredevil tries to live up
to and surpass. Beyond this admi-
ration, however, and a few tidbits
about Knievel's most famous stunt,
the show spends little time on any
historical relevance there may
be on the subject. Perhaps this is
enough to earn the show's place on
The History Channel (well, prob-
ably not), but it certainly doesn't
help raise the show above its oth-
erwise mediocre quality.
The show's few redeeming fea-
tures reside inhowit creates stakes
and builds suspense, but that's sort
of a given based on its premise.
Beyond that, the premiere makes it
difficult to recommend "American
Daredevils," unless one has apar-
ticular interest or passion in the
subject matter.

"We Are the Champions" plays ironically in the distance.